Saving Superman and Lois' marriage, or avoiding a company wide reboot?

[HXHAlex]

I was thinking about the new 52 relaunch. If I remember right the Superman franchise was one of main reasons DC was looking into the company wide relaunch/reboot.

If DC had chosen to keep the old 52, were there any strong chances that some sort of divorce or erasing of Lois' and Superman's marriage could have happened? If DC hadn't rebooted their franchises, they'd still have been left with 'fixing' the Superman family stories. Marriages in comics seem to never last for key comic book characters. What if DC had decided to some how get rid of Lois and Clark's marriage in the Old 52 to shake up the status qua for his stories?

I'd much rather have a company wide relaunch of all of these characters, than see a Lois/Clark marriage break up. That's how important I feel Lois and Clark's marriage is. If ONE marriage should work for a key superhero, it should be Superman's


I know TECHNICALLY this is the same Lois and Clark in the New 52 and their marriage has been erased due to the whole universe being changed from the Flashpoint event. But the old 52, if I recall, ended Superman or Action Comics with Lois and Superman flying off in the sun set. A happy ending for the old 52 couple. No divorce, no death, no magic erasing of their marriage

So if you were placed in this decision making position at DC and you could either keep the Old 52 but have Lois and Clark's marriage end, or do a reboot where the Old 52 lois and clark had a nice send off as a married couple leading right into a fresh start and new beginning for all the DC characters, what would you pick?

I feel like this post made no sense. I can't seem to word my thoughts well today

[misslane38]

I prefer reboots to divorces. Superman stories, I believe, should be told in 20-25 year cycles. Each generation should have a version of Superman to call its own. But the key is to write stories within those generational cycles that progress Superman and his supporting cast. Every age of Superman should be a separate hero's journey.

[HXHAlex]

^^Agreed, well said

[Sacred Knight]

Yeah, had the reboot not occurred, I think they would have found some other way to erase the marriage. I would imagine however it would have been a One More Day-style erasure, something involving Superman-specific time changes which nulled the marriage from happening. I don't think they would have ever gone the route of divorce.

As it was I think it worked out for the best. I think reboots in the comics industry is actually a positive thing, not a negative, when used appropriately (DC has admittedly abused this in the past 10 years). The history is rich, but combine the unavoidable various retcons, and comics time vs. real time, things get convoluted by nature as time goes by. I've never been one to think that a reboot spits in the face of past history. So I'm much happier with a reboot and no marriage than the old universe in which they got divorced. Only thing I would have done differently is I would have penned a proper send off to this Superman incarnation and his marriage with Lois, something that read like an ever after ending. But then again I think DC dropped the ball in the department with all their titles before the relaunch took hold.

[Jon Clark]

Based on how she's been used in the DCnU- I'd have preferred having Lois killed off. I'm not saying that is my perfect solution. I'd rather they kept the old 52 and simply written the marriage well. But if my options are limited to losing the marriage only or having this half-brained reboot, I'll go with losing the marriage. And if I have to lose the marriage I'd rather Clark be a widower over being divorced or worse yet a OMD situation.

The current reboot might not bother me if if had been a clean slate- Morrison's Action Comics with a Superman comic set shortly afterward. No five year jumps. No vague allusions to stuff that happened off panel. ETc. I could live with going back to day one of the Lois and Clark relationship. Not as fond of the "We've known each other for years, but we are still on page one relationship-wise".

A divorced Superman is even worse than a divorced Spider-man. It just doesn't fit the character. Either he gave up on the marriage which is out of character or Lois did which not only is equally out if character but also makes Superman a loser (in the sense of not being able to keep Lois).

OMD- just no. It's the kiss of death for any relationship for Superman. If he can't be married to Lois without having it erased then he can't be married to any one. And at that point there is no happy ending to any relationship.

And that leaves the marriage ending in death. And since Superman is the flagship character- Lois is by default the one who'd have to die.

[Kurosawa]

Never get too attached to anything at DC-no characters, no stories, no history and no marriages. Everything will last only until the next reboot. Superman is on his 6th reboot since 1986, so expect many many more to come. 10 years from now the nu52 Superman will be out of continuity, if even that long. The longest period DC has went without a reboot since they threw it all away in 1985 was 8 years.

Like Supes and Lois in married bliss? They'll need it for a sales gimmick eventually, they'll bring it back.

Like Supes being single? That will come and go too.

[TomariS]

I'll go with the reboot. I just don't (and can't) see Clark getting a divorce. He wouldn't give up, he would try really hard to fix things if his relationship with Lois was going through rough times.

I'd much rather have a company wide relaunch of all of these characters, than see a Lois/Clark marriage break up. That's how important I feel Lois and Clark's marriage is. If ONE marriage should work for a key superhero, it should be Superman's

Same here.

[Kurosawa]

No, there's no way in hell Clark and Lois would ever get a divorce. If he gets to the point that he can deal with his survivors guilt and fear of commitment and if she can forgive him for deceiving her, or better yet understand why he needs to roleplay as Clark then there's no way they'd divorce.

Now I could have accepted Spidey and MJ getting divorced over OMD, at least that's still character growth even if it is from a negative experience. And although MJ is a great character, she's not a noble character with high morals like Lois is often portrayed as being. I love Maggin's take on Lois-that she believed in many of the same things as Superman, but until he came into her life the cruelties and hopeless of life had begun to eat away at her idealism. Superman showed Lois that people could be better and kinder, and validated what she believed in all her life. That's why she loves him, not because of his powers. His heart is his greatest power anyway.

