I don’t know about you, but I love hearing about how a couple first met. Whether it’s a blind date, a random meeting at a bar, or a chance encounter at the grocery store, there is just something heartwarming about these stories. Of course, sometimes you’ll run into a couple who may disagree about the circumstances of their first meeting.

Take Superman and Lois for instance. Often, they’ll say that Perry White introduced them at the Daily Planet, but sometimes they’ll claim they met at summer camp. Or Lois will say she met Clark naked in a field. (I’d imagine Clark hates when she tells that one.) This is what happens when your 85-year courtship spans comics, radio, television and film.

To make matters even more complicated, there are times when Lois will meet Clark Kent, then meet Superman, unaware that they are the same person. This really throws the “first meeting” story for a loop. If you’ve been watching, then you know this is the case in the new My Adventures with Superman animated series.

So how did Lois and Clark first meet, really? Let’s start from the beginning…
 

1938 - Action Comics #1

In case you didn’t know, this is actually Superman and Lois Lane’s first appearance. Clark is already established at the Daily Star newspaper when the story begins, so we don’t see how he met Lois. However, it’s clear that their relationship is far from great. He asks her out, and she passive-aggressively accepts. The date doesn’t go well, with Lois angrily calling Clark a “spineless unbearable coward” as she leaves.

Lois first encounters Superman when he saves her from a thug named Butch Matson. Lois is frightened by the mysterious Man of Steel and doesn’t say a word to him. “You needn’t be afraid of me. I won’t harm you,” Superman says as Lois cowers away.
 

1939 - Superman Newspaper Strips

Clark Kent notices Lois Lane for the first time when he enters the Daily Star looking for a job. He hears Lois arguing with her editor, and remarks that she has spunk. Lois meets Superman for the first time when he rescues her from some thugs.

The sequence is almost identical to the one in Action Comics #1, but since it’s running in a daily newspaper it’s dragged out. For example, the thugs throw Lois from a plane, where Superman catches her. Then she winds up in quicksand, where he has to save her again. You can’t say he’s not devoted to her.
 

1940 – The Adventures of Superman Radio Show

In 1940, the Superman radio show gave us another version of Lois and Clark’s first meeting. Perry White introduces Rolly Bester’s Lois to Bud Collyer’s Clark in the seventh episode of the radio program and she instantly takes a dislike to him. She accuses Clark of being a fraud who fabricates all of the stories he writes.

Superman saves Lois for the first time after a criminal throws her from a plane. He didn’t stick around to chat, however, since he was trying to remain an urban legend. All Lois knew was that a mysterious man in a cape had caught her.
 

1942 – The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther

By the time this prose novel was published, a template had been set for how Lois meets Clark. The rookie reporter first meets Lois when he comes into the Daily Planet looking for a job. Lois instantly despises Clark, viewing him as a coward. She has a much more favorable opinion of Superman, who saves her from a criminal at a shipyard.
 

1948 - Superman Movie Serial

The 1948 movie serial gave us our first live action versions of the couple, with Noel Neill playing Lois Lane and Kirk Alyn playing Superman. Lois Lane meets Superman for the first time when the Man of Steel saves her from a collapsed mine. Oddly enough, their first interaction is brief. Lois is more focused on filing her story and doesn’t dwell on Superman revealing his existence. As with other versions of the story, she instantly dislikes Clark, resenting him for beating her to an assignment.
 

1948 - Adventure Comics #128

This time around, Lois and Clark have their first meeting as teenagers. DC was kind of hoping everyone would forget that previous comics established them meeting as adults (but to be fair, the concept of Clark operating as Superboy is a retcon in the first place, so I suggest just going with it).

A teenage Clark Kent wins a journalism contest and his prize is a weeklong job at the Daily Planet. (This sounds like a scheme for the Planet to get some free child labor, but it was 1948.) Once he arrives in Metropolis, Clark Kent meets Lois Lane, the other contest winner. “Golly! She’s so pretty,” Clark thinks. “Golly! He’s so unexciting,” Lois muses.

Once she learns that Clark is from Smallville, she instantly tries to get him to introduce her to Superboy. Lois gets her wish when Superboy saves her from some criminals. She demands that Superboy take her flying, and although he refuses, her persistence wears him down.
 

