Well, I’ve already ranked the Superman actors, so I thought I’d do the same with the various Lois Lane actresses. This one turned out to be a little tougher. I’d say one of things that counts most with an actress playing Lois Lane is how good her on-screen chemistry with the actor playing Superman is, and some actresses may be good by themselves but not quite have that chemistry.

Thus, I must start with…

8) KATE BOSWORTH

She played Lois in Superman Returns, and I found her to be the weakest link in the cast. Her chemistry with Brandon Routh was non-existent, and I never once bought the two of them as some unrequited great love. But even outside of that, she just never felt like Lois Lane to me. Maybe because she was only 23 and lacked the gravitas that I expected?

7)ELIZABETH TULLOCH

I have to put her low on my list kind of by default. As I mentioned in my Superman list, I’m just not into the Superman and Lois TV show, so outside of her appearance in the Arrowverse crossover, I’m not that familiar with her performance. I did end up watching the two-part season 4 premiere of this show a few weeks back, and her performance was decent, but still not enough for me to feel like I can make a more informed judgment.

6)PHYLLIS COATES

George Reeves is my favorite Superman, based on The Adventures of Superman TV show. She played Lois in the first season (& would later play Lois Lane’s other on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman). Still,  it’s Noel Neil who I immediately think of when I think of this series. not Coates, so that put her lower on my list.

5)AMY ADAMS

This is the case where you have a great actress in general, but I felt that her performance as Lois Lane was lacking, as was her chemistry with Henry Cavill. I’ll place most of the blame for this on the material she was given, not her specifically. In Man of Steel, she was great as a reporter who was tracking down the rumors about Clark. But the script tried to rush a romance too soon. They meet in person, and now she’s supposed to be so crucial to his story. It made no sense to me why Zod demanded she come onboard the Kryptonian ship with Superman, and the kiss at the end of the big battle in Metropolis came out of nowhere to me, as I never saw any romantic build-up between them. It would have made more sense if they were just allied. Then in the sequel, we see her helping adjust to his secret identity and working at the Daily Planet. Instead, they skip all that in Batman v Superman and now have them in this committed relationship that felt unearned, and then he’s dead. It just didn’t work for me.

4)ERICA DURANCE

If I ranked the actresses solely based on physical appearance, she’d be number one on this list. In my opinion, she’s definitely the hottest version of Lois Lane, and over the course of several seasons of Smallville, we got to see her relationship with Clark develop naturally. It’s a shame she never got the chance to play Lois in an actual “Superman” show or film.

3)MARGOT KIDDER

In the opposite direction, she’d probably be number 8 on this list if I were ranking solely by physical appearance. But while I personally never found her that attractive, her chemistry with Christopher Reeve was off the charts. I can’t imagine him playing opposite anyone else as Lois Lane. So this is a testament to Kidder’s acting ability. She played the role so earnestly that she became synonymous with it.

2)NOEL NEILL

She’s the only actress who got to play Lois Lane opposite two different actors as Superman (as well as playing Lois Lane’s mother on Lois and Clark). She first played the role in two Superman serials with Kirk Alyn. Then she joined George Reeves in season 2 of The Adventures of Superman TV show, staying through the 6th and final season (she also played Lois Lane’s mother in a brief cameo in Superman: The Movie). Her confident and competent portrayal of Lois (at a time when most of the comics were still writing her as being obsessed with exposing his secret identity and trying to get him to marry her) set an early high standard for me regarding how I envision the character.

1)TERI HATCHER

Teri Hatcher, who played Lois Lane opposite Dean Cain in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, is hands down my favorite. She had the look, the attitude, and the necessary chemistry with Cain. Like the show in general, her version of Lois was heavily influenced by John Byrne’s reboot of the character, portraying her as an independent modern woman and a capable journalist).

So that’s my list so far. Here’s hoping that Rachel Brosnahan, who is playing Lois Lane opposite David Corenswet in next year’s new Superman movie, will be at the top of my list someday.