Lana Lang's Future

[rebecavaldez]

Lana moves back to Paris, finishes art school and becomes an acclaimed artist in various mediums.

I think that's a chapter in her life that Smallville did not close completely. They went from her being intrested in Art. To Isobel. To Jason. To her dating Clark. To her liking Astronomy. To her hooking up with Lex. To....etc. They never fully closed the "Lana likes Art" part of her life.

[jpfort1957]

Wow, I made a big mistake. I didn't realize this thread was for Lana lovers.

[jon-el87]

Lana Lang has had as many career interests, hobbies and talents as she has had love interests.

What career interests? She worked as a waitress, at the Smallville Beanary, for one day (part-time job, in high school, not an expressed career ambition). Then she ran the Talon seasons 1-3, before selling her half. Her interest in the Talon was about preserving the place where her parents met, not to start a business and/or lifelong career.

After selling the Talon, I don't think she expressed any interest in a career. She studied astronomy, at Met U, but that tied more into the black ship (rather than any real passion for the subject). After black thursday, she seemingly ended her studies and married Lex. After their divorce, she set up the Isis Foundation, which was just a front for her spying on Lex (did the foundation offer actual therapy, before Chloe started doing it, in season 8?).

Looking back, I don't think that AlMiles had any future career plans for Lana. In "Hereafter", we're shown a vision of Lana's future/death. No evidence of a career. Just her dying in bed, with an unidentified man (presumably her husband) standing beside the bed. The same episode shows Clark's future as Superman. Earlier episode "Hourglass" showed that Lex will eventually become President of the United States. Numerous teases are made, in a lot of episodes, to Lois and Clark eventually becoming reporters. Chloe, an original character, expresses an ambition about becoming a reporter (and working for the Daily Planet), from day one. Lana (the female lead, for the first seven seasons), on the other hand, nothing. With her, AlMiles pretty much presented one future tease, establishing: she'll find a husband, one day.

The new showrunners, in season 8, gave Lana superhuman abilities and turned her into a superhero. However, season 11 have her lose these powers, so becoming a superhero wasn't her ultimate destiny. She's helping children in Africa, as no other superheroes were helping there. However, "Valkyrie" establishes David Zavimbe (the man who, eventually, becomes Batwing). Will she stick around, when Batwing (and other African superheroes) show up? Or will she move on? For some reason, I can't picture Lana staying for very long, in Africa (especially as there's nothing in the "Hereafter" vision, that would suggest it taking place in Africa. None of the children, that she's taking care of, are present by her bedside). With lack of evidence, to the contrary, Lana will eventually depart Africa (hopefully, after she feels that no one needs her help there, anymore; not because she's simply grown bored with it).

There just doesn't seem to be any future careers implied for Lana Lang. Maybe she could take over LexCorp, like she did in the comics. Heck, with her being Lex's ex-wife, I could see it happen. The board kicks out Lex (or he resigns, when he becomes President) and elects his ex-wife as CEO, as a giant middle finger to him. Other than that (and even that I'm skeptical about), I don't see what she could do.

[Aurora Moon]

Too bad the art thing didn't lead to a snit in fashion design... would've been a neat shout-out to her JLA cartoon counterpart, who I honestly prefer over the Smallville verison. heh.