Lois Lane has been the most important member of the Superman legend since the very beginning, also debuting in 1938's Action Comics #1. When people think of the Man of Steel, she's usually the first of his supporting characters who comes to mind, so it's no surprise that she's included in almost every kind of Superman adaptation. Amy Adams is the latest actress to portray the intrepid reporter in live action, and while she enjoys playing Lois, she also finds the role tricky in terms of how she's used in these stories.
While chatting with former Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield in a Variety Actors on Actors interview, Amy Adams addressed how it's difficult for her to "own" the Lois Lane role because of all the iterations of the character that have come before. She explained:
That's the tricky thing with Lois, that I find is, I love playing her, I love everyone I work with, but sometimes it's tricky because I feel she's in service of the story instead of the story serving the character. That sometimes can be tricky when you show up and you really wanna retain a character and you have to serve the story....in a perfect universe they all work together.
Amy Adams does touch on a good point in terms of Lois Lane's use in the movies, which in the actress' case so far includes Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While there have been opportunities to spotlight Lois Lane in the comic books on her own, as far as movies and TV shows go, she's always a supporting player, while Superman is obviously the primary protagonist. Lois is obviously an important figure in Clark Kent's life, but she won't be the focus. This was especially the case earlier in 2016 with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where both Clark and Bruce Wayne were the central figures. Lois' reporting in Africa definitely got the story going on Superman's end, but from there on out, she was primarily around to move the plot forward. There's barely any time for her to shine in other capacities.
Even though the DC Extended Universe is slowly expanding, Amy Adams will still be involved in its future as Lois Lane. She'll play some kind of role in Justice League next year, and we can reasonably assume she'll be back for Man of Steel 2. While the former will be packed with enough business, maybe the latter can find a way to give Lois more to do beyond what we've seen of her in two DCEU movies so far, at least in what Adams would like in terms of the story strengthening her character rather than vice versa.
You can see Amy Adams reprise Lois Lane when Justice League hits theaters on November 17, 2017.
