text: lois lane ( smallville ) lois lane is a fictional character on the television series smallville ; she was portrayed continually by erica durance since her first appearance in the season four premier " crusade " to the series finale . durance began as a guest star in season four , but was promoted to series regular status beginning in season five . the character of lois lane , first created for comic books by jerry siegel and joe shuster in 1938 to be the love interest for clark kent and his alter - ego superman , was adapted to television in 2001 by alfred gough and miles millar — this is the fourth time the character has been adapted to a live action television series . in smallville , lois comes to town to investigate the apparent death of her cousin chloe sullivan at the start of the fourth season . after finding chloe still alive , lois is forced to enroll in smallville high to complete the remaining credits of high school she failed to achieve . as the series progresses , her interest in journalism grows , first writing a couple of articles for the smallville high torch in season four , landing a job at the inquisitor in season six , and finally being hired at the daily planet in season seven . throughout seasons four , five , six and seven , lois 's relationship with clark kent is depicted more as a brother / sister relationship , with the two characters often butting - heads . by season eight , lois begins to realize that she is falling in love with clark , and by season nine the two become an official couple . during season ten the relationship goes through several milestones and midseason the pair get engaged . series developers gough and millar had always envisioned bringing the character of lois lane to smallville , but it was not until the end of season three that the creative team had the right storyline to bring her in . erica durance was hired to portray the iconic female reporter from the comic books . smallville 's interpretation of lois was designed to embody similar traits to that of various leading female characters in film . described as " fiercely independent " , critics have favorably compared this version of lois lane against the other live - action performances of the character in both film and television . role in smallville lois lane makes her first appearance in season four 's " crusade " , when she comes to smallville investigating the supposed death of her cousin chloe sullivan ( allison mack ) . while investigating chloe 's death with clark kent ( tom welling ) in " gone " , the pair uncover the truth that chloe is still alive , but in witness protection until lionel luthor 's trial , the man she is testifying against with evidence that he orchestrated the death of his own parents . lionel ( john glover ) discovers the truth and sends someone to kill her , but lois and clark stop the would - be killer , allowing chloe to testify . before lois can leave smallville , her father ( michael ironside ) informs her that she failed to achieve all of her high school credits , and that he has enrolled her in smallville high so that she can complete her twelfth grade year . staying with the kents , lois begins attending smallville high . in " " , chloe convinces her to become a reporter for the torch in an effort to help lois earn some of her remaining credits . with lex luthor 's ( michael rosenbaum ) help in the episode " devoted " , clark manages to get lois her remaining credits ahead of schedule so that she can attend metropolis university , and vacate his bedroom . in season five 's " fanatic " , jonathan kent ( john schneider ) , who is running for the state senate , asks lois to be his campaign manager after witnessing her take charge against his former campaign manager , whom jonathan fires when he published a statement that goes against jonathan 's values . in " fragile " , lois continues her duties under martha kent ( annette o 'toole ) , who is requested by the governor to take jonathan 's place after he suffers a fatal heart attack . in season six 's " sneeze " , lois discovers an interest in journalism after she is almost struck by a barn door that falls out of the sky while she is jogging . her story is bought by the inquisitor , a tabloid newspaper that gives her a job as a reporter . in " wither " , she begins a romantic relationship with billionaire oliver queen ( justin hartley ) , who , unbeknown to her , masquerades at night as the vigilante green arrow . queen 's " job " as green arrow often gets in the way of their relationship . in " hydro " , lois deduces that oliver is green arrow , setting up an elaborate scheme to prove it . clark and oliver are wise to her plan , however , and clark dresses up as green arrow to throw lois off oliver 's trail . when oliver is forced to leave metropolis to track down all of lex 's experimental facilities , in the episode " justice " , his relationship with lois comes to an end . in season six 's " prototype " , lois discovers that lex has been doing experimental research on army soldiers , one of which was her best friend . as a result , lois decides in " phantom " to begin looking into lex 's luthorcorp projects . in season seven 's " kara " , while looking into lex 's research projects , lois discovers an alien spaceship . her attempt to craft a news story out of the situation lands her a job at the daily planet — in the basement alongside her cousin chloe . while at the daily planet , lois begins a new relationship with her editor grant gabriel ( michael cassidy ) in the episode " wrath " . their relationship comes under scrutiny from chloe and lex in " blue " , with chloe seeing it as reason for co - workers to doubt lois 's true ability as a journalist , and lex believing it will jeopardize the secret of grant 's true identity . in " gemini " , the two finally agree to part ways . in the season eight premiere , lois believes that lex is responsible for chloe 's arrest by the department of domestic security , and goes to his mansion to search his files for her location . she eventually discovers chloe 's whereabouts and arrives , alongside clark , to save her . in " plastique " , lois takes clark under her wing — teaching him how to be a reporter — after he accepts an internship at the daily planet , sitting at the desk directly across from lois . her feelings for clark become stronger as the season progresses , admitting in the episode " committed " that she is in love with clark , and stating to oliver in the episode " bride " that she has never felt this way about someone before . in the same episode , she almost shares a kiss with clark before being interrupted by the arrival of clark 's ex - girlfriend lana lang ( kristin kreuk ) . in the season eight finale , lois and tess mercer ( cassidy freeman ) , lex luthor 's handpicked successor to luthorcorp , get into a physical fight at the daily planet . during the fight , lois picks up a legion ring that falls out of clark 's desk and is instantly transported to another time and place . in season nine , lois returns from the future suffering from visions of earth having been overrun by aliens , led by zod ( callum blue ) . this season , lois and clark officially begin a romantic relationship , while lois also begins assisting " the blur " in his heroic endeavors . lois 's trust in clark is shaken when she thinks clark is jealous of her relationship with " the blur " , and that he does not understand her need to find value in her own life 's work . ultimately , lois deduces clark 's true identity as " the blur " in the season nine finale . lois and clark 's relationship reaches its peak in the tenth and final season . clark finally confesses his secret to her in " isis " and they begin their relationship again free of secrets . he proposed marriage in " icarus " . in the episode " beacon " , with chloe 's help , lois rallies faithful fans of " the blur " and repeals the vigilante registration act ( ) , helping clark and the justice league preserve their secret identities . in " masquerade " and " booster " , lois convinces clark to develop an alter - ego as a way of hiding his true identity as the heroic " blur " . in the episode " prophecy " , lois is given clark 's powers for day , as a wedding gift by his biological father jor - el , and realizes that the devotion they have for each other is clark 's greatest weakness , and calls off the wedding . in the series finale , clark convinces lois that her being in his life makes him stronger , but the ceremony is interrupted by darkseid 's sudden invasion of the earth . lois convinces the us military not to bomb darkseid 's home world of apokolips , allowing clark to finally embrace his destiny and defeat darkseid himself . portrayal series developer al gough contends that it was always the producer 's intention to bring in the iconic lois lane , they just needed a good reason to do it — chloe 's supposed death at the end of season three appeared to be that reason . gough explains that , when casting for the role , they looked to margot kidder — lois lane in the superman film series — for inspiration . they wanted an actress who was " pretty " , " smart " , and who came with some " wit " . dozens of actresses auditioned for the role of lois lane , but it was not until a tape from erica durance showed up that everyone felt that they had found the right lois . as executive producer greg beeman describes durance , " she had a toughness about her . she was tough and sexy and direct . " another plus , according to beeman , was the chemistry between durance and tom welling . durance came on set that first afternoon and the two hit it off , becoming friends and developing a brother / sister relationship on the set . the lateness of her casting forced durance to start filming only three days after being hired , with no time to prepare for the role . under the initial agreement , durance was only to portray the character for a total of four episodes , but , after a discussion with peter roth over how they planned to use the character on the show — insisting that she and clark would not be having a romantic relationship — the feature film division then cleared the character for more episodes . after the character was cleared for more episodes , the creative team decided to plant her in the kent home so that she could provide a constant annoyance to clark . to separate the physical appearance of lana and lois from each other , the producers had highlights added to durance 's hair , as she and kristin kreuk both shared a similar brunette coloring . character development storyline series writer brian peterson discusses how the writing staff chose to develop the character : " in the smallville pilot , al and miles established lex and clark as best friends , which is , to me , one of the best aspects of the show . so when you 're introducing his future love interest , why not introduce her , not as an enemy , but as the one who is constantly going to butt heads with him , where they 're not gonna like each other at all at first ? i think that because we chose such a different take on her , it wasn 't that intimidating . she could grow into the person that everybody sees on - screen later . " for season six , the writers chose to start lois down the path of investigative journalism , only in this version of the character she gets her start working for a tabloid newspaper . writer kelly souders felt that if tabloid beginnings were good enough for perry white — an additional character established in season three 's " perry " — then they are good enough for lois lane . it adds depth to the character by showing how she struggled before becoming " the reporter we all know and love " . as lois steps closer to her ultimate destiny at the daily planet , the writers have continued to evolve the character by having her grow out of the " black and white " mindset and have her begin seeing shades of gray . the writers wanted the character to realize that there is sometimes a middle road that has to be taken . in season eight , durance sees clark taking a job at the daily planet as a chance for her character to " step it up and be more involved " . in this case , lois is acting more mature , taking charge in being a mentor to clark as he transitions into his new job . durance describes the eighth season as a lesson in duality , with clark realizing that he has to be two different people if he wants to have a life and save the day ; durance believes that the same applies to lois . as durance explains , " [ lois has ] got her confidence as a journalist and on the inside , she 's going oh my god i 'm truly in love with [ clark ] , more in love than i 've ever been with anyone . " characteristics when developing the characteristics of their