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"I've been working for the DOD for a long time. I've seen things you would not believe. Glimpses of other worlds and the leagues of superheroes they have on them. And even though we only have your father on this planet, thank God that we do, because he's the finest of any Earth. So don't go losing hope yet. I sure as hell haven't. Your mother hasn't and I guarantee you, neither has Superman."
—Sam Lane[src]

General Samuel "Sam" Lane is a military general of the U.S. Army and the director of the Department of Defense. He is also the son of Natalie Lane and an unnamed man, the ex-husband of Ella, the father of Lois Lane and Lucy Lane, and the grandfather of Jonathan Kent and Jordan Kent.

Eventually, Sam was abandoned by his wife Ella, which made him neglect raising his daughters, also preferring not to get involved in her conflicts. Lucy became a follower of Ally Allston and Lois became a reporter for the Daily Planet, later marrying Superman and having two children, Jonathan and Jordan. In 2021, Sam with the DOD helped Superman during the confront with a stranger, and the invasion of Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr. After Rho's defeat, Sam decided to retire from active duty to spend more time with his family, and was succeeded by Mitch Anderson in the DOD. But his vacation didn't last long as he had to return to resolve his daughters and Jordan's conflicts.

Biography[]

Early life[]

When Sam Lane was a cadet, he kept Dr. Wiles' husband from getting kicked out of the academy twice.[1] At some point, Sam became a general and had two daughters with his wife; Lucy and Lois.

After his wife left, Sam blamed himself for driving her away. For him was easier just to focus on work. There, he trusted himself. But at home, he felt out of his depth.[2] Lois always felt that Sam's first priority was his job.[3]

At some point, Sam has watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which he erroneously calls "pirates in the island movies". He still likes the first movie better. Sam liked to tell Lucy and Lois that he set two state records in his senior year. At some point, Lucy and Lois snuck out with Sam's rum. Later, they came back to base only to find him waiting for they and he got pissed.[4]

During Lucy's involvement with Ally Allston's cult, Sam preferred not to get involved between her and Lois and did not read Lois's article on the subject, because Lucy said it wasn't like that for her.[2]

Sam knows that Clark Kent is Superman and instead of being against him, believes the world actually needs Superman. He attended his daughter, Lois Lane's wedding to Clark and through her, has two grandsons, Jonathan Kent and Jordan Kent.[5]

A new enemy[]

United States Army (Earth-TUD25)

Sam arrives at the nuclear power plant.

Sam Lane and the army went to a nuclear plant that was about to explode. When he arrived at the site, he asked a worker how long they had before the plant exploded, with her replying that it would only take a few minutes and that radiation would cover the entire Metropolis. Then, using his device, he called the Superman to resolve the situation, and it worked. When Superman landed, they realized that the same thing had already happened to another plant, with Sam saying that the cracks were intentional and that worried him.

The Kent family at Martha's funeral

The Kent family at Martha's funeral.

He then asked if Lois was not complaining as Clark spent a lot of time away from home and said that he also wanted to take Jonathan fishing, and that maybe Clark could convince Jordan to come along. Clark said he was going to make an appointment with Lois and said goodbye to the General. When Martha Kent died, Sam attended her funeral. Sam later goes on to Kent farm and shows Clark a video that had the Kryptonian language and showed the Stranger who was in the nuclear power plants.[5]

After learning that Lois, Clark and the children moved to Smallville, Sam comes to Kent farm just as Lois takes the twins with her to the town meeting. Sam berates Clark for revealing his secret identity to the children because he feels that it will take a toll on their mental health. The Stranger who had sabotaged the nuclear power plants appeared in the military facility that Sam was in and started attacking the soldiers, so Sam called Superman to stop him. Sam ordered everyone to leave the facility and the Stranger invaded, asking Sam to stop protecting Superman. Then he gives Sam an object with the symbol of the House of El and says that where he comes from, Sam doesn't trust Kal-El and knows what he's capable of. He asks for your help to stop him before Clark arrives and defeats him, which ends up being revealed as just armor. Sam then tells Clark what happened and shows the object. He says the Stranger was there after Kryptonite, making Clark angry. Sam says he had kryptonite so that no one could use it against Superman. In his office, Sam looks at the object and realizes that the word hell is in it.[6]

Superman and Sam Lane

Sam and Clark at military base.

