Superman and Lois Lane are a fictional couple. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, both characters, including Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, first appeared in DC Comics' Action Comics #1 in 1938. They have remained in a complicated relationship ever since. A supercouple and the first superhero comic book romance, they are among the best-known fictional couples and have appeared in multiple media adaptations.

The characters' relationship was based for a long time in a love triangle in which Clark was interested in Lois who was smitten with the superhero Superman. Clark, unable to reveal to Lois that his mild-mannered demeanor was a ruse, was unable to compete for Lois's affection. The irony being he was his own rival in that Clark and Superman are, in fact, the same person. This love triangle and the dual identity were originally conceived in 1934. Following John Byrne's 1986 reboot, The Man of Steel, Clark's character became the more dominant personality of the Clark Kent/Superman character and more outgoing, aggressive, and assertive. This allowed a more natural romance to develop between Lois and Clark.

In the 1990s, Clark proposed marriage to Lois and revealed his identity as Superman to her. They began a long engagement, which was complicated by the death of Superman, a breakup, and several other problems. The couple married in Superman: The Wedding Album (December 1996). Clark and Lois's biological child in DC Comics canon was born in Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015), a son named Jon Kent, who becomes Superboy.

Lois is the character most prominently featured with Superman; she appears in virtually all Superman comics and media adaptations and continues to be an essential part of the Superman mythos. Across decades of comics and other media adaptations, in some stories, Lois knows or suspects that Clark is Superman; sometimes this is explored for humour or plot development.

The characters, Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, were created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Superman was conceived as the ideal Hollywood romantic hero of the time, portrayed in films by actors such as Douglas Fairbanks, Clark Gable, and Rudolph Valentino. Siegel and Shuster were both fans of silent film actor Douglas Fairbanks, his films The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), and The Black Pirate (1926) became a huge influence on their writing and art for Superman. The idea of making Superman an alien from another planet was inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars stories. Clark Kent's character grew out of Siegel and Shuster's own personal lives. Clark Kent's name is the combined names of actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Clark Kent's demeanor was based on Harold Lloyd. Lois Lane was inspired by actress Glenda Farrell's portrayal of the fictional reporter Torchy Blane in a series of 1930s films. Siegel took her name from actress Lola Lane. Shuster based Lois Lane's physical appearance on a model named Joanne Carter. Carter later married Jerry Siegel in 1948.

If you're interested in what made Superman what it is, here's one of the keys to what made it universally acceptable. Joe and I had certain inhibitions... which led to wish-fulfillment which we expressed through our interest in science fiction and our comic strip. That's where the dual-identity concept came from, and Clark Kent's problems with Lois. I imagine there are a lot of people in this world who are similarly frustrated. Joe and I both felt that way in high school, and he was able to put the feeling into sketches. That's why I say it's a universal theme, and that's why so many people could relate to it.

On the conception of Superman's dual identity, Siegel said in the 1983 Nemo magazine interview: "That occurred to me in late 1934, when I decided that I'd like to do Superman as a newspaper strip. I approached Joe about it, and he was enthusiastic about the possibility. I was up late one night, and more and more ideas kept coming to me, and I kept writing out several weeks of syndicate scripts for the proposed newspaper strip. When morning came, I had written several weeks of material, and I dashed over to Joe's place and showed it to him. [This was the story that appeared in Action Comics #1, June, 1938, the first published appearance of Superman.] You see, Clark Kent grew not only out of my private life but also out of Joe's. As a high school student, I thought that some day I might become a reporter, and I had crushes on several attractive girls who either didn't know I existed or didn't care I existed. As a matter of fact, some of them looked like they hoped I didn't exist. It occurred to me: What if I was real terrific? What if I had something special going for me, like jumping over buildings or throwing cars around or something like that? Then maybe they would notice me. That night when all the thoughts were coming to me, the concept came to me that Superman could have a dual identity and that in one of his identities he could be meek and mild, as I was, and wear glasses, the way I do. The heroine, who I figured would be a girl reporter, would think he was some sort of a worm, yet she would be crazy about this Superman character who could do all sorts of fabulous things. In fact, she was real wild about him, and a big inside joke was that the fellow she was crazy about was also the fellow whom she loathed. By coincidence, Joe was a carbon copy [of me]."

Siegel objected to any proposal that Lois discovers Clark Kent is Superman, as he felt that, as implausible as Clark's disguise is, the love triangle was too important to the stories appeal. Siegel stated: "If Lois should ACTUALLY learn Clark's secret, the strip would lose about 75% of its appeal—the human interest angle. I know that a formula can possibly prove monotonous through repetition but I fear that if this element is removed from the story formula that makes up SUPERMAN, that this strip will lose a great part of its effectiveness."