WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Action Comics #1007 by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting and Brad Anderson, on sale now.
Many things have changed in Superman's life since Brian Michael Bendis took over writing duties for Superman and Action Comics. Aside from the revelation that a genocidal alien warlord may have murdered Krypton, the Man of Steel's family life is in disarray. Now, in Action Comics #1007, it seems things are about to get a whole lot worse for him.
If you have been following along over the last few months, you will know that Superman's father, Jor-El, is back in his life, and his son, Jon, has suddenly been aged to adolescence. Even his cousin, Supergirl, has left him to go on a quest into space. It also seems that his relationship with his wife is changing, so it's not like Superman doesn't already have a lot going on for him when Lois decides to out his secret identity to one of his enemies.
The Truth Has Been Revealed
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While Superman is preoccupied with saving the world, Lois takes a moment to meet with her father in secret. Just as her husband's life has changed around him, she has seen too much to keep quiet any longer. Citing Superman's poor relationship with his own father and the recent changes to Jon, Lois tells her father the truth -- that the man she loves is Superman.
General Sam Lane works directly with the United States government through A.R.G.U.S. and, most importantly, is an outspoken enemy of Superman. You don't have to read Dan Jurgens' Rebirth run on the title to know that revealing this information puts her family in danger, but the point is that this also puts her father in a tight spot.
As a man who is seemingly incapable of having any kind of emotional relationship with his family, Lois has needed to keep her father in the dark about a lot of things. However, despite being the wife of Superman (and disregarding the ethical concerns as a journalist about outing her husband's secret to a high-ranking military man), she does it to save her family.
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Telling her father the truth about her relationship with Superman does two things for Lois. The first is that it breaks down the barriers between them in hopes of actually building a genuine relationship with her father. The other reason is that she knows her father loves her more than anything, and unless he plans on breaking her trust, he can't act on this information. Perhaps she has finally found a way to bridge the gap between them.
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Secret Identity or Super Baby Daddy?
We all know that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person, so it's easy to think that Lois is admitting to her father that she is married to the Man of Steel. However, if you cut out all the subtext and just concentrate on what she actually says, there might be something else going on here. Something that involves more subterfuge than we might initially realize.
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At no point in her confession to Sam Lane does Lois actually admit out loud that she is married to Superman. All she says is that she loves the man, and that he is the father of Jon Kent. In fact, it's possible Lois may actually be saying she is having an affair. "I spent so much of my life looking for truth and married a man who has dedicated his life to it... and yet... there's this big lie," but is the lie supposed to be between her and her father or her and her husband?
The idea that Lois Lane may be unfaithful to Clark Kent has been floated around a lot throughout Bendis' Action Comics run. Many of Superman's coworkers believed for a time that Lois had left him. It was even public knowledge that she was seen with Lex Luthor in an intimate setting. In Action Comics #1004, Superman and Lois actually kissed in public, but was that scene really as meaningless as it appeared to be?
As the reader, we obviously know the truth -- Superman and Clark Kent are the same guy. However, to the world around Lois and Clark, it is believed that their marriage is on the rocks. The idea that Lois would tell her father that she is secretly in love with Superman, a "separate" person from her husband, is not that improbable in this case.
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Admitting a non-existent love affair to her father both helps her form a better relationship with her father and gets the heat off her husband. Sam Lane knowing that Superman is the father of his grandchild could be enough to get him to back down without actually having to admit the full truth. Sure, it's all based on a lie, but it's a solution that perhaps only Lois Lane can manufacture.