Superman and Lois Lane have often been thought of as one of comics’ greatest couples, but ironically the Big Blue Boy Scout has nearly caused his beloved’s death many times over in all the years they’ve been together. It’s strange behavior for one of the greatest superheroes and for someone so in love with Lois. Here’s 8 times Superman has killed, or almost killed, Lois.

Superman #101 (1955)

Superman stops a strange fireball headed towards Metropolis. Smashing it, Superman finds he has a rainbow ring surrounding his body. It’s so bright, people can’t stare at him directly. Anything that comes in contact with the rainbow ring is turned to glass.

Superman has exiled himself, but Lois believes the effects can be stopped by lead. Driving a car with lead armor, she speeds towards Superman. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen are shocked to discover Lois has been turned to glass as well.

It turns out the rainbow ring was all a trick to fool some criminals into a false sense of security. Superman used a wire and small battery to create the ring. With the ring being so bright, Superman could replace items with glass replicas, including Lois.

Superman #129 (1959)

Lois is covering a story dealing with a scientist studying energy transmission. She visit’s the professor’s lab shortly before he has to leave for a trip.

One of the Daily Planet’s readers found the professor’s briefcase, and Lois was supposed to return it during her visit. Superman agrees to bring it over. Using his x-ray vision to find Lois once he arrives, his power caused an explosion, killing Lois.

Superman is shocked to have caused her death and begins to see Lois’ ghost. After several more sightings, Jimmy, Perry, and Clark are surprised when Jimmy’s new typewriter types out a message on its own. It’s from Lois and reveals she’s stuck in the fourth dimension. Superman’s x-ray vision was the cause of her being blasted into the fourth dimension.

Back at the lab, Superman is able to reverse the effects. Lois snuck back in after the professor left to investigate his work that could one day send people through space by radio. Superman’s x-ray vision was enough to blast her into the fourth dimension.

Superman #203 (1968)

Superman destroys a giant meteor out in space headed towards Earth. He didn’t realize there was a tiny organism within that latches onto his chest. In his Clark Kent identity, Lois notices the Superman emblem, glowing through Clark’s shirt. She and Perry now know Clark Kent is Superman.

Superman tries burning off the organism by sitting in the center of the sun. He returns to the Daily Planet right after Perry told Lois they could never run the big story. Suddenly some blasts shoot out of Superman’s chest, killing Lois, Perry, and Jimmy. They die believing Superman was killing them to protect his secret. The organism is still alive and determined to use Superman and all his power.

Superman passes out and wakes up to discover those events didn’t happen. He was helping some aliens and dug up a red rock. It was red Kryptonite, which always has a different effect on Superman. The effects of the red Kryptonite gave Superman the ability to have a premonition of upcoming events. He then sees the giant meteor with the organism inside. He bathes the organism with his x-ray vision and sends the meteor off on a different course.

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #81 (1968)

Lois has left Metropolis, tired of waiting for Superman to ask her to marry him. This has left Superman heartbroken. Lois moved to another city and started dating a famous astronaut, Randy Kirby.

While covering a story at the state penitentiary, she’s exposed to an experimental gas that was going to be used on prisoner volunteers. The gas gave her psychic abilities, and she realizes Superman does love her.

One of Lois’ visions shows Superman dying in space from being exposed to Kryptonite that got lodged in a space probe. When her warnings are ignored, she figures out a way to go on a space mission with Randy by secretly taking the place of the robot astronaut in the copilot seat.

Once in space, she leaps out and saves Superman. Randy comes out after her, and Superman rips both their lifelines in half. With no witnesses, this is the perfect crime!

It turned out Superman wasn’t trying to kill them both out of jealousy. Their lines got tangled and that was the quickest way for him to save them.

Lois and Randy break up since she’s still in love with Superman, her ESP powers have faded, and she moves back to Metropolis. Superman might not be ready to ask her to marry him, but she knows he’s in love with her.

