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"It's true. I'm the most full-of-crap lady in Smallville. And most days, when I'm smiling, that's not how I feel inside. I feel lost."
—Lana to her daughter, Sarah[src]

Mayor Lana Lang (formerly Lang Cushing) is the mayor of Smallville, a former mortgage manager at Smallville Bank, and a former cheerleading coach of Smallville High School. She is also the daughter of an unnamed woman, the ex-wife of Kyle Cushing, the mother of Sarah Cortez and Sophie Cushing, the girlfriend of John Henry Irons and the ex-girlfriend/best friend of Clark Kent.

After Sarah was kidnapped by a meta-human, Lana decided to help Lois investigate the Morgan Edge project, acting as her spy at Edge EnerCorp. When it was revealed that Edge was actually a Kryptonian and was implanting Kryptonian consciousness into the citizens of Smallville, the town revolted against Lana and Kyle, but despite everything, they decided to stay after Superman defeated Edge.

Later, Lana decided to run for mayor of Smallville against George Dean after Daniel Hart withdrew from running. Even with Dean trying to defame her family, Lana won the election, but in the midst of that she discovered that Kyle had an affair with Tonya Martinez, so she decided to keep distance from him. After Lana was kidnapped by the Inverse World counterpart of Jonathan Kent, Clark Kent told her about his true identity as Superman.

Biography[]

Early life[]

At some point, Lana was born to an unnamed woman. She grew up in Smallville.

Young Lana Lang

Young Lana Lang.

In Lana's youth, she became friends with Pete, Emily Phan, and dated Clark Kent.[1][2] Clark and Kyle Cushing competed for Lana's attention.[3]

At some point, Lana attended a Soul Asylum concert with Clark and Pete. On their way back, Pete fell asleep while driving, causing the car to careen off the side of the road. She passed out and when they all came to their senses, they were unharmed, but with the car completely destroyed. Eventually, she and Clark broke up.[1][4]

Lana graduated magna cum laude from Stanhope College, but chose to return to Smallville because she wanted to come home.[5]

Lana began to work for Smallville Bank as a mortgage manager. She married Kyle Cushing, and they had two daughters, Sarah and Sophie. In 2016, during the farming crisis of Smallville, she helped Martha Kent to mortgage off her house for a second time under a special scheme run by the bank.[1]

Although Lana tried to show an ideal family for Smallville, in reality her family was falling apart. She and Kyle slept in separate rooms, Sophie bullied other kids at school, and Sarah attempted suicide by taking Lana's sleeping pills. Though Lana recommended Dr. Lawrence for her daughter, Lana continues to feel embarrassed and less-than-worthy because of the incident.[6]

Return of Clark and Lois[]

"Don't even think about leaving 'cause I just got you back."
—Lana to Clark Kent[src]
Lois and Clark at Smallville bank

Lana at Smallville bank.

After the death of Martha Kent, Lana and her family attended her wake, before catching up with Clark and Lois. After letting slip that Martha had taken out another mortgage, she invited the couple to come by the bank the following day for her to explain. They did, and she explained the situation, allowing them time to think it through. Sometime later, she came by the Kent Farm, having managed to dig up an offer for Clark and Lois. However, much to her surprise, they decided to keep the farm, paying off the loan.[1]

A couple of days later, Lana and Kyle went into a diner and saw Lois there; they greeted her and invited Lois to the Cushing family barbecue. Kyle noticed that Lois was researching Morgan Edge but when Mayor George Dean approached, Kyle was distracted, allowing Lana to tell Lois about the city council meeting that night before Lana rushed away.

Lana and Kyle brought their children to the town meeting. Lana sat quietly as Lois asked Morgan questions; Kyle looked at her when he felt embarrassed.

Clark at Cushing house

Lana advises Clark.

The next afternoon, at the Cushing house, Lana was enjoying a large glass of wine as Kyle cooked in the backyard. Lana greeted the Kent family when they arrived; she asked for forgiveness for not telling Lois that the barbecue was a town function, not an intimate dinner. Soon, Lana approached Clark as she had another glass of wine, noticing that Clark, years after high school, still kept a grimace. She asked him not to leave early. Lana further advised Clark that it was his job to make his family adjust to the town.[7]

Mother and coach[]

Early in the morning, Lana and Kyle waited in the car for Sarah to exit her counseling with Dr. Lawrence; though Kyle wanted to go inside to get Sarah, Lana felt embarrassed and did not want anyone in town to see her going inside. When Sarah arrived, Lana asked how it was, but Sarah knew that her sessions were private.