[The Frozen Reptile]

Why not bring back the old "Mrs. Superman" imaginary stories? (Just kidding. Old Silver/Bronze Age fanatic here.)

Honestly, they will end up together again. Clark already shows the seeds of liking her. She cares for Clark (as a friend) already, but they are writing her (as they should) as a woman of her times (where she is wrapped up in her little bubble, like everybody is...there's a reason this is called "Generation Me.") She showed she was worried about his negative opinion by not telling him that she was moving in with her boyfriend. Superman already rescues her a lot, even when on dates with Diana. No one does that unless they are way to noble or they have "deep feelings".

Besides, if this doesn't happen, a large part of the mythos will be lost and the movies would not make any sense anymore.

[Sacred Knight]

The mythos will be fine as long as there's always an existing dynamic for the two. That's all that really matters. That they're actually together has really never been key. Its been status quo for about two decades before the relaunch, but for the 50+ years prior to that it wasn't. Co-workers with a spark at least beneath the surface, that's the base necessity to keep them interesting.

[misslane38]

The mythos will be fine as long as there's always an existing dynamic for the two. That's all that really matters. That they're actually together has really never been key. Its been status quo for about two decades before the relaunch, but for the 50+ years prior to that it wasn't. Co-workers with a spark at least beneath the surface, that's the base necessity to keep them interesting.

In previous eras' stories, characters didn't advance organically because the stories weren't serialized. Everything came with a big reset button, so Superman and Lois would do the romantic dance perpetually. That's not the case now. You can't transpose the narrative structure of yesterday onto the narrative and characters of today. That said, you're incorrect to only identify the past 20 years as progressing the Clark//Lois romance beyond a simmering spark. Clark and Lois were dating in the Bronze Age and, according to Martin Pasko, having sex. They were simultaneously wed and living life as a married couple post-Superman Takes A Wife in the Earth-2 spin off Mr. and Mrs. Superman. That's more like 30+ years. Going by what you say about a dynamic needing to exist between Clark and Lois for they mythos to be fine and interesting, it would seem obvious that if Clark and Lois are permanently paired up with other people it's not even close to the same story; you can't have sparks with someone else if you're in a relationship with someone else.

[Mr. Holmes]

Dislike both options, but voted for the second one, since the first is basically lose-lose.

[The Frozen Reptile]

The mythos will be fine as long as there's always an existing dynamic for the two. That's all that really matters. That they're actually together has really never been key. Its been status quo for about two decades before the relaunch, but for the 50+ years prior to that it wasn't. Co-workers with a spark at least beneath the surface, that's the base necessity to keep them interesting.

There still needs to be a little more; I just received Smallville Season 4 for X-mas, and the way Lois and Clark are on tv in a different interpretation of the mythos still has the seeds for the future romance (her visual reactions everytime he is naked/topless, for example).

In previous eras' stories, characters didn't advance organically because the stories weren't serialized. Everything came with a big reset button, so Superman and Lois would do the romantic dance perpetually. That's not the case now. You can't transpose the narrative structure of yesterday onto the narrative and characters of today. That said, you're incorrect to only identify the past 20 years as progressing the Clark//Lois romance beyond a simmering spark. Clark and Lois were dating in the Bronze Age and, according to Martin Pasko, having sex. They were simultaneously wed and living life as a married couple post-Superman Takes A Wife in the Earth-2 spin off Mr. and Mrs. Superman. That's more like 30+ years. Going by what you say about a dynamic needing to exist between Clark and Lois for they mythos to be fine and interesting, it would seem obvious that if Clark and Lois are permanently paired up with other people it's not even close to the same story; you can't have sparks with someone else if you're in a relationship with someone else.

It's interesting to think if he was sleeping with Lana (as Clark) at the same time. Bronze Age Superman could have also had Duplicate Girl; he's a dawg!

[misslane38]

It's interesting to think if he was sleeping with Lana (as Clark) at the same time. Bronze Age Superman could have also had Duplicate Girl; he's a dawg!

I believe Lois ended things with Superman prior to Clark dating Lana, so the two relationships didn't overlap.

[Fate's Faith]

Well, don't think the poll makes much sense to me so didn't vote. So I'm going to speak to what the reboot to no marriage has done so far. Its Superman #14 (I believe) where we see the friendship between the two very much in play better than I've ever remembered it. And they even touch on their attractions to each other. Clark mad about her moving in with Christopher. Her wanting to know why he's not telling her of the new woman she believes he has in his life. Apparently, their friendship now doesn't shy away from them each thinking of the other as potential partners. But the time just isn't right. Lois didn't want Clark to stop her from moving in and even mentions he's probably the only one that could. I think the friendship is much deeper here including it seems to me the fear of damaging it by taking the step to moving it to something more. I think that's why the marriage being rebooted was a nice way to go. It would be silly to say they are better friends than partners during their marriage. That's just another way of saying getting married was a mistake. And to break them up with a different manner would always sit out there waiting when its fixed. No marriage means nothing to fix. A better handling of friendships between men and women. Much more interesting. Will they in the future get together or will they remain apart due to not wanting to ruin what they currently have or will one of them lose a friend because they wanted to take a step the other didn't. Plus, we get them in other relationships that either make this one seem better or worse for them.