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Lana Lang

Lana Lang is a fictional character in the Superman stories. She is one of several Superman characters with the initials "LL", including Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, and Lori Lemaris the Mermaid.

In the Pre-Crisis version of the character, Lana played the equivalent of Lois Lane's role as a romantic foil in the Superboy stories. A grown-up version of Lana Lang later appeared in Superman stories, eventually moving to Metropolis to become a television journalist and a romantic rival to Lois, appearing in several issues of Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane besides the regular Superman series.

There were multiple versions of the character in the DC Multiverse. Both versions also used the name Insect Queen. The Earth-Two version, who lived in the Metropolis where Superman and the Justice Society were active in the 1940s, received a mystic amulet from her archeologist father. The amulet had been created to allow a Pharaoh to control and divert the locust hordes that threatened ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, the charm associated with the amulet was set to be energized by the sound of approaching insect wings. The next time an insect flew by, Lana was compelled to create a chitinous golden-brown costume (woven by silkworms under her control) and adopt a villainous alter ego, the Insect Queen. Superman was able to locate an addendum to the spell, which Lois Lane used to remove the compulsion.

Lana's Earth-One version became the Insect Queen after rescuing an insect-like alien trapped by a fallen tree in Smallville. In gratitude, he gave her a bio-genetic ring which allowed her to gain insect (and insect-like, such as arthropods) characteristics. She created a yellow honeybee-like costume and mask, and took the name Insect Queen. She had several adventures with Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Lana's uncle, Professor Potter, inadvertently created the first Bizarro.

In the Post-Crisis version, Lana was a childhood friend to Clark who eventually made privy to his abilities before he set out to use them for good. She had much less contact with Clark since then, but they share a close friendship. She is married to Pete Ross and they have a son, Clark.

Potrayals

In the movie Superman III Lana was played by Annette O'Toole (who went on to play Martha Kent in Smallville). In this film she is a divorcee with a son called Ricky. (Her ex-husband is a former jock and Clark's school bully, possibly inspiring Whitney in Smallville).

In the Superboy TV series, Lana was played by Stacy Haiduk.

Lana made one appearance in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, played by Emily Procter. This was set in an alternate universe, where she was engaged to Clark, and encouraged him to keep his abilities secret. When the main-universe Lois persuaded this Clark to become Superman, she ended the relationship.

The pilot episode of Superman: The Animated Series followed the post-Crisis comics in having Lana as the first person Clark confided his abilities in. She appeared in later episodes as a fashion designer. The young Lana was voiced by Kelley Schmidt, the older version by Joely Fisher.

In the television series Smallville, Lana, played by Kristin Kreuk is again the (often forbidden) love interest of the young Clark Kent, with at least some of each episode devoted to their potentially developing relationship.