Sam Lane (DC)
Sam Lane is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Samuel Lane
At some point, he came to marry Ella Lane where the couple had a daughter together who they named Lois Lane and Lucy Lane with them raising them in Pittsdale. (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #13)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Sam Lane
He along with his daughters were at Elinore Lane's side when she was hospitalised after she was caught in an explosion at a chemical plant. (Adventures of Superman v1 #424)
Later on, he was at Lois's apartment in order to meet Clark Kent's parents where he promised his daughter Lucy that he would be on his best behaviour. (Action Comics v1 #669)
General Lane arranged to meet with Lex Luthor to discuss his new Metallo alloy for use in peacekeeping operations by the United States Army. (Superman: Secret Origin v1 #4)
Him and his wife were later called to meet their daughter Lois who stated that she was going abroad to be a foreign correspondent and leaving Metropolis. An angry Sam Lane opposed this decision where he came to blame Clark Kent for upsetting his daughter and making her embark on such a big change in her life. (Superman v2 #115)
Major Lane later joined President Luthor's administration where he served as Secretary of Defense. (Superman v2 #166)
Whilst trapped in her car, Lois Lane seemingly spoke to the ghost of her father on Halloween which helped her resolve some of her personal issues with him. (Action Comics v1 #832)
In reality, he was still alive and was under deep-cover where he began building an army to combat what he perceived was an alien threat. Under Codename: Patriot, he was allowed to reveal his existence to the world where he participated in Markovia to attack Superman and the Kryptonian Ral-Dar. His return was hailed by the media as a hero with it claimed that General Lane had defended the U.S. President from an alien attack. (Superman v1 #692)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Sam Lane
He oversaw the Steel Soldier program which looked to create augmented humans to fight in battles. (Action Comics v2 #2) General Lane would later to decide to investigate the appearance of the mysterious 'Superman' who had been appearing since the last six months. This saw him bringing in scientific advisor Lex Luthor who had done consultancy work for the military. The intention was for the creation of a regiment of such 'Supermen' that would work for the U.S. military. (Action Comics v2 #1)
After the emergence of the 'Superman', General Lane began to monitor sightings of the individual over the span of six months and had Lex Luthor consulting for the military about this individual's super-powered nature. (Action Comics v2 #1) General Lane was later briefed about the Machine and its operations leading to him taking over the facility along with gaining the services of its superhuman operative Wraith. (Superman Unchained v1 #3)
It was said that Sam Lane once ran a secret program that had the United States secretly supporting dubious dictators. This was exposed by his daughter Lois Lane leading to him disowning her with the pair not speaking to one another since before she had her son Jon Kent. Afterwards, he was leading a black ops mission against the corrupt government of the nation of Logamba where he insisted on operating on the field besides his men despite being a general. No documents or credentials were given in order to allow the U.S. to claim full deniability in the case of capture. The unit was ambushed leading to General Lane's capture with him being scheduled for a live-execution that was being webcast. The U.S. government stated that this was an unsanctioned operation and that Sam Lane was a rogue officer who had gone mercenary with no official rescue mission being launched to retrieve him. (Action Comics v1 #993)
Under the mysterious Leviathan, the Leviathan Organization began a systematic campaign of destroying the various intelligence organizations operating in the world. Among their targets was A.R.G.U.S. with Sam Lane present at their headquarters when a bomb destroyed it. General Lane managed to survive but was badly injured where he was taken to a hospital. Due to being a key intelligence figure, Leviathan looked to eliminate him and sent several brainwashed agents to assassinate Sam Lane. Despite his injuries, he was ultimately able to kill the assassins sent after him. Still in hospital, he was confronted by Lois and a group of people who believed that he was Leviathan. Another agent attacked them and threw a bomb, this forced Zatana to teleport Lois and her father away. However, without his life support, he seemingly died as a result. (Event Leviathan v1 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He and his wife were regarded as being terrific hosts. (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #13)
Sam Lane came to marry Ella Lane where the couple had Lois Lane as their eldest daughter and they later had another daughter named Lucy Lane. (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #13) It as said that all his life he had wanted a son to carry on his name and was disappointed that his wife gave him two daughters. Despite that, he wanted to make do with what was available with him and was hard on Lois as he treated her as a surrogate son. According to him, he did not want her to ever be helpless and trained her to be tough. (Action Comics v1 #597) General Lane would later have a third child with this being a son named Leonardo Lane who he trained to be a super-spy that later went under the code name of Daemon Rose. (Justice League v4 #67)
One of his ancestors was the disreputable John Henry Lane who was was known as the "Grim Chieftain". The man had been a political activist, con-man, rogue and womanizer where he had been the black sheep in the Lane family. (The Kents v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
It was said that the family maintained a farm in their home town of Pittsdale. (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #13)
He came to be the head of Project 7734 that was a military program that looked to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial threats. (Superman: Secret Files v1 2009)
For a time, he was placed in charge of the Machine that was a secret research facility in America that contained Wraith and the knowledge he had brought with him to Earth. (Superman Unchained v1 #3)
Notes
- Sam Lane was created by Robert Bernstein and Kurt Schaffenberger where he made his first appearance in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1 #13 (November, 1959).
