An Animated History of Lana Lang
Superman's Childhood Sweetheart Has a Lot of History on Film and TV
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.
First Animated Appearance
Lana Lang showed up in the adventures of Superboy. The six minute segments aired as part of The New Adventures of Superman in 1966. Those segments were reused in subsequent shows, including The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and the Batman/Superman Hour which aired in the following years and in reruns until the mid 1970's.
Janet Waldo, probably best known as the voice of Judy Jetson, provided Lana's voice.
The Superman Family Album
During the single season run of the Ruby-Spears animated Superman series in 1988, each episode featured a tagged on short segment entitled "Superman Family Album". The mini-episode would feature a young Clark Kent in various situations like his first sleepover or getting his drivers license, which would inevitably lead to a crisis that would require him to covertly use his super powers.
Lana Lang was seen in several of the short segments.
Superman - The Animated Series
Two versions of Lana Lang appear in Superman - The Animated Series. A young version, seen in segments set in Smallville in Clark Kent's youth is voiced by Kelly Schmidt. The young version seems to be good friends with Clark, but not particularly interested in him, romantically.
The grown up version, voiced by Joely Fisher, is decidedly interested in Clark Kent in a romantic fashion. When the two first get reacquainted, Lang is a successful fashion designer, dating Lex Luther. She sees through Superman's lack of a disguise and recognizes him as Clark Kent, even suggesting that his mother, Martha, sewed his outfit. By the end of the episode, she makes it perfectly clear that she would like to kindle a romance with the Man of Steel.
The grown up Lana helps Superman keep his secret identity in an episode in which Clark Kent appears to be killed by a car bomb. Lana places a call to Lois to tell her that she's been taking care of a comatose and near amnesiac Clark Kent since he washed up on a beach and stumbled to a phone to call her. She even gets a needle in on Lois, reminding the reporter that she and Clark go back a long way and asking if that makes Lane jealous.
Superman, Lana Lang's Beau,Painted by J.Richardson
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