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #102 (1970)

There’s an international parade of rare animals in town. Lois is covering the story and meets the handsome and mysterious Rajah Satdev. He takes her to dinner and invites her to his seaside estate the next day. Lois notices him drinking a special elixir, which makes him tired. When he falls asleep, she drinks it and also looks under his turban to see what his hair is like. She’s shocked to discover devil horns.

Lois soon discovers she’s also grown horns, cloven hooves, and a tail. She inadvertently sold her soul to the devil for a headline story. Superman arrives and demands to know what’s going on. When Rajah shoots a laser at Superman from his ring, the blast ricochets off his chest and kills Lois.

Continued in issue #103, Superman is devastated. He declares his love to her over her dead body and even recites wedding vows. Lana Lang watches as Superman slips a ring on Lois’ finger and thinks he’s lost his mind.

Rajah turns out to be an alien and Lois wasn’t really dead. He takes her to his home planet and because she’s stuck with horns, cloven hooves, and a tail, he convinces her to marry him. She notices the ring Superman placed on her finger and decides she wants to go home, even if she’ll be shunned because of her features. Rajah agrees and teleports her back, just as her strange features fade away. The after effects of an alien geyser bath managed to return her to her natural state.

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #102 (1972)

The issue opens up with the shocking wedding of Superman and Lois. They head off to the mountains to Honeymoon Manor. That evening, they win a dancing contest, and Superman gives Lois a charm bracelet.

Suddenly the bracelet explodes, killing Lois. The bracelet was booby-trapped!

The story shifts back to the wedding. Lois runs into the church to stop the wedding, but no one can see or hear her. As she witnesses all the events of the day, she’s heartbroken and throws off her engagement ring. Suddenly people can see her. Some men figure out Superman used a decoy, and they begin to attack. Superman uses the dead Lois’ body to fight them off. It turns out the dead body was a robot.

Superman wanted to prove to Lois that being married to him would put her life at risk. The ring he gave her was made of a special metal that vibrated her into a parallel dimension. Only he could see her. He used a robot double for the wedding. Despite all this, Lois still loves Superman and says she still wants to marry him.

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #135 (1973)

Lois needs to go undercover and investigate a cult where rich members mysteriously die and their fortune is left to the leader. Superman finds a big diamond and gives it to Lois so she’ll become rich. Unfortunately Superman has been exposed to some Kryptonite that’s given him a green fever. The cult leader tricked Superman into believing Lois was dead just as he passes out.

Superman is hypnotized and ordered to kill Lois. She’s tied to the front of a van and Superman drives it off a cliff.

Before the van explodes below, Superman flies up carrying Lois’ dead body. She had a heart attack. Happy with the results, the cult leader confesses to locking up the other rich citizens that were believed to be dead. This is all they need to hear, and it’s revealed Lois is still alive. Superman used a hyper-sonic whistle to make the cult leader momentarily deaf so he wouldn’t be able to hear Lois’ heartbeat.

Superman Volume 2 # 25 (1988)

Brainiac and Lex Luthor are working together. Brainiac is trying to use his psi-powers against the Man of Steel’s mind. Superman is unaware of the attack, but his mind is naturally fighting them off. This battle has left him tired, and he accidentally loses control of his strength at the Daily Planet. Lex Luthor arrives declaring Clark Kent is Superman. His guards attack and Superman accidentally kills them and Lex Luthor. Luckily it was just a dream.

Clark is still sleeping at his desk at the office. Alice wakes him from his dream/attack, and she suddenly transforms into Brainiac. Clark attacks Brainiac, only to discover it really was Alice. Perry tries stopping Clark. It turns out Perry is actually Brainiac and rips off Clark’s shirt, revealing his costume. Superman attacks and this time kills Lois.

Thankfully, Clark was dreaming…again. He didn’t kill Lois or anyone else. Confused and not completely certain whether or not he’s still dreaming, he rushes out of the building before he can cause any real harm. He does manage to confront the real Brainiac and put a stop to the attacks.

These were just some of the examples of how close Superman came to killing Lois Lane. He may be a great hero, but you have to watch yourself around him. Maybe it’s a good thing Superman and Lois aren’t currently together in the comics. The last thing we’d want is for Lois to actually get killed by Superman.