Superman and Lois Lane to Break Up in the DC Relaunch?
Superman and his wife of fifteen years, Lois Lane, are breaking up in September as part of DC Comics' superhero relaunch. At least, that seems to be the case if you read into statements made by Dan DiDio in a recent interview. While discussing of the Man of Tomorrow's narrative continuity, the DC Comics Co-Publisher confirmed Superman's matrimony with Lois is being "reexamined" in advance of DC's imminent revamping.Lois Lane and Clark Kent were officially married in 1996's Superman: The Wedding Album. Speaking to NBC New York's Popcornbiz, DiDio hinted in his typically unsubtle way that the events of that issue will be undone as DC Comics embarks upon its bold mission to jettison continuity and make itself ostensibly more welcoming to new readers.
"Let's just say [Clark and Lois' marriage] is being reexamined," says Didio, who oversees the 77-year-old comic book company, which relaunches all of its titles with 52 new #1 issues in September, "because it's something that I think is something that is so valuable to the character's story that you really want to explore all facets of it. Not just as it exists currently."
The idea of separating Superman from his wife was of course a central tenet of the famous "Superman 2000" proposal by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Mark Millar and Tom Peyer. Their plan was for Brainiac virus to infect Lois' brain and erase her memories of her fated lover. 2008's Final Crisis: Superman Beyond hinted towards that endgame when Lois fell into a coma, but it seems that the possible de-aging effects of Flashpoint could lead to the same result.
In the issues of The Flash leading up to the Flashpoint, it was revealed that the villainous Reverse-Flash can manipulate the ages of both himself and those around him, providing an in-story mechanism with which to de-age the elderly characters of the DC Universe back to a time when they were more unsure and confused about their powers and places in society. Such a scenario would tie-in nicely with Grant Morrison and Rags Morales's Action Comics as well as Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's Justice League, both of which we know will depict explicitly younger and less experienced versions of their respective heroes.
The selective nature of the Flashpoint mechanic may account for Batman's convenient escape from the invisible yet brutal hands of the DC continuity cops while other characters -- like Superman -- will emerge in September with minty fresh mythologies.
There's no doubt that the marriage between Superman and Lois Lane will at some point be re-instituted, but the cyclical nature of superhero comic books prevents the existence of any kind of permanent union. As we know from Marvel's experience with undoing Spider-Man's marriage to Mary Jane Watson, it's a hard lesson for readers to learn and any similar action on DC's part will prompt an outcry that will certainly eclipse what we saw with Spidey's One More Day. But if anyone has to re-imagine Superman and Lois Lane's relationship for a new generation, I'm glad it's Grant Morrison.
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