Origin
Lana Lang was born and raised in
Smallville, just down the road from the boy named
Clark Kent, who was the same age (but secretly a super-powered
Kryptonian). The two first met as young children in elementary school. As the years passed, Lana grew into the pretty red-haired "girl next door" whom Clark developed a romantic interest in. After they reached their teens, Lana and Clark became high school sweethearts. The two maintained a friendly relationship after parting ways following high school.
Creation
Lana Lang was created in 1950 by writer
Bill Finger and artist
John Sikela and first appeared in
Superboy #10 in the story "
The Girl in Superboy's Life". She is one of several Superman characters with the initials "LL" (others include
Lois Lane,
Lex Luthor,
Laurie Lemmon,
Lori Lemaris,
Lenora Lemaris and
Lyla Lerrol). Lana has traditionally been depicted as Clark Kent's teenage love interest in DC Comics. Her first comic book appearance was twelve years after Clark's longtime adult love interest, Lois Lane.
Character Evolution
Silver Age
During the
Silver Age, Lana was the literal girl next door who was obsessed with proving that Superboy and Clark were the same person. As was common in the Silver Age, she also gained insect powers at one point after saving the life of an alien traveler who had been pinned under a tree. In gratitude for this, he gave her a
bio-genetic ring. After discovering that the ring could transform the user into insects or give its user insects's powers or attributes, she became the Insect Queen and went on a number of adventures with Superboy. Lana also gained reserve status in the Legion of Super-Heroes after saving them during her trip into the future. As an adult she became a television reporter for
WMET-TV, and acted as a romantic rival for
Lois Lane, as both women had their sights set on Clark.
Bronze Age
In the
Bronze Age, Lana became an anchorwoman, and, for the first time since her original appearance, stopped pursuing Superman romantically, going so far as to take an assignment in
Europe to forget him (
Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #109). In this same issue it was revealed that Lana was a graduate of
Hudson University. (Later stories had Lana attending
Metropolis University.) Lana would later team up with Clark Kent to co-anchor WGBS News (
Superman #317). This situation changed in the run-up to the
Crisis on Infinite Earths, as Lana and Clark were shown again to be romantically involved. Also during this period, Lana was revealed to have an Earth-2 counterpart who was similar to the Earth-1 counterpart, but had left Smallville at a young age, and was accidentally turned into the villainous Insect Queen by a magic amulet. The Crisis erased this version of Lana from existence.
Modern Age
Lana's origin story and motivations have been constantly altered during the
Modern Age. Following the Crisis, her origin was rewritten such that Lana was deeply in love with Clark Kent, who did not return her love. He revealed his powers to her just before they left high school, and when Superman appeared she made the connection and became something of an obsessed stalker. Her origin was changed again in 2003, when she and Clark were established as having had a romantic relationship in high school. This version of the character leaves Smallville shortly after Clark himself leaves to explore the world. She was changed yet again following the
Infinite Crisis, and her romantic relationship with Clark was strengthened; though they still eventually broke up, they remained fairly close into adulthood.
Major Story Arcs
The Man of Steel
Lana Lang is in love with Clark Kent, but he does not return her affections. He reveals his powers to her just after both have graduated high school; she is devastated, because she has finally realized he doesn't love her. Some time later Superman appears in
Metropolis, and she quickly makes the connection between the two. She becomes obsessed with Superman, and begins stalking him.
Lex Luthor takes note of this and, believing her to have some inside information on Superman's identity, has her kidnapped and tortured. She does not reveal Superman's identity and is rescued by him. Her obsession with Superman cools somewhat, and the two develop a healthier, if still distant, friendship.
Millennium
During the events of
Millennium, Lana was discovered to be a sleeper agent for
The Manhunters.
First Lady
Lana marries
Pete Ross, and together the pair have a child who they name after Clark Kent. Ross runs alongside Lex Luthor in the latter's bid for the presidency. The pair succeeds, and when Luthor eventually falls from grace, Ross becomes President. Lana thus becomes First Lady. However, her relationship with Ross falls apart, and she begins to romantically pursue Clark Kent again, who resists her advances. She and Ross briefly reconcile.
CEO of LexCorp
CEO Lana LangLana becomes the CEO of
LexCorp. While in charge of the company, she presides over the sale of
Kryptonite to the government in order to keep LexCorp in the black, as well as overseeing the implantation of a series of Kryptonite caches around the globe designed to defend against Superman going rogue. When confronted by Superman she detonates these Kryptonite caches, creating Kryptonite dirty bombs that fill the air with Kryptonite particles, forcing all
Kryptonians to evacuate the planet. She later repents and attempts to aid Superman in a fight against
Atlas, and is fired from LexCorp for her efforts, under a section of her contract that explicitly forbids aiding any Kryptonians using LexCorp resources.
Insect Queen
Lana grows close to
Supergirl, and takes a job at the
Daily Planet as the editor for the business section of the paper. Supergirl adopts the identity of Linda Lang, Lana's niece, and the pair move into an apartment together in Metropolis. Lana begins experiencing unexplained health problems, collapsing twice. She goes to a hospital, but apparently dies while in the midst of an operation. However, she is actually becoming the host of the Insect Queen, who takes over the hospital and kidnaps Supergirl in the hopes of using the young woman to create a hybrid army. Supergirl escapes and frees Lana of her possession. The pair briefly have a falling out over Lana's concealing of her condition, but eventually reconcile.
Powers and Abilities
In the current continuity, Lana was given powers from the energies given off by Superman as he died. She has the basic power of flight and super-strength, but also a more complex superpower. She can now turn radiation into other forms of energy. Originally, it was thought that she could only absorb solar radiation. However, it was revealed that she could absorb other types of radiation and convert it just as proficiently. Her default use of this ability is to convert the stored radiation into electricity that she uses for different purposes. Her mastery of electrical energies has reached the point where she can channel enough energy to power most of Metropolis.
In the past continuities, Lana Lang had no exceptional personal powers. She is intelligent and in good health and fitness for a woman her age. She occasionally gained super-human powers, usually during the Silver Age. All these transformations have been impermanent, and she has spent the majority of her life as a normal human.
Insect Queen
Silver Age
Lana Lang as the Insect Queen. Note her "pump" shoes in this version of her outfit. Later versions of her outfit replaced those with knee-high white boots.During the Silver Age, Lana became the Insect Queen after saving the life of an alien traveler who had been pinned under a tree. In gratitude, the alien gave her a device called a
bio-genetic ring. The ring granted her the power to transform herself into an insect's or an arachnid's form, or grant her the features and/or attributes of one. However, she was unable to use any such form, or summon any such attributes, any more often than once every twenty-four hours.
Bronze Age
Lana Lang as the Insect Queen of Earth 2 in the Bronze Age.
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