Smallville cheerleaders

Lana coaches the cheerleaders.

Next day, Lana was coaching the cheerleaders. Sarah's timing was off and almost caused a cheerleader to fall. Lana was angry, as the other girls were working hard, but Sarah acted distracted. Sarah, noticing that the other girls were staring, quit the squad.

After practices were over, Lana went to Victoria May's to get Sarah as she hung out with the Kent twins. Lana wanted to talk privately but Sarah insisted on having the conversation around the boys. Sarah accused Lana of being a hovering parent; Lana retorted that she wanted to keep Sarah safe. Sarah unloads the lifestyle arrangements of the Cushing family for all to hear. Lana refuses to be disrespected further and escorts her 14-year-old daughter from the diner. Clark enters; Lana does not have time for him.

The next day, Lana leaves the Smallville Bank and runs into Clark as he delivers the last of the paperwork on the farm; she apologizes to him about the day before and explains that she is having family issues. During the chat, Lana reveals to Clark that Jordan is playing football. Clark tries to correct her, but Lana knows better, to Clark's surprise.

That night, Lana tries to talk Sarah into having dinner with the rest of the family, but Sarah refuses. Lana looks to Kyle for help, but he continues to watch the baseball game. Lana goes to Sarah's room and tells her that she is scared to lose her oldest daughter. As Sarah admits why she almost overdosed and cries, Lana admits that her smile is fake because, inside, she is sad; she was raised never to show her pain to the outside world. They hug and decide to try to find happiness together.[6]

The rain falls heavily as the Crows play football, but Lana is there coaching her cheerleaders during the game.

Lana, Kyle and Morgan dinner

Lana and Kyle have dinner with Morgan Edge.

Afterwards, Lana and Kyle go to dinner with Mayor George Dean and Morgan Edge; the couple do not sit together, as Morgan has arranged the seating so that he is closer to Lana. Morgan pours Lana a glass of wine and proves that he has researched her past in Stanhope College and her return to Smallville; Lana says that she returned because Smallville is home. Morgan says that Lana has "untapped potential" he would like to explore; Lana looks over to Kyle,but he just smiles, with the potential flirtation not fazing him.

Lois and Lana at a bar

Lois and Lana at a bar.

The next morning, Lana and Kyle prepare the community center for the town meeting; while Lana works, Kyle reads the Smallville Gazette and laughs because Lois' article is not there. Lana confronts Kyle about allowing Morgan to make her uncomfortable. Kyle saw no harm in Morgan's want for Lana to have more. Frustrated, Lana leaves for a walk.

When Lana returns, the meeting is proceeding. Lois looks upset; Lana asks Lois out for a ladies' night, to talk. Lois agrees.

Lana and Lois go to a bar and drink. They talk about their husbands and, in the end, realize that they appreciate them because each man seeks to be a hero, citing that Kyle is a fire fighter to make his family feel proud of him. The next morning, Lana slept late; when she awakened to Kyle cooking for the girls, she told him that she loved and appreciated him.[5]

Lana has a confrontation with Kyle after he returns home after drinking. At the Harvest Festival, Lana goes without Kyle and meets Cobb Branden, who asked if Kyle was going and she said he would be staying at the hospital today to tend to his friend who was injured in a fire. In the morning, Lana pays tribute to Martha Kent in an all-town seat.[3]

Edge EnerCorp[]

At Shuster Mines, Lana was hired by Edge to lead Edge EnerCorp's Smallville operations. Kyle was initially disappointed that he didn't get the job, but he was proud of Lana and their relationship slowly started to recover. Lois asked the Cushings to gather information about Edge Enercorp from the inside, and they both declined. At night Lana went out to dinner with Kyle and left Sarah to take care of Sophie. Back at home after supper, Lana and Kyle are discussing the coordinations of her new position. He reveals to her that he is pleased with her, regardless of whether he's still somewhat stung by Edge.

