Lois Lane with Superpowers past present and thoughts on it

[UltraWoman]

As people can tell from my nic, I'm a little bit of a fan of Lois with Superpowers. With that said, I'm only seen a few instances of this in comics done to my satisfaction. What have you seen of her with powers? You're thoughts/reviews on those stories?

[DochaDocha]

I feel bad to do this, but I thought the Ultra Woman episode of Lois & Clark was mostly so-so. I did find it amusing, though, when Superman showed up on the scene and tried to use practical, everyday human skills to beat the criminals.

All-Star Superman was obviously great, both the book and the movie versions.

Lois Laniac in the current continuity hasn't been that interesting to me yet, but I am curious how it pans out.

There was that issue from 2002 or so when she got the goddess powers, and that was kind of meh, too. What was too bad, though, was that they could've made a real story about how she resented that Superman couldn't save her father, but instead they gave her weird goddess powers instead of having the two talk it out.

[misslane]

I think the trope that Lois gets superpowers has been done multiple times across all ages of comics and live action television series. I'm a big fan of the trope when it is used sparingly to either provide Lois with a window into how Superman experiences the world or to reinforce the viability of who Lois is without powers. Any permanent change that involves making Lois a meta of any kind is unacceptable to me. Everything Lois stands for is wrapped up in her ordinariness. My favorite Lois with powers story was the "Ultrawoman" episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. It hit all the major themes and was mercifully limited to a standalone episode. Even though it's my favorite, however, it's still not very good, which I think speaks to the tricky nature of the trope.

[UltraWoman]

I feel bad to do this, but I thought the Ultra Woman episode of Lois & Clark was mostly so-so. I did find it amusing, though, when Superman showed up on the scene and tried to use practical, everyday human skills to beat the criminals.

No offense taken. I can see how some might not see it as that great. I kind of wished it would have been longer. There were themes that I think were kind of glossed over without any followup (probably due to the nature of it only being 44 minutes or so).

[dangleo61288]

I still stand by my Lois is a Kryptonian idea.

[JackDaw]

I actually thought Ultra Woman episode in Lois and Clark was pretty well done. It showed a reason..for example..why Lois would want to give up the powers eventually. In a lot of Silver Age comic stories on same theme (Lois as powered) I always ended up wondering why she didn't stick with the powers…everything seemed so easy (drink a potion, and suddenly you have powers) and with no adverse side effects.

Anyway to now I've always preferred Lois as non powered. Not for any deep reasons… just think super hero comics has generally moved to a position where there are too many super powered characters, and because of that its (generally) a good idea to keep the outstanding non super characters as they are.

But… in DCNU I think some radical ideas should be used. ( If DC are going to take the line that all the characters that existed in earlier continuities have to be present in DCNU, and they have to have same powers, and all the stories have to be slight variants of what came before…. then I can't see any real point to DCNU.)

Anyway given that "there should be significant differences" thought, and given the present set-up I think there is a strong case to be made to write Lois as a powered character for an extended run.

Certainly it would be fun for me (not a fan of Wonder Woman) to see Lois teaming up with Superman as a powered partner for Superman on cases where Lois's powers were particularly helpful… and that partnership gradually revealing a deep attraction between Lois and Superman… with Wonder Woman becoming increasingly annoyed.

[Lorendiac]

It's been a long time since I watched the "Ultra Woman" episode of "Lois & Clark," so I can't remember every detail of the plot and dialogue, but I do recall thinking that overall it was quite entertaining.

The original question -- about previous stories in which Lois gained powers -- reminds me of some of the interesting lore I turned up about Golden Age Lois and Silver Age Lois when I was doing research for what ultimately developed into Timeline of First and Final Appearances of Every Supergirl, Superwoman, Etc. (5th Draft)

Years ago, my research revealed to me that Lois Lane has been all of the following:

1. First female character ever depicted as receiving copies of Superman's powers in any comic book story (even though this one turned out to be a dream sequence). She called herself "Superwoman" in that one. (In 1943.)

2. First female character ever depicted as apparently receiving copies of Superman's powers in any comic book story which was "really happening" in the regular continuity of its era -- except that it was all a sham, although she honestly thought she had those powers! (Superman was moving at super-speed and so forth to give the impression that she was superhumanly strong and could fly under her own power and so forth. This was necessary to protect his own secret identity -- long story!) In this one, she also called herself "Superwoman." (In 1947.)

