Superman's Wife, Lois Lane: Scourge of the Puer Aeternus Fanboy

Come September, Lois Lane and Clark Kent will no longer be married. Nope, they're not getting a divorce, but rather they were never married in the history of the upcoming reboot.

Many are disappointed. Some, however, are rejoicing. So, it's as good a time as any to examine the topic of why some fans of the Man of Steel just aren't fans of the love of his life.

Why is it that so many people do not like the Lois Lane character and disliked her marriage to Clark Kent?

I've seen quotes by people who say that it "restrains" Superman. Others say that it undermines the previous "two-person love-triangle" dynamic.

First, I'll look at the argument that it "restrains" Superman.

I've always felt that this reaction is from people who do not like the idea of Superman having a realistic and mature romantic human relationship with another person because it means he must show accountability and mutualism to another person, which, in their opinion, undermines the freedom and "power fantasy" aspects of the character.

In my humble opinion, this is sort of an immature and naive way to look at it. I think that, as an adult, it would stunt Clark Kent's progression for him to never have a mature and realistic romantic relationship with a woman he has loved for so long. I feel that the people who dislike the marriage for these specific reasons have a young, cynical view of marriage as "giving up fun and freedom and compromising one's way of life in return for accountability and dependency". It reminds me of the Charlie Harper character on Two-and-a-Half Men.

These are typically the same people who seem to dislike Lois Lane because she is an assertive female character, and use words such as "bitch" to describe her. I think that some people feel that such an assertive woman threatens Superman, who is supposed to be incredibly strong-willed. These people believe that a strong-willed man cannot be mutually accountable to an equally strong-willed woman. These people seem to want a "damsel in distress" Lois who pines for the powerful Superman and is more submissive and passive to his strength.

Of course, these are generalizations and not everyone who dislikes the marriage is like this. There are indeed many who disliked the Lane-Kent marriage who don't dislike the Lane character.

Now, there are people who prefer the "love triangle" between Superman, Lois and Clark.

I think it is understandable, because people who become familiar with what they consider "iconic" will not want to let go of it. Every comic book fan has that problem with at least a few timeless characters of the mainstream publications. With the DC Relaunch coming up, I'm getting a very poignant case of this.

However, I simply don't think that it is possible to maintain the love triangle forever. It would be emotionally static to have Lois pining after Superman and Clark pining after Lois with no moving forward forever. As a mature person, Clark would have to finally muster the courage to make his feelings known to Lois. I mean, he's not a middle school student who has a crush on a classmate. He's a grown ass man and he can't just admire Lois from a distance, waiting for something to happen but never taking action.

Similarly, it is important to depict Lois eventually having feelings for Clark, as over time it would be evident that Clark has most of the personality traits Superman has, but only keeps them hidden under a facade. Lois is smart enough to see through facades after time. Not only this, but having Lois fall in love with Clark would cement that Lois is not superficial and does not only love Superman for his powers. She rather loves his spirit, and it is logical that she would fall in love with Clark Kent as he has the exact same spirit as Superman.

That's just my take on it. I feel that the marriage is important and necessary to the Superman mythos, but it has not been depicted as forcefully as it could be because writers never really deal with it. It would make Superman very relatable to adults if his married life and the challenges that come with it were more heavily emphasized, as all married people have to deal with balancing their marriage and the rest of their lives and/or careers. Writers instead tend to ignore fleshing out the marriage and just have Lois slap Clark on the bum before he goes out to fight crime.

I think that Superman comics would be a whole lot more mature, relevant and relatable if the marriage was looked at in-depth. However, in the youth-oriented media, I think that people are afraid of maturity as they see it as hampering fun and dynamism.

Of course, I don't believe that every mature person must get married. Marriage is not for everyone. In fact, I'm sort of a counter-culturist myself and I think that people tend to place too much importance on man-constructed social institutions such as marriage. But I still believe that this fear of Superman's marriage is typically people projecting their own fears of commitment on to a character who has chosen to commit.

Personally, DC's decision to do away with the marriage brings back vague memories of a past Marvel Comics storyline that wasn't very well received...

I have asked Superman fans directly what they think about this subject. To see the responses, take a look at the below links.

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?messageID=2006629676&#2006629676
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=377158