Who was older on screen? Lois or Clark?

[Jim Kelly]

It seems to me that more often than not the actress who plays Lois is older than the actor who plays Clark. I wanted to see if I was right so I looked at the birthdates of the couples that played them together on screen.


1.

Kirk Alyn
October 8, 1910
Noel Neill
November 25, 1920
Clark is older.

2.

George Reeves
January 5, 1914
Phyllis Coates
January 15, 1927
Clark is older.

3.

David Wilson
February 26, 1949
Lesley Ann Warren
August 16, 1946
Lois is older.

4.

Christopher Reeve
September 25, 1952
Margot Kidder
October 17, 1948
Lois is older.

5.

Dean Cain
July 31, 1966
Teri Hatcher
December 8, 1964
Lois is older.

6.

Tom Welling
April 26, 1977
Erica Durance
June 21, 1978
Clark is older.

7.

Brandon Routh
October 9, 1979
Kate Bosworth
January 2, 1983
Clark is older.

8.

Henry Cavill
May 5, 1983
Amy Adams
August 20, 1974
Lois is older.

9.

Tyler Hoechlin
September 11, 1987
Bitsie Tulloch
January 19, 1981
Lois is older.

So out of nine pairings. Lois has been played by an older actress. And in the case of Erica Durance and Tom Welling on SMALLVILLE, Lois is supposed to be older even though Durance is a year younger.

I didn't bother to look at all the Lois & Clark duos in animation, but with Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander--from radio and animation--Clark is older--

Bud Collyer
June 18, 1908
Joan Alexander
April 16, 1915

Still it seems to me that since the 1970s it's been the trend for Lois to be older than Clark--maybe not in-story, but in terms of the actors playing them.

[Riv86672]

I’ve read (somewhere) that Lois is intended to be a few years older than Clark, owing to her already being an established reporter at the Daily Planet when he (Clark) arrives in Metropolis to start his career(s).

I’ll keep Googling but if anyone can corroborate that I’d appreciate it.
Anyway, that’s how I think of them age wise.

[Jim Kelly]

It makes sense given the classic story of Superman, where Lois is already a reporter before Clark arrives. Of course, she doesn't have to be older for that to be the case--Clark could have just been doing other things.

What got me thinking about this were the reviews of the latest Will Ferrell movie (the one about the Eurovision song contest) where he and Rachel McAdams are supposed to be the same age but clearly are not. And reviewers pass this off as typical Hollywood casting. It's always an older male paired with a younger female. But then I thought, there are rare exceptions to the rule and Superman seems to be one of them.

[superduperman]

Lois being a year or two older makes a bit of sense. In most versions she's already working at the Planet by the time Clark gets there.

[phonogram12]

In many Superman origin stories like Man of Steel and Birthright, they have Clark taking a few years to travel before settling in Metropolis, usually arriving when he's about 25-26. It's not inconceivable that Lois would already be a highly regarded reporter by the time Clark came to Metropolis while also being the same age at the same time.

[Riv86672]

In many Superman origin stories like Man of Steel and Birthright, they have Clark taking a few years to travel before settling in Metropolis, usually arriving when he's about 25-26. It's not inconceivable that Lois would already be a highly regarded reporter by the time Clark came to Metropolis while also being the same age at the same time.

Yeah that def. throws a wrench into the scenario.

[witchboy]

I could swear I vaguely remember a letters column from pre Crisis days saying that Lois was a little younger than Clark,
Which doesn't make much sense because she was working at the Planet before Clark, and they both went to college. I can make up an explanation that Lois is so bright that she graduated from high school and college early, while Clark did the full experience because he didn't want to call attention to himself.
I had forgotten how much older Amy Adams is than Cavill. She looks a lot younger than her age, so they still feel like contemporaries.

[Jim Kelly]

I think Lois Lane went to the school of hard knocks. She seems more like the kind who learned by doing, rather than going to journalism school.

Pre-Crisis, there were a few comics where Clark and Lois met as teens and they always seemed to be about the same age. However, those stories didn't always count.

[Frontier]

I wonder if the inverse is true for Batman/Catwoman. I think Bruce is more often depicted as being older than Selina.

[Riv86672]

I wonder if the inverse is true for Batman/Catwoman. I think Bruce is more often depicted as being older than Selina.

I liked the set up on the GOTHAM tv series. Selina was older (2 1/2 years, going by the actors’ actual ages), AND taller. Bruce was obviously smitten w. the out of his age range Selina and she used that to her advantage, stringing the “kid” along. As the show progressed though, he caught up to her in height and real world experience, becoming a competent fighter and wiser than his years, and Selina was def. not looking at him as just a kid any more.

After the time skip at the end, that 2 1/2 year age difference wouldn’t really be a big deal to two twenty somethings who liked each other.

[phonogram12]

In Birthright, I think it was stated that Clark took his sweet time getting his college degree, mostly taking online courses while working for a lot of smaller papers across the world. While MOS really didn't cover his college education, in both they definitely have him being 25-26 when he arrives in Metropolis.

As for Batman and Catwoman, in the original Year One, they had him arriving in Gotham at the age of 25 (that really seems to be the magic number here, doesn't it?). They never really mentioned Selina's age until her mini (Her Sister's Keeper) a few years later. I want to say she started her training with Ted Grant between the ages of 17-19 after getting assaulted by her pimp Stan. I'm almost certain she wasn't 20 yet.

[Adekis]

I like Lois to be older, but it's not a pre-req. Pretty interesting to me now that both Cavill and Hoechlin are several years younger than Adams and Tulloch - with Adams in particular being like nine years older than Cavill! But I'm okay with that honestly.

Remember the bit from Superman the Movie where Clark was like, a senior in high school while Lois was a little girl - even though Margot Kidder was older than Chris Reeve?
That always bugged me. I don't have anything else to say about it, but I never really liked that scene.

[DochaDocha]

Remember the bit from Superman the Movie where Clark was like, a senior in high school while Lois was a little girl - even though Margot Kidder was older than Chris Reeve?
That always bugged me. I don't have anything else to say about it, but I never really liked that scene.

That's one of those scenes that was cute when I was a kid, but I ended up dismissing as a semi-cynical adult.

I like them about the same age, give or take, maybe within +/- two years. I never understood why fans insisted Lois be older for any reasons other than she's farther along her career than Superman, but not everyone settles into their first career they select at the age of 22.

[witchboy]

I think Lois Lane went to the school of hard knocks. She seems more like the kind who learned by doing, rather than going to journalism school.

Pre-Crisis, there were a few comics where Clark and Lois met as teens and they always seemed to be about the same age. However, those stories didn't always count.

I'm reading a lot of Silver Age Superman lately, and there's several stories where Lois having gone to college is brought up.
I head canon that she was so bright she graduated early, which gives her a leg up on Clark so that she's working at the Planet before him.

[Adekis]

Interesting. I wonder how that intersects with my headcanon that Pre-Crisis Kal is older than he "should" be, because he spends so much time in the 30th century with the Legionnaires.

I guess it could explain how Clark looks like he's in his early twenties in late high school during the Mike Grell era - and maybe why he looks so much older than a college freshman when he meets Lori Lemaris, although in reality I know these are just quirks of having different artists with different approaches.

Still, if that's the case, maybe Lois needs to be "older" than Clark at some point if they're to be the same age for most of their careers! Which means Clark just looks old for his "age" I suppose, although Superman could presumably just say his real age including time travel...

Too much detail? Eh, too much detail.