3. First female character ever depicted as truly receiving copies of Superman's powers in any comic book story which was "really happening" in the regular continuity of its era. Once again, she called herself "Superwoman." (In 1951.)

In Silver Age continuity (late 50s and 60s, basically), what we came to call the "Earth-1 Lois" also temporarily gained Superman-level powers on various other occasions, sometimes calling herself "Superwoman" and sometimes "Super-Lois." She even had another "dream sequence" story in which she was the costumed heroine "Power Girl" with Superman-level powers, which arguably makes her DC's first superheroic user of "Power Girl" as well as of "Superwoman"!

But my point is that any way you count it, she was the first "Superwoman" of the comic books. In fact, if you count each example of "first woman to be 'Superwoman' in one way or another" separately, she may have been the first, and second, and third users of "Superwoman"! (Similar to the way Grover Cleveland was both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States at different times.)

Anyway given that "there should be significant differences" thought, and given the present set-up I think there is a strong case to be made to write Lois as a powered character for an extended run.

Certainly it would be fun for me (not a fan of Wonder Woman) to see Lois teaming up with Superman as a powered partner for Superman on cases where Lois's powers were particularly helpful… and that partnership gradually revealing a deep attraction between Lois and Superman… with Wonder Woman becoming increasingly annoyed.

You may actually have something there. I'm not remembering, offhand, any time when any "mainstream" version of Lois Lane has gained incredible powers and subsequently rubbed shoulders with Superman as a "physical equal" for more than, say, a week or so at a time from her point of view (usually a single story in a single issue from our viewpoint, in other words). If there has never yet been a time when she got to live the superpowered lifestyle for, let's say, at least 12 consecutive issues, then maybe it's about time!

(I've certainly seen Superman lose his powers, and/or have them be severely weakened or otherwise unreliable, for lengthy periods, thus bringing him a lot closer to Lois's level of physical strength and all, but that's not quite the same thing.)

[Lorendiac]

I feel bad to do this, but I thought the Ultra Woman episode of Lois & Clark was mostly so-so. I did find it amusing, though, when Superman showed up on the scene and tried to use practical, everyday human skills to beat the criminals.

No offense taken. I can see how some might not see it as that great. I kind of wished it would have been longer. There were themes that I think were kind of glossed over without any followup (probably due to the nature of it only being 44 minutes or so).

Over the weekend, I dug out my boxed set of "Lois & Clark, Season 3," and watched the "Ultra Woman" episode again for the first time in years.

I still think it was pretty entertaining! (Although I was a bit startled at how quickly Lois seems to have adjusted to using those various superpowers with sufficient precision to let her start handling all the emergencies that Superman would normally have handled himself -- without accidentally making things worse by pushing too hard on something vitally important, for instance.)

If DC ever wanted to do a really lengthy arc or series of arcs -- a few years at a stretch, say -- with Lois Lane as "Ultra Woman" in the monthly Superman titles -- then I'd say the idea might have serious possibilities, depending upon who was writing it and what tone he took.

[Jim Kelly]

With the Classic Superman, I feel that most of us had a sense of how Superman's whole life story would work out (well two possible paths). The dominant stories were set in the middle of Superman's life, but there were stories that showed him as a baby, a teen, and a college student, and there were other stories that showed his possible future. And this made it obvious that Superman was most likely to marry Lois and that Lois would get superpowers. If there had been a close-ended novel of Superman that's how it would go. And then in the distant future there would be descendents of Superman who also were champions of Earth (as many in-continuity and out of continuity stories showed)--probably related to both Superman and Lois Lane.

Of course, the other possible path was that Superman would die.

To me--given we knew it was likely Superman would marry Lois some day, once Lois had her own powers and wasn't in danger--there was no need for that to happen in the present moment of the stories. The present was about the thrilling tension between two possible outcomes--death or marriage. Once either of these happened, all the thrill would be gone.

[Lorendiac]

With the Classic Superman, I feel that most of us had a sense of how Superman's whole life story would work out (well two possible paths). The dominant stories were set in the middle of Superman's life, but there were stories that showed him as a baby, a teen, and a college student, and there were other stories that showed his possible future. And this made it obvious that Superman was most likely to marry Lois and that Lois would get superpowers.

