Lana Lang

Lana Lang is fictional character, a supporting character in DC Comics' Superman series. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist John Sikela, she first appears in Superboy #10 (September-October 1950).

Lana traditionally has been Superman's romantic interest when they were teenagers in Smallville. In the Silver Age, she regularly appeared in series featuring the character’s teenaged self, Superboy. She also often appeared as an adult in Superman series, vying with current love interest Lois Lane for his attention.

In the modern DC Comics continuity, she and Clark Kent were and still are close friends with a certain degree of romantic tension between them. For a time, Lana is married to Pete Ross, Clark Kent's best friend as a youth, and has a son named Clark by Pete.

Lana has been featured in most other media adaptations of Superboy or Superman as a teenager, including the recent series Smallville where she is played by Kristin Kreuk. She has also appeared in many adaptations of Superman, although her role is generally smaller. An exception is the 1983 film Superman III, where she was played by Annette O'Toole (who also plays Martha Kent in the TV show Smallville) and was the character’s main romantic interest. Prior to Smallville, Lana was a regular cast member in the half hour live-action Superboy television series, played by Stacy Haiduk in the entire 100 episode run. Up to this point in time, it was this series that gave the Lana Lang character more exposure than any other media adaptation of the Superman saga. The show ran from 1988–1992 in first-run syndication.

Lana is one of several Superman characters with the initials "LL", including Lex Luthor, Lionel Luthor, Lightning Lad, Lena Luthor (whose surname was changed to "Thorul" in the Silver Age, to distance herself from her criminal brother), Lois Lane, Letitia Lerner, Lori Lemaris, Lucy Lane, Linda Lake, Lara Lor-Van (Superman's Kryptonian mother), and Linda Lee (aka Supergirl). Even Superman's birth name is Kal-El, and his father's Jor-El. Notice that a real-life girlfriend of George Reeves, who played Superman on the 1950s TV series, was Leonore Lemmon.