Both of them begin kissing, and Sophie shows up all of a sudden to get some information about dessert. At the point when Kyle goes searching for Sarah, she's no more. They call the Kents to see if she's in the game, but he denies it and the Cushings see Tag Harris kidnapping Sarah on the house recordings. Eventually, Sarah is rescued by the army and taken back home. Later, Lana agreed to help Lois after the Tag incident, and Lois informed her that she believed Edge was involved in a project to empower people.[8]

Edge asked Lana to recruit five people for a leadership training program and hinted that she should select Kyle as a candidate. Lana feared the show could be part of Edge's superpower project and kept Kyle out of it, so Edge recruited Emily Phan, unbeknownst to Lana. Emily went to thank Lana personally, making her worried.[2]

At her house, Kyle discloses to Lana that he needs to be essential for Edge's administration program assuming any new openings come up. At Edge EnerCorp, Lana is assisting a neighborhood business with an award, when Kyle comes and goes up against her because she said they weren't hiring. She advises him that while she prefers Kyle, Edge doesn't think Kyle is the executives material. Kyle leaves, upset.[9]

The next day, Lana bumped into Emily at the office and she mentioned going through a mysterious "process", which she assumed Lana had gone through too. Lana tried to question Emily about the process, but they were interrupted by Leslie Larr, who took her to Edge's office. Edge told her that he knew she was giving Lois information and invited her to go through the same process as Emily, but she rejected him.

That night at the Smallville High musical revue, Emily left in the middle of her daughter's performance without saying anything. Kyle followed her, claiming he would ask what she was doing. Lana reported this unusual behavior to Lois, but Lois broke the call. Later that night, Kyle came home claiming to have woken up in a field with bruised ribs and no idea how he got there, unable to remember anything that happened after he left school, and told Lana that he had accepted the Edge's offer to participate in the program.[10]

Possessed by Lara Lor-Van[]

Lara Lor-Van possessing Lana Lang

Lara Lor-Van possessing Lana.

Sarah confronts Lana for defending Kyle, and when Lana advises her to stop, she leaves to stay at Denise Olowe's house. After Sarah leaves, Lana tells Kyle that she needs to know everything that happened. As they talk, Lois arrives and the Kryptonian consciousness took control and attacked them, but he was weakened by Lois' Kryptonite and was arrested by Sam Lane and the army. The Kryptonian is put in a Kryptonite cell.

Later, Lana went with Lois to the DOD, where she found Superman and Sam Lane. After overhearing the conversation, Lana offered to be Lara Lor-Van's consciousness host, to reverse Edge's procedure using the Eradicator. Lara fixed the device and Superman used it to restore all of the Subjekts to normal, including Lana and Kyle, who were reunited with Sarah.[11]

Morgan Edge's rise[]

The Cushings were blamed by Smallville for what happened and their house was vandalized by angry citizens, but Lana and Sarah assured Kyle that they would get through the rough patch together, and the family got together to wash up with fun.[12]

Due to recent attacks by Smallville citizens, the Cushings put their home up for sale, but received only a below-market offer. Clark came to ask Lana to stay as Smallville needed her now that Martha was gone. Lana admits that she didn't want to leave, but didn't see how her family could stay. Kyle ended up getting an offer to replace the fire chief in Bristol County two hours from Smallville, and with no other choice, they decided to move. When they told their daughters, Sarah scolded them for giving up on Smallville so easily and left.[13]

That night, Sarah ran home and told her parents that Jordan had been kidnapped by Morgan Edge and that Sam Lane was injured. They went back to Sam's wrecked car, helped Jon and Sam out of the car, and helped with their injuries. They took Jon and Sam back to town and found the residents protesting the DoD. Faced with the choice of leaving or staying and helping, the Cushings decided to stay. Sam asked them to help convince the people of Smallville to evacuate. During the evacuation of Smallville, Lana called her mother to inform her of the situation, asking her to tell Sophie that they'll meet up soon. Lana helped people shelter from Edge's energy waves, regaining the affections of the townspeople and later reconciled with Emily.[14]

Smallville elections[]

Lana started working as a campaign manager for Daniel Hart, a candidate trying to overthrow George Dean,[15] but after Daniel left the election, Lana decided to get elected mayor of Smallville against Dean, with Kyle's support.[16]

Lana found difficult to establish trust with voters due to her affiliation with Morgan Edge and having sold reverse mortgages to many Smallville citizens, which later bankrupted them, although Lana was unaware of this. Lana was planning to end her campaign, but Sarah had an idea about another way to reach voters and had Lana do a live stream of herself making dinner and inviting people to ask questions in the comments, which was a success.[17]

