Why People Care About Superman and Lois Lane

As part of DC Comics relaunch of its entire comic book lineup, Superman is being rebooted again.  Fans have been in an uproar, not just because of the new costume he will be wearing (starting off with a tee-shirt, jeans, and mini-cape and ending with Kryptonian-inspired body armor -- no tights and red shorts) but mostly because the Man of Steel's origin and storyline are starting from scratch again, negating what has come before, and thus making Clark Kent single once again, his marriage to Lois Lane null and void, having never happened in the new continuity. 

Old-timers might scratch their heads and wonder what all the fuss is about, since for most of Superman's legacy he was never hitched.  Readers enjoyed the heavy flirtation between the Last Son of Krypton and the Daily Planet's intrepid reporter who never tied the knot during that first half-a-century.  In fact, Lois may have been a great journalist, but during all those pre-wedding storylines, she never figured out that mild-mannered Clark Kent was the same person as Earth's greatest defender.  It was a bizarre love triangle for the ages, with Clark and Superman competing against each other for Miss Lane's affections. 

The current generation, however, has grown up with Superman and Lois Lane being the epitomy of a happy couple.  Other marriages in comic books have had their ups and downs, separations and outright rewinds, such as Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in Spider-man or Reed Richards and Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four, but somehow we all seemed to put our cynicism aside and thought that Lois Lane and Clark Kent would last.

The last major relaunch of Superman by John Byrne in 1986 had a lot of missteps in my opinion that hurt the decades-long legacy of the character, but one of the good touches was laying the groundwork for the revelation of Superman's secret identity to Lois Lane and their eventual marriage in 1996, both in the comics and on the television series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. 

One of the biggest criticisms aimed at Supes is that he is too powerful, making it tough to tell interesting tales and provide dramatic challenges for him to face.  His relationship with Lois Lane gave him that weakness that his enemies could target, greater than kryptonite ever was.  It was more relatable, more human, because it was more emotional.  Despite all his powers, Kal-El was a being with feelings whose Superman and Clark personalities were just facades, but his love of Lois kept him grounded.

Maybe the DC creators wanted to explore once again how that relationship came to be, as the TV show Smallville did, but for fans who have already accepted it as part of Superman's canon and mythology, going back to square one is tough to swallow.  When did being happily married become perceived as boring or a storytelling handicap?  People want to believe in an improbable hero like Superman.  Even though they call him corny, he continues to be a pop culture icon across the globe.  That's why it should come as no surprise that so many fans are reacting as if close friends are splitting up -- or more accurately being forced to split up.  Let's face it, they belong together, why deny the inevitable.

Hopefully they'll reunite comic book's greatest couple soon without dragging it out too long.  While they're at it, bring back Superman's original classic costume!