Days later, Sam goes to the twins' football game and realizes that Jordan has powers. Annoyed, he has an argument with Lois and Clark. He tells Clark that Killgrave has escaped from prison and then tells the children not to catch his father while he is Superman. After arresting Killgrave, the children tell Lois and Clark what happened, making them angry and going to get some satisfaction from Sam. Later, Sam called Rosetti to find out about Project 7734.[7]

A metahuman named Tag Harris attacked Jordan after the game, and Sam finds him on security cameras in Metropolis and warns Superman. When the DOD appears to try to arrest Tag, Superman tries to calm them down but is hit with Kryptonite ammunition. After Superman recovers and Tag is arrested, the hero questions Sam about using weapons against a child and kryptonite against him. Later, Sam goes to Kent Farm and warns the Kent family that Tag has been sent to a school for children with special powers.[8]

Morgan Edge's rise[]

When John Henry Irons was apprehended by Superman, he was interrogated to find answers on his secretive background. General Lane then informed Superman that he'd use Lieutenant Jason Trask to torture Irons for information if he couldn't force him to talk. When Lane learned that Rosetti was accessing Project 7734, he tried to convince the returning Superman to let his men apprehend Rosetti. When John Irons was prepared to kill Superman, Lois and Sam come in and Lois making him give it up and he is arrested again. Later, Superman is recovering with Sam, who reveals to Clark that Project 7734 is for some Kryptonian threat. Clark reveals to him that he trust goes the two different ways, and gets some information about Rosetti.[1]

When Jordan gets sick and can barely breathe, Clark, Lois and Sam conclude that Project 7734 is still affecting Superman and now is affecting Jordan second-hand. Clark takes Jordan to the Fortress of Solitude to save his life from the synthetic Kryptonite poisoning and Lois asks Sam to leave their lives for good. When Emily Phan and Jasper Townes attacked Kent Farm, Sam tried to stop them with Kryptonite gas and give Lois and Jon enough time to escape. When the individuals left, Kent Farm was closed and surrounded by soldiers from Lane to protect his family. He and Lois provisionally reconciled, with Sam apologizing for not being a good enough father for her.[3]

Sam and the DOD used Sequoia as a temporary base of operation when they occupied Smallville in their quest to stop the plans of Morgan Edge. Superman and the DOD captured Dabney Donovan (Edge's scientist) so he could fix the Eradicator, but he said that the only one who would be able to do that would be its creator; Lara Lor-Van. After Lana Lang overhears a conversation between Sam Lane and Superman, she applied to be Lara's host until she fixed the device. When fixed, Superman told Sam he had a plan, he brought all the Subjects to Smallville to use their heat vision to disable the object and it worked, during which Sam Lane made all the officers leave the DOD base.[9]

After Superman was possessed by Zod, Sam asked A.R.G.U.S weapons that could disable his powers. At the Kent Farm, Sam and John Irons think Clark is gone and they need to kill him while there is still time, and Lois disagrees and thinks he'll be fine. When Lois leaves, Sam asks if John still has his gear. At the DOD base, John Diggle went in Lyla Michaels's place, and after talking to Lois, Diggle is furious that Sam deceived him and Lyla concerning what the tech was for and questions him. He's additionally not excited that Sam was holding onto somebody from one more Earth without unveiling it. Eventually, with the help of John Irons and Lois Lane, Superman returned to normal and managed to capture Tal-Rho, and imprisoned him in a cell that disables his powers. Sam later tells Clark and Lois that Leslie Larr is as yet in the breeze, however they're giving a valiant effort to discover her.[10]

In his base, Sam says he needs to take the all the Kryptonite and sink them to the lower part of the sea. He guarantees Clark that he, Lois, and the kids will be protected, but Clark says they still need kryptonite in case something happens again. Later, Sam calls Lois to say he's stressed over Clark.[11]

When the citizens of Smallville wondered what the DOD was still doing in the city and began to protest, Sam decides to make a statement, but Tal-Rho runs away with Leslie Larr (who Superman and John had arrested) and he had to leave, leaving the populace furious. Sam and his soldiers remained in Smallville in case he returned. Sam tried calling Jon and Jordan, telling them to come home, but they ignored the call. Sam tracked them to the Cushing house and drove them away. On the way Edge attacked the car, and caused it to crash. Sam was injured and nearly unconscious and gave Jonathan his Kryptonite gun, instructing him on how to shoot Edge. However, Edge was quick and dodged the bullet, kidnapping Jordan.[12]