Alternate Versions
- In Superman v1 #159 (1963), an imaginary story showed a scientist named Mr. Lane who masqueraded as a farmer to maintain his research in his hidden laboratory. This was located in a barn where he was working on a power ray to send space capsules to save his daughter Lois Lane by launching the craft containing his baby daughter to Krypton before Earth's son went nova.
- In All-Star Superman v1 #1 (2006), an alternate version of the character appeared in the Elseworld setting. He was shown to be talking to Luthor about how he pulled him out of prison to work for the US Government, but Luthor again threatened to kill Superman, before he died. Lane then had Luthor incarcerated in Stryker's Island.
- In Flashpoint: Project Superman #1 (2011), he was in charge of the government division that took custody of the crashed pod that brought Kal-El to Earth as a baby. This division was Project Superman that saw the grafting of his alien DNA to create super-soldiers. He attempted to bond with Kal-El during the latter's time in captivity. When Neil Sinclair was freed from captivity and trashed the lab, Lane sacrificed himself by pulling himself and Sinclair into the Phantom Zone. The two eventually emerged from the Phantom Zone onto a far away island, and Sinclair proceeded to murder Lane before leaving the island.
- In Earth 2 v1 #17 (2014), the Earth-2 version of the character was introduced as part of the new Multiverse of the New 52. He was a survivor of the Apokolips War though his daughter Lois Lane was killed during the conflict. Though she was killed, he managed to upload her mind into a robotic Red Tornado body but was killed during Brutaal's conquest of the planet.
- In Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015), an alternate reality was shown where Sam Lane never became a soldier but instead became a doctor. He never shot a gun but instead healed people until he died on the streets of India. His daughter Lois Lane highlighted her father during a news segment as being a hero compared to Superman who she believed was more of a terrorist.
In other media
Television
- In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Sam Lane appeared in the setting of the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Denis Arndt and later by actor Harve Presnell. This version was a cyberneticist who is divorced from his wife Ellen and has an estranged relationship with Lois Lane, though he attempted to improve both relationships later on.
- In Superman: The Animated Series, Sam Lane appeared in the setting of the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "Monkey Fun" where he was voiced by actor Dean Jones. He was shown to be involved in a space program, and originally owned the monkey Titano, whom he helped Superman and Lois Lane fight after he wreaked havoc in Metropolis.
- In Smallville, Lieutenant General Sam Lane appeared on the television series where he was portrayed by actor Michael Ironside. He was a hard-talking, cigar-chomping military commander who earned himself the nickname 'Uncle Sam'. His wife died while his daughters Lois and Lucy were still very young. When Chloe Sullivan and her father were put in protective custody, Lex Luthor managed to get General Lane in to shield her from the blast when they got into the "safe" house. In the fourth season episode "Lucy", it is noted that "the General" was unable to cope with raising his daughters alone after the death of his wife. He modeled his parenting on that of his Army career where he implemented a chain of command. He was in charge of Lois and Lois was in charge of Lucy. Both his daughters resented their father for this. At the end of the episode, he sent Lois to Europe in order to locate his younger daughter Lucy, but it is unclear if the efforts were successful. In subsequent episodes, Lane has been casually referenced by other characters. Chloe states that General Lane provided her with covert surveillance equipment in "Mortal". With it, she helps Clark Kent infiltrate the LuthorCorp building and rescue his family. Lois told Clark and Chloe that Wes Keenan was the only soldier that the General ever respected. The General returned in the "Ambush", where Clark becomes the first person to pass the "tests" the General has arranged for Lois's previous boyfriends. General Lane reveals that he gave the list of chores to Lois' boyfriends to test her, not them, and Clark is the only one that Lois has ever stood up for, which proves she loves him. The two bond despite their initial disagreement over General Lane's role in the Vigilante Registration Act, which makes him a target of the Suicide Squad and Rick Flag, before dispatched.
- In Supergirl, General Sam Lane appeared on the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Glenn Morshower. He was a high ranking General in the United States Military who was the father of Lois and Lucy Lane. General Lane was shown to oppose aliens making him against both Superman and the newly revealed Supergirl. He was also against his daughter Lucy's relationship with Jimmy Olsen as he felt the photographer was holding her back from her true potential.
- In Superman & Lois, Sam Lane appeared in the setting of the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Dylan Walsh. Sam worked with Superman to stop Tal-Rho before retiring from active duty. Later on, Sam assisted Superman when he started having visions due to an 'invasive cosmological event'. In this time, he also attempted to help his daughters Lois and Lucy Lane reconnect, and secretly trained Superman's son Jordan Kent in better utilizing his powers.
Films
- In All-Star Superman, General Sam Lane appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Steven Blum. He was shown to had employed Luthor to produce weapons for the United States military but Lex had used the resources in a plot to kill Superman. When confronted, Luthor attacked Lane leading to his arrest and eventual imprisonment.
- In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, General Lane appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Danny Huston.
- In Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Sam Lane appeared in a minor role where he was voiced by Jay K. Johnson. General Lane was deployed to lead the United States Army against the invading Atlantean army that had attacked the surface under Ocean Masters commands.
- In Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, General Sam Lane appeared in the direct to video animated film where he was voiced by actor John DiMaggio. He was part of the army's research and development acquisitions branch and attended the technology showcase of Wayne Enterprises where he expressed interest in the company's mech armor.
Video games
Appearances
- Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane v1: (1959)
- Action Comics v1:
- Superman v1:
- Action Comics v2:
- Event Leviathan v1:
External Links
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