Lois Lane is kind of famous for being kidnapped (or otherwise get into serious danger) only to later be rescued by Superman, but don’t mistake her for merely a damsel in distress. A core part of Lois’s character seems to be regularly throwing herself into situations that a normal person would never touch in a million years for the sake of a story. That drive to uncover the truth no matter the cost is a major part of what makes her such an amazing character, but it more often than not lands her into situations that she needs to be rescued from, and nobody is better at rescuing than Superman. Of course, just because the norm is Superman saves Lois doesn’t mean that the opposite never happens. Again, Lois isn’t a damsel in distress or even Superman’s sidekick. If anything, she’s his partner, and she has shown time and again that when the Man of Steel is in danger, there’s nobody better to call than Lois Lane.
1) Psychic Power Transfer
During the events of Superman: Doomed, Superman was infected with a disease that was transforming him into a Doomsday-like creature, all while Brainiac was invading the Earth and snatching up people’s brains to his ship’s systems. By the end of it, he had even captured the Man of Tomorrow and was trying to shatter his will with visions of an ideal life, only for Lois Lane to step in. At this point, Lois had psychic powers due to unrelated reasons, which she used to telepathically link to Superman and rip away Brainiac’s control over his ship. She burnt out her powers transferring that control to Superman, which allowed him to break free and save the billions of people that Brainiac had trapped.
2) Free Him From Dominus
Superman: King of the World saw the Last Son of Krypton take complete control of the planet with an army of Superman Robots and declare himself ruler. While the rest of the world was trying to figure out how to fight a power-mad Superman, Lois refused to believe he would do something like this. With aid from Lex Luthor, the two sneak into the Fortress of Solitude and uncover that the villain Dominus has been impersonating Superman, and trapped the real Superman in the Fortress the last time they fought. Even though his reputation took a massive hit in the eyes of everyone, Lois never gave up on Superman, and that faith allowed her to save him, and for him to save the entire world.
3) Stop HORDR’s Blackmail
The “Superman: Truth” storyline saw the evil organization known as HORDR learn Superman’s secret identity and blackmail him. He was forced to go along with their desires, even going as far as to hook himself up to a device to allow them to study his abilities. Unable to stand seeing Superman at the mercy of someone evil, Lois took it upon herself to leak Superman’s identity to the rest of the world, getting rid of any possible blackmail they had over him. With that, Superman busted free, and no longer had to listen to the demands of the evil organization. This might not have been something that Superman wanted, but Lois saw that it was something he needed, and she didn’t hesitate to help him however she could. A public Superman is definitely way better than one under some mastermind’s thumb.
4) Helped Him Beat a Goddess
In the one-shot comic Superman: The Last God of Krypton, the ice goddess Cythonna is unleashed from her prison, and tracks the Last Son of Krypton to Earth to ensure that Krypton’s legacy dies forever. Upon seeing his strength, Cythonna tries to seduce Superman instead, going as far as to kill a woman who had his scent. In response, Superman stashes Lois in the Fortress of Solitude and goes to battle her himself. Upon learning that he is mortal, the icy goddess goes back to trying to kill him, and she would have succeeded, had Lois not commandeered a Kryptonian battle suit and used it to help Superman take down the goddess for good. The two work together to trap Cythonna inside the sun, which neither one could have done on their own. This comic shows the pair’s incredible teamwork when it counts, even if Lois was giving Clark the cold shoulder at the start.
5) Honeymoon Kidnapping
After Superman and Lois finally tied the knot, the two decided to take their honeymoon in tropical, sunny Hawaii. Unfortunately for comics’ greatest couple, Superman: The Man of Steel #63 showed that nothing can ever be easy for the two of them. Clark recently lost his powers in The Final Night, and so was totally unable to prevent his kidnapping, but Lois wasn’t going to let anyone just take her new husband. She uses her insane investigative journalism skills to track down the kidnappers, and then takes out several armed guards to rescue Clark. Not only that, but later in the issue they are captured again, and then Lois proceeds to grab a knife from an assailant’s hand and cut them both free using only her feet. The cover may show a terrified Lois and a hard-boiled Clark staring down their attacker, but this issue is filled to the brim with pure Lois Lane badassery. She is the one taking down mooks with guns like she’s an action movie star, and frankly, we need more of seeing Lois do this. She is a force of nature, and you best be sure she is not to be messed with.
So there we have five times that Lois Lane saved the Man of Steel. He might be the one pulling her out of the fire more often than not, but Lois isn’t just waiting around for him to swoop down and fix her problems. Lois is more than capable of handling herself, and has shown that when he needs help, she is the first person to jump in to save Superman. Who could ask for a better partner?