The Cushings show up to help Sam and Jon with their injuries. At night, the citizens protest the DOD and Sam tries to calm them down. Meanwhile, Tal-Rho has returned to Smallville and turned six of Sam's best soldiers into Kryptonian members of the Defense Council. Sam and his troops evacuate Smallville while Superman and John Irons fight Edge and the Council, and eventually they won.[13]

Changing his priorities[]


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After Morgan Edge's defeat, Sam attended the Cushing house party and admitted to John Irons that he had given enough to the world and decided it was time to retire from active duty to spend more time with his family.[13] Later, Lieutenant General Mitch Anderson succeeded Lane in the DOD.[14] Sam's vacation didn't last long as he had to return to resolve his daughters and Jordan's conflicts.[2][15]

The Lane family at the Smallville Crows game

Sam with Lucy and Lois at the Smallville Crows football game.

Eventually, Sam convinced Lucy to go to the Kent Farm and make amends with Lois. They were initially hostile, but Lucy was happy to be reunited with her nephews, and ended up staying all day. In the evening, they went to watch Jonathan's football game. Sam went out to get popcorn and ended up talking to Mayor George Dean. When he returned, Lucy had already left after arguing with Lois.[4]

Family Tragedy[]


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After an argument with Jonathan, Jordan went fishing with Sam, who later showed Jordan photos of a fire incident where his hair stood out, claiming that he needed to cut his hair, but Jordan refused and left Sam after he put into question his responsibility as a hero. The next day, both Sam and Jordan apologized to each other, with Sam deciding to not cut Jordan's hair but instead give him a protective suit he had his team make and also gave Jordan his father's pilot goggles to wear with the suit on his future missions.[16]

Kidnapped by Lex Luthor[]


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Personality[]

"My job is to protect the American people by any means necessary."
—Sam Lane to Superman[src]

Sam is very open-minded: even though his job was to protect America, he also understood Superman's job is to protect all humans, regardless of their country of origin. As such, he never pushed Superman to rescue an enemy vessel and deliver it to America to secure, something his successor Mitch Anderson failed to understand. As a result, he had a great working relationship with Superman, having few, if any problems over the course of 20 years.

He is also very wise: when Sam found out Clark and Lois were going to be married, he warned them that the day would come where Clark would have to choose between his duties as Superman and his family. When that day came, Sam didn't hold it against Clark or Lois for choosing their family over Clark's duties, but did remind them of his warning, respected their wishes and left it at that.

Sam enjoys going fishing with his grandson Jonathan.

Sam was an absentee father who put his duties over his own family, which lead to his relationship being strained with Lois since her childhood. He was also somewhat controlling when he saw Jordan display above average physical abilities emphasized the Kent family needs to keep their head down to avoid drawing suspicions to Clark. He also tried to tell the boys not to be too burdensome on Clark since he is Superman, which led to more fallout between him and his family.

After meeting with John Henry Irons, Sam began to think what would happen if Superman turned against the earth and he developed a project called 7734 (a name he got from Irons that when put upside down spells "hell") as a contingency in case such an event occurred. He did express regret that 7734 weapons ended up being used against Superman and acknowledged that he had lost his son-in-law's trust, and would have to work to regain it. After seeing Superman fight for humanity over his own kind and seeing how the kryponite affected Jordan, Sam decided to dismantle 7734; he would dispose of most of the kryponite but keep enough to keep Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr under lock and keep so there won't be enough to supply an army who would kill Clark.

Abilities[]

  • Expert hand to hand combatant: During Sam's time in the military, he was well trained in hand-to-hand combat.
  • Expert marksman: During Sam's time in the military, he was trained in the use of firearms.

Equipment[]

Appearances[]

Superman & Lois[]

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3


Gallery[]

Promotional images[]

Superman & Lois[]

Season 1[]
Season 2[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • In the DC comics, General Sam Lane is an antagonist to Superman, father of Lois Lane and Lucy Lane and husband of Ella Lane. He is a great military leader and believes that people with as much power as Superman prove an ongoing threat to humanity stemming from his natural distrust. A true patriot, he is willing to cross many lines and even go to his death in the defense of his country. This includes working alongside Lex Luthor on several occasions. There is irony in that his daughter is married to Clark Kent, secretly his greatest enemy. Although he appeared to die fighting Imperiex during Our Worlds at War, New Krypton showed that he had faked his own death. Later he committed suicide during the War of the Supermen, though he was later reintroduced following the New 52 reboot. He was also the leader of Project 7734. He debuted in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #13 (November, 1959).
    • Originally he was introduced as a horse farmer from the town of Pittsdale, before later being reinvented as a U.S. army general.

References[]

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