version of lois lane , the writers took inspiration from other leading ladies in cinema , for example , karen allen 's character marion ravenwood , from raiders of the lost ark . todd slavkin describes the character as having a " sophisticated , worldly experience " , and was considered to be more of an adult than the rest of the cast . durance believes that she embodies many of the characteristics that the creative team wanted to show in their version of lois , specifically the fact that lois has a lot of " nervous energy " from trying to " find herself " , the same nervous energy that durance brings to the role . the actress also relates to lois 's sassy , and independent nature , but , conversely , she is not as extroverted as lois . gough describes the character as coming from the school of hard knocks ; she is street smart , and a very capable woman . durance believes her character is " fiercely independent " , but at the same time she is not afraid to admit that she has flaws , and she is only human ; lois also does not feel sorry about having those flaws . she goes into further detail , identifying the character as more of a tomboy who is vulnerable , with gough adding that she is also " slightly neurotic " . buddytv 's john kubicek characterizes her as a fast - talking woman , who , though she whines over petty annoyances , can take care of herself . he goes on to further describe how she is not afraid of getting herself into trouble just so she can dig herself out . relationships one of lois 's key relationships is with clark , who is her husband in the comics . for smallville , the characters ' relationship is in constant development . darren swimmer describes the relationship between lois and clark in season five as " a bit of a melting of the ice " . the two characters continue to " butt heads " , but the audience can see where there is a growing attraction and that either would be there for the other in a time of need . according to erica durance , in season five it is not yet clear if either character realizes the attraction , but the joking between the two characters represents a foreshadowing of a greater relationship . durance believes that because of lois 's self - imposed walls , even if she thought about clark in a romantic notion for just an instant she would immediately make it out to be a joke because she is not ready for that type of closeness , yet . the actress sees season five as being too soon for the characters to be " in - love " , because they are still getting to know each other . writer brian peterson describes lois 's relationship with oliver queen in season six as a precursor to her future relationship with clark . as peterson sees it , it is the dynamic between her and oliver , with her willingness to accept oliver 's secret identity as green arrow as mirroring the relationship she will have with clark . as far as season six is concerned , the relationship between lois and clark is still undefined for the audience . as durance describes it , neither character is willing to put an official label on their relationship . the pair have learned to deal with each other 's " quirks " , but there are still moments that both feel uncomfortable with . instead at this point , durance believes that clark and lois are satisfied with identifying with a " brother - sister friendship " label , than trying to discover how they both truly feel about each other . reception erica durance has been nominated for two saturn award nominations in the best supporting actress category for her performance as lois lane . the first came in 2005 , after her first season with the show , and then again the following year . before the end of smallville 's seventh season , ign 's daniel phillips compared the actresses who have portrayed the character of lois lane over the past three decades . up against the most recognizable version of lois lane , margot kidder , the 2006 film incarnation played by kate bosworth , and the previous live - action television version portrayed by teri hatcher , erica durance was rated the highest . although phillips acknowledges that kidder is the best representation of lois ' personality , he claims that durance is the best overall embodiment of the character . apart from her beauty , phillips states , " durance makes lois intelligent , capable , funny and dangerously curious – exactly the type of woman clark kent would fall for . " mike moody of tv squad named lois as one of five reasons to watch smallville 's eighth season . moody believes that durance 's lois is " one of the best versions of the character " because durance plays her as " tough , brainy , sexy and catty " , which makes her portrayal that much better than kate bosworth 's lois lane in superman returns . buddytv 's john kubicek likens the actress 's performance — her " stylized delivery of lines " — to that of actresses from the 1940s screwball comedy era . other media appearances in 2012 , the smallville series was continued through the comic book medium with smallville : season 11 . written by bryan q. miller , who also wrote for the television series , lois 's story continues as she lives her life with clark , who has now become known to the world as " superman " . her involvement with clark also allows her to meet gotham city 's elusive vigilante batman , and subsequently learn his secret identity and befriend batman 's partner nightwing ( barbara gordon ) . she also teams up with the amazon princess diana prince , and deo 's agent steve trevor was one of lois 's former boyfriends . when lois accepts an assignment to africa to investigate mysterious reports surrounding a vigilante , known as " angel of the plateau . " she is caught in a terrorist attack after her arrival , but is saved by lana , who is revealed to be the superheroine lois investigates . after they are acquainted , lois learns that lana has been using her abilities to protect children from people who would exploit them . however , lois tries to keep the fact that clark is now in the relationship with her from lana . both lois and lana also find themselves targeted by the latter 's enemies , and they send john corben to defeat lana . lois helps the powerless lana in defeating corben , and lana reveals that she knows about her relationship with clark as she saw the engagement ring before lois hid it . lois receives the blessing from lana .