1959 - Adventure Comics #261

In 1959, Adventure Comics presented another take on Lois and Superboy’s first meeting. I guess they figured nobody would notice? This first meeting is notable, however, because it’s the only one to take place at a summer camp. A teenage Lois Lane enrolls in a Smallville summer camp, hoping she’ll meet Superboy.

The Boy of Steel saves her from a bear and she’s instantly smitten. They set up a date for later, but a bad brush with poison ivy (the plant, not the villain) gives Lois a bad rash, canceling their plans.
 

1978 - Superman: The Movie

Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder probably set the gold standard when it comes to Superman and Lois introductions. The film follows the standard set by the Golden Age comics—Clark meets Lois on his first day of work at the Daily Planet. Kidder’s Lois seems to be moving at a speed all her own and barely has time to acknowledge Clark.

Her meeting with Superman is far more spectacular. When a helicopter accident sends Lois plummeting to her doom, the Man of Steel flies to the rescue. “Easy miss. I’ve got you,” Superman says. “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?” Lois replies in surprise. And thus began one of the most iconic romances in comic book cinema.
 

1986 - The Man of Steel

After the reality altering events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC was given another opportunity to reimagine Lois and Clark’s first meeting. When an experimental space plane begins to lose control, Superman reveals himself to the world, saving the aircraft. One of the passengers happens to be Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, who confronts her strange savior, demanding answers.

“She has a quality,” Clark recounts to his parents. “Something I’ve never seen in any other woman. Almost a fire in those big dark eyes. For just a moment, it seemed as if something passed between us. A spark.”

This time around Clark got his job at the Daily Planet by bringing in an exclusive interview with Superman (let’s ignore the ethics, shall we?). Lois is enraged, since she had her own interview with Superman ready to go. This set their working relationship off on the wrong foot, causing Lois to despise Clark for years.
 

1996 - Superman: The Animated Series

This beloved animated series gave us a fun version of the Lois and Clark dynamic. When Clark Kent comes to work at the Daily Planet, editor Perry White introduces him to Lois. The hardened reporter playfully teases Clark about his middle America roots, nicknaming him “Smallville.” The two reporters instantly develop a rivalry, but a respectful one.

Lois first encounters Superman when he saves her from a terrorist attack during a press conference. She’s immediately enamored by him, calling him the ideal man.
 

2004 - Smallville

The primetime drama presented a steamier version of Lois and Clark’s first meeting. Tom Welling’s Clark Kent landed in a cornfield, naked and amnesiac, after having his mind reprogrammed by an AI of Jor-EL (Smallville was a wild show). Eric Durance’s Lois Lane found him and immediately took him to the hospital. She found herself struggling to keep her eyes on his face. That’s one way to break the ice.
 

2013 - Man of Steel

Zack Snyder’s 2013 film brought a new dynamic to Lois and Clark’s relationship. Instead of meeting at the Daily Planet, Amy Adam’s Lois Lane first meets Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent when she investigates a crashed Kryptonian scout ship. The ship’s security system wounds Lois, but luckily Clark was inside of the ship, investigating it himself. Clark holds Lois to the floor, using his heat vision to cauterize her wound as she screams in pain. This was a bit more intense than the version where they met at summer camp.
 

2021 - Superman & Lois

The CW primetime drama kept the basic template, with Clark being introduced to Lois during his first day of work at the Daily Planet. However, everything else was given a modern spin for the 21st century. Lois didn’t see Clark as a rival, but rather an ally to help her write about the oppressed. Although Lois respected Superman, she found the Kryptonian hero to be a distraction. She only had eyes for Clark, eliminating the two-person love triangle that had dominated early media versions of the characters.
 

It's interesting to track the evolution of Lois and Clark’s first meetings. Each retelling adds a new layer, reflecting the changing times and their evolving characterizations. In some ways, Lois and Clark seem destined to repeat these first meetings across the multiverse for all eternity. Speaking for the millions of Superman fans and hopeless romantics around the world, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
 

Catch Clark Kent and his friends in new episodes of My Adventures with Superman Thursdays at midnight on Adult Swim and streaming the next day on Max!

Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC Entertainment or Warner Bros., nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.