Later, Lana was warned by Emily Phan that Dean was looking into her family's past and was asking questions about Sarah. Lana and Kyle were worried that Dean would reveal Sarah's suicide attempt and cause her to slip into depression. However, Sarah assured them that she had overcome this problems and that she was not afraid. While they were having dinner, Lana and Kyle found Dean and confronted him, and they both mutually agreed to leave each other's children out of the campaign.[18]

"Hello, everyone. Most of you know me, but for those of you that are new, I'm Lana, and this is my kitchen. Like a lot of us here, I grew up in Smallville. Whether or not I wanted it to, Smallville has changed. Things are different now. So why not do this mayoral election differently, too? As you can clearly see, I am not a career politician. I'm a working mom, and if Smallville elects me to be the next mayor, I want it to be because you all know me and trust me."
—Lana[src]
Lana speaks at Sarah's quinceañera

Lana speaks at Sarah's quinceañera.

During Sarah's quinceañera, she had a panic attack during the father and daughter dance and ran away. Lana and Kyle followed her and Sarah revealed that she saw Kyle talking to Tonya Martinez and Lana learned that they had an affair. She was furious, but told Sarah not to let what happened spoil her night and they went back inside, where Lana gave a speech telling Sarah how much she loved her.[19]

That night, Kyle didn't come home, and the next day Lana met up with Clark to tell what happened. She asked what he would do if he knew that Lois had cheated on him, and he replied that it would depend on the circumstances but that he would always love Lois. Lana then went to Manito's to confront Tonya. She told Lana that Kyle had broken things off when Sarah attempted suicide. Lana went to the Smallville Fire Department and told Kyle that she was no longer sure if she loved him. So she asked Kyle to move out.[20]

As Sarah and Sophie wanted to maintain a relationship with Kyle, they agreed to the paternity arrangement. When Emily had to cancel a debate prep session just before Lana's first debate with Dean, she asked for Kyle's help, as no one else was available. Kyle told her that since the debate would be moderated by one of Dean's friends, he would focus on their family issues and encouraged her to practice questions related to his case. This allowed them to clear the air between them and Kyle told Lana that he had moved into an apartment.[21]

After another month of campaigning, Lana performed well in the debate and won the election with fifty-three percent of the vote.[22]

The Inverse World[]


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Clark reveals his secret to Lana

Clark reveals his secret to Lana.

After Lana was kidnapped by the Inverse World counterpart of Jonathan Kent, Clark told her about his true identity as Superman.[23]<ref name="Lies That Bind">

Divorce[]


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After giving it a lot of thought, Lana finally decided to divorce Kyle, despite it being hard to sign the papers due to the history the pair had. After the divorce was finalized, it took a while for Lana to get back to normal. This caused her to suffer severe cases of stress, and she took it out on her daughter when she was being highly disrespectful to her. Shortly after thanks to Kyle’s help, Lana and Sarah worked through their issues, and the Cushing family found a way to move forward.

Relationships with John Irons[]


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With her past with Kyle finally behind her, Lana was convinced to look forward and find someone new with the helpful advice of Sam Lane. She found that special someone in John Henry Irons. However, due to John Henry having to deal with Bruno Mannheim, Lana couldn’t tell John how she felt about him. After Bruno’s defeat, Lana got the chance she had been waiting for when John asked Lana out for drinks. The intoxicated pair had sex and officially kickstarted their relationship, despite John moving away to Metropolis soon.

Personality[]

Lana is proven to be friendly. Due to her failing marriage, Lana is overbearing to her daughter, Sarah Cushing, to the point that the latter tried to commit suicide. When confronted on the Cushing family faults by her own daughter, Lana could only deny it to keep up public appearances.

But Lana still loves her family. From a young age, she was taught to keep up appearances and not show her true feelings. She cares a lot about Smallville, to the point of being compared to Martha Kent. Even though the town turned its back on her during Morgan Edge's rise.

Powers and abilities[]

Former powers[]

  • Kryptonian physiology: From her exposure to X-Kryptonite through the Eradicator, Lana housed the consciousness of Lara Lor-Van, altering her being into a Kryptonian. While only briefly existing as such, she had the capacity to absorb yellow sunlight and perform remarkable feats from it.

Appearances[]

Superman & Lois[]

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3


Gallery[]

Promotional images[]

Superman & Lois[]

Season 1[]
Season 2[]

Trivia[]

  • Lana has a Facebook profile, which she used to post photos of her with Clark Kent at some point.
    • It was noted by her daughter Sophie that Kyle was jealous of Clark because Lana had his photo on her Facebook profile.

Behind the scenes[]

References[]

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