Lois Lane = Mary Magdalene
...the close associates of Clark mirror the figures closest to Christ and thereby highlight Superman's messianic identity. Editor Perry White can be seen as John the Baptist, the prophet devoted to revealing the Savior. Biblically, his last name, "White" as noted before, signifies holiness. Cub reporter Jimmy Olsen can be seen as a combined representation of the apostles. His full names is actually James Bartholomew Olsen; in "James" and "Bartholomew," he bears the names of three apostles: James, son of Zebedee, James, son of Alphaeus, and Bartholomew.
Most notably, girl reporter Lois Lane can be seen as Mary Magdalene, a prominent woman in Christ's circle of friends. Notice the alliteration in the name Lois Lane, the repetition of the same first letter, which seems borrowed from the name Mary Magdalene.*
*From biblical times, the name Lois means "more desirable." Lane, as is obvious, means "narrow path." Put together, "Lois Lane" connotes a "more desirable narrow path," biblically resonant with Christianity: "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Of Superman's girlfriend, Kozlovic reports, "Sarah Kozloff argued that Lois Lane...'roughly parallels Mary Magdalene...the prostitute reformed and converted by Jesus who becomes one of his most faithful followers...Lois Lane...assume the role of Superman's most devoted and most favoured disciple, and while she is not presented as a prostitute...she is repeatedly associated with sex." In her initial interview with Superman, first she asks if he has a wife or girlfriend, next she asks how big he is (instead of how tall), then she asks him to use X-ray vision to tell the color of her underpants. He tells her "pink," and later she asks if he likes "pink". The most blatant point of the connection between Lois and sex is reached in the title of her article: "I Spent the Night with Superman."
Nevertheless, it is a misinterpretation of the Bible that Mary Magdalene is a prostitute. (This widespread misperception probably started with a sermon by Pope Gregory I in the year 591, and the Vatican officially rejected this idea in 1969.) While Scripture tells us Jesus cast seven demons out of her, it does not explicitly say she is a prostitute. (With these exact same stipulations, we'll beat fans of the Aprocrypha to the punch by acknowledging that the subsequent romance which develops between Lois and Superman echoes "the many extra-canonical stories of Mary Magdalene being the secret lover of Jesus.")
In the World Without a Superman collection, where the part of this story --- his burial --- is contained, it is immediately made clear that Superman is in fact dead, rather than unconscious. (This is a common objection of skeptics to Christ's death and resurrection.) In the Superman story, the first proof of the Christ figure's death is brought by Dubbilex, a mind-reader: "I've been scanning Superman's mind, and there's nothing there --- no brain-wave activity --- nothing!"
Lois and Jimmy, in their roles as Magdalene and an apostle, are the first to attend to the body. The Daily Planet newspaper is again the gospel of Superman. Not only does Lois write about the passion of the fight, but Perry White, as John the Baptist, prophesies to Jimmy, "Olsen, one of these photos will serve to remind this city --- no, the world, of the tremendous sacrifice one man made."
Though White is the last name of her fiance', Lois reveals that Richard White is not Jason's father. The boy is Superman's son, the result of their romance in Superman II (a boon to those fans of Jesus-and-Magdalene romantic apocrypha!)
- excerpts from The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero by Stephen Skelton. (page 109, 133, 155)