I was right with you up until those last few words. I know that various stories in Pre-Crisis continuity indicated that Superman would eventually have some super-powered descendants; he wasn't just doomed to be a lonely bachelor for his entire life. (The physically invulnerable Laurel Kent, living 1000 years in the future, springs to mind as one of several possible examples.)

And Lois usually appeared to be far and away the most likely candidate to someday become the mother of his children. But at first glance I'm confused about what makes you say it was "obvious" that Lois Lane would permanently acquire superpowers before she became "Mrs. Superman." (Closest example that occurs to me is the way Sylvia DeWitt, a Lois Lane-lookalike who married Superman's equally-lookalike distant cousin Van-Zee, acquired permanent powers of her own.)

[Shadowcat]

My favorite was when she went full on racist and did black face.



This ain't that jive honky version of Lois Lane, nosiree..

[misslane]

My favorite was when she went full on racist and did black face.

Being black is a superpower? Lois, by the way, didn't don black face. She literally became a black person. The comic was an attempt to address racism, which it accomplished clumsily.

[UltraWoman]

With the Classic Superman, I feel that most of us had a sense of how Superman's whole life story would work out (well two possible paths). The dominant stories were set in the middle of Superman's life, but there were stories that showed him as a baby, a teen, and a college student, and there were other stories that showed his possible future. And this made it obvious that Superman was most likely to marry Lois and that Lois would get superpowers. If there had been a close-ended novel of Superman that's how it would go. And then in the distant future there would be descendents of Superman who also were champions of Earth (as many in-continuity and out of continuity stories showed)--probably related to both Superman and Lois Lane.

Of course, the other possible path was that Superman would die.

To me--given we knew it was likely Superman would marry Lois some day, once Lois had her own powers and wasn't in danger--there was no need for that to happen in the present moment of the stories. The present was about the thrilling tension between two possible outcomes--death or marriage. Once either of these happened, all the thrill would be gone.

I don't remember a single story where it was guaranteed she would get powers after they were married. I know of one where he TRIED to give her powers after they were married (resulting in her death), but none where it actually succeeded for long enough to address the changes in her and (possibly) their relationship. "Ultra Woman" was the closest I've seen a story get to talking about how it might affect their dynamic (and in that case, Clark LOSES his powers at the same time she has them a la an Earth-2 story where Superman/Clark gives her a flower that (accidentally) transfers the powers to Lois.)

[DochaDocha]

Over the weekend, I dug out my boxed set of "Lois & Clark, Season 3," and watched the "Ultra Woman" episode again for the first time in years.

(Although I was a bit startled at how quickly Lois seems to have adjusted to using those various superpowers with sufficient precision to let her start handling all the emergencies that Superman would normally have handled himself -- without accidentally making things worse by pushing too hard on something vitally important, for instance.)

That she settled into her powers so abruptly was part of what prevented the episode on reaching its potential, I thought. Then again, I don't think the target audience cared for an hour-long episode of how Lois struggled to master her abilities, just for her to lose it by the end, though if they made it a two-parter...

[Lorendiac]

That she settled into her powers so abruptly was part of what prevented the episode on reaching its potential, I thought. Then again, I don't think the target audience cared for an hour-long episode of how Lois struggled to master her abilities, just for her to lose it by the end, though if they made it a two-parter...

It's conceivable that they could have worked around that by simply making it clear that between, say, the scene where she and Clark begin to realize what just happened (his powers getting zapped into her), and the later scene where she's making her apologies to Clark on the phone about not being able to make it home in time for dinner with Ma and Pa Kent because the emergencies are all just piling up on her, two weeks had passed!

Ergo, she had needed several days of practice before she was ready to trust herself to go grab hold of large airplanes with engine trouble and gently bring them down for a safe landing -- but we would know we had skipped virtually all of the awkward "still getting the hang of it" stuff and simply got to see the finished results, with her operating very smoothly after Clark had spent days drilling her like crazy on everything he could remember about the little tricks he uses to, for instance, turn his heat vision on and off at will so he doesn't roast an innocent bystander by accident.