Highlights
- Superman has had a diverse range of romantic partners, including colleagues, metahumans, and even a mermaid.
- Cat Grant adds a love triangle dynamic to Clark Kent's relationship with Lois Lane and is known for being involved in a dark storyline.
- Lois Lane is the original and most emphasized love interest in Superman's life, serving as a fearless reporter and emotional anchor to the superhero.
Since changing the face of comic books forever with his 1939 debut, Superman has gone through a near-endless array of wringers and triumphs in both his personal and superheroic lives. As both the Man of Steel and Clark Kent, the Kryptonian Justice Leaguer has had his fair share of romances.
From meeting colleagues in the workplace to being courted by fellow metahumans, the protector of Metropolis has enjoyed an active love life across multiple mediums, including film and TV as well as his comic book source material. While Lois Lane stands as the most famous and enduring of Superman's partners, and the character is hardly on the Lothario level of Batman or Daredevil, there are still a multitude of diverse characters who have brought a little romance to the mythology.
6 Cat Grant Is A Dynamic, Workplace Match For Clark Kent
A successful journalist in her own right, Cat Grant initially hit it off with Clark Kent at the Daily Planet during Marv Wolfman's acclaimed, late '80s run on Superman. Recently divorced and famous for her gossip columns, Grant adds a love triangle dynamic to Clark Kent's relationship with Lois Lane.
While the pair did date in several stories, more recent depictions of Grant and Kent's dynamic have seen them as both friends and business partners. Despite the typically good-natured dynamic, she shares with the superhero's cumbersome alter ego, Grant is arguably best known for being at the center of one of Superman's darkest-ever tales. When her son is kidnapped by Toyman, she has no one to turn to as the red-caped hero is on vacation with Lois Lane. By the time the hero returns to Metropolis, Toyman has murdered young Adam Grant in what remains one of the most disturbing moments in both Superman and DC Comics.
5 Maxima Is A Dangerous, Powerful Figure In Her Own Right
A princess hailing from the planet Almerac, Maxima first encountered Superman when she was searching Earth for an ideal male partner. Impressed with Kal-El's immense powers and sense of honor, she was quick to suggest marriage and a baby to the Man of Steel.
Despite being somewhat tempted by the proposal, Superman was wary of Maxima's morally ambiguous nature, and the potential for a family with her to become a despotic monarchy. Regardless, she would occasionally help the Last Son of Krypton out in battle and even served in the Justice League for a time. Present for the infamous battle with Doomsday, Maxima threw down with the spiky beast, leading to mass destruction in the process. That battle would of course result in the controversial, classic fight to the death that saw both Superman and Doomsday perish.
4 Lori Lemaris Was Superman's College Love Interest
One of many supporting players in the Superman mythology to sport the LL initials, Lori Lemaris was Clark Kent's college love interest in Silver Age stories. Despite their chemistry, there is a key issue with Lemaris: she is secretly a mermaid.
Initially hiding her aquatic lower body from the young Kryptonian, the mermaid gets discovered when Kent finds her water tank. The bizarre storyline takes a more thoughtful turn when Lemaris reveals she's known he's Superman all along due to her telepathy, prompting the pair to agree to keep each other's shocking secrets as they masquerade as normal people. Hailing from the underwater city of Tritonis, Lemaris has unsurprisingly had some storyline involvement with Aquaman over the years and was even a key figure in the Atlantean king meeting Superman for the first time in Modern Age stories.
3 Wonder Woman Is A Sporadic Romance That Frequently Gets Fans Talking
DC's ultimate power couple has come together romantically across multiple continuities, perhaps most famously in the New 52. Both immensely powerful and fully dedicated to justice, it's hardly surprising that these two have become more than just friends at different points.
In Mark Waid's acclaimed Kingdom Come, the pair form a romantic relationship years after Superman loses Lois Lane to a terror attack from The Joker. Depicted as helping each other rediscover their nobility and respective superheroic potential, it's a strong, thoughtful rendition of how a romantic dynamic between the Kryptonian and Amazonian could pan out. The New 52, meanwhile, saw the duo get together in a more present-day setting. Writer Charles Soule and artist Tony Daniel put together a full series focusing exclusively on the pair's relationship that went from 2013 to 2016. Exploring the ups and downs of two such dominant forces linking up romantically, the series provided great insight into both the characters' chemistry and relationship flaws.
2 Lana Lang Was Superman's High School Love Interest
Superman's first girlfriend takes audiences back to his humble beginnings in the country town of Smallville. Representing a simpler, more human time in the life and development of Clark Kent, Lang often pops up in present-day stories, shedding light to readers on Superman's high school years.
Popping up in the infamous Superman III and serving as a lead character in the popular Smallville series, Lang was also a common recurring love interest in the comics prior to the iconic Crisis On Infinite Earths epic back in 1985 and 1986. Much like Clark Kent, Lang moves into the world of reporting, often being depicted as a news anchor for WGBS-TV, a news station in Metropolis. In more recent depictions, Lang has even worked for the Daily Planet as well. However, the pair's romance is typically depicted as something that has transitioned into a more platonic, respectful dynamic in their adult years, lending a sense of maturity and realism to their history.
1 Lois Lane Is The Original And Most Emphasized Of Superman's Loves
The original, and still most important, love interest in Superman's life, the feisty reporter has been a staple of the Superman mythology from the get-go. Falling for Superman long before she takes an interest in fellow reporter Clark Kent, Lane eventually becomes the hero's wife in various continuities.
Frequently depicted as fearless in her pursuit of the truth, Lane's gutsy approach to journalism has often neatly mirrored Superman's commitment to justice. She has also frequently served as an emotional, humanizing anchor to the borderline invincible superhero, serving as a key aspect of his bespectacled, everyman disguise. Depicted in multiple film adaptations over several decades, as well as TV and animation, Lois and Clark's enduring love story remains one of DC's most famous recurring plotlines that has consistently captivated fans throughout Superman's lengthy run as one of the comic book medium's most important and recognizable heroes.