A Live Action History of Lana Lang
Superman's Childhood Sweetheart Has a Lot of History on Film and TV
Dec 31, 2008
Created by Batman co-creator Bill Finger and John Sikela, Lana Lang first appeared in the comics in 1950. She generally appears in stories set in Superman's youth, before he left Smallville to become a reporter in Metropolis. In the comics, red-headed Lana has even acquired super powers of her own at times, operating as the "Insect Queen", usually as part of the Legion of Super Heroes. On television, she has had every hair colour under the sun and only rarely been endowed with super powers.
Live Action Pilot
With the demise of Adventures of Superman the year before, 1961 seemed like the right time for a series about Superman as a young man. A pilot and twelve additional scripts were created, but the series was never picked up. Bunny Henning played a blond Lana Lang.
Superman Films
In Superman - the Movie in 1978, a teenage Lana Lang appears briefly, played by redhead Diane Sherry.
In 1983, Lana Lang made her most central screen appearance up to that time, with Annette O'Toole (another redhead) bringing the character to life and giving Clark Kent a reason to rethink his attachment to Lois Lane. Ironically, almost two decades later, O'Toole would be cast as Martha Kent, Clark's mother, in Smallville by a production team that was unaware of her previously playing Lana Lang.
Superboy
In 1988, Ilya and Alexander Salkind brought their vision of Superman to the small screen, this time in his youth. Focusing on Clark Kent's college years, Superboy ran for 4 seasons and redheaded Stacy Haiduk played Lana Lang for the whole run of the show.
Lois and Clark - The New Adventures of Superman
Lana Lang only appeared in a single episode of the mid 1990's series, Lois and Clark - The New Adventures of Superman. Played by blond Emily Proctor, Lana is engaged to Clark Kent in an alternate universe where he doesn't use his super powers for fear of being exposed.
Smallville
Raven haired Kristen Kreuk plays Lana Lang on Smallville, marking the first time that the character has been portrayed as a brunette. The Smallville version of Lana is the only version outside of the comics to gain super powers, if only temporarily. In one episode, she is possessed by the spirit of a witch and wields her power and in another episode, Clark Kent's power is transfered to her temporarily.
The Smallville version of Lana, like her counterpart in Superman - The Animated Series, dated Lex Luthor, but in Smallville, the relationship ends in marriage. Eventually, Lana realizes how evil Lex is and fakes her own death to escape his clutches, taking 10 million in stolen funds with her.
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