Man of Steel: Lois Lane Sees Action, Carries a Laser

In a new interview with Man of Steel star Amy Adams, who plays Lois Lane in the forthcoming Superman reboot from Watchmen director Zack Snyder, Adams reveals that her version of Lois is much different from previous screen incarnations--right down to the accessories. "I grew up really loving(her)," Adams told USA Today of Margot Kidder's Lois Lane. "I wasn't trying to be her but I hope I do enough of a good job to have the same effect on young girls as Lois Lane had on me. I really loved seeing a woman represented as a modern woman in a superhero movie, and not even glamourized, really -- she was kind of a troublemaker. She wasn't a typical heroine. I identified with her from a very young age." What else isn't typical? Well, more or less anything about Snyder's stylized take on Lois. The Oscar nominee was brought in to make the role her own, which includes a change of hair color for Superman's most iconic love interest. He wanted her to take on the role with no concern for previous screen iterations, be it Margot Kidder's iconic take on the character or the somewhat less beloved turn that Kate Bosworth had in 2005's Superman Returns. "This was a new idea, down to the hair color. I knew people would want to talk about my hair color. It was going to be a thing," said Adams. "(Director) Zack (Snyder) told me he didn't hire me to play someone else. He hired me to play Lois Lane. It's a whole reimagining." While Bosworth dyed her hair (the entire film was slave to the earlier, Richard Donner-directed films, so making her look at least somewhat like Kidder was essential), a Lois Lane that doesn't necessarily look like you'd expect is not unheard of. In the late '90s, when names like Kevin Smith and Tim Burton were associated with a movie version of The Death of Superman, rumors had Cameron Diaz in the role of Lois--with Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen, a larger change than we're likely to see even in Snyder's film. Probably the most remarkable, notable change that we'll get in Snyder's version of Lois Lane is given up at the very end of the interview, just kind of tossed out there dismissively and not followed up on: "I haven't seen any footage," Bosworth admitted. "It's intense. Henry worked his tail off as Superman. It's different for me. A lot of running. I hold a laser taser of some sort." A "Laser taser"? Don't be surprised if this is an updated version of the kind of thing that Superman has done for his friends and loved ones in the past, notably during the Silver Age--an update on Jimmy's signal watch, if you will. Failing that, perhaps it's one of the Kryptonian weapons that will reportedly appear in the film, wielded by Jor-El, per a Warner Brothers insider's unauthorized report to Superhero Hype.