The role proved to be Kidder's most notable, catapulting her to international fame, and this iteration of Lois Lane has been considered one of the most iconic love interests in superhero films.

Actress Margot Kidder was cast as Lois Lane, Superman's primary love interest, because her performance had a certain spark and vitality, and because of her strong interaction with Christopher Reeve.

Kidder later appeared in two episodes of The WB/The CW television series Smallville as Dr. Bridgette Crosby, an emissary of Dr. Virgil Swann (played by Christopher Reeve).

[9] Bosworth studied Katharine Hepburn's acting for inspiration, particularly in The Philadelphia Story (1940) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967),[8] as well as Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich (2000).

Kidder was cast because Richard Donner and the producers agreed that her performance had a certain spark and vitality, and because of her strong interaction with Christopher Reeve.

Donner felt that Kidder seemed to convey the general American concept of Lois Lane—pretty, pert and perky, intelligent and ambitious without being pushy.

[12] One of the most important aspects in the first and second films was the romantic relationship between the two main characters; Clark was hopelessly in love with Lois and even gave up his powers to be with her.

Superman is so distraught by her death that he flies around the globe at supernatural speed, travelling backward in time and preventing the earthquake from occurring, saving Lois' life.

A scene in the film shows young Clark Kent outrunning a passenger train, with a little girl, played by an unknown actress (Cathy Marcotte), on-board observing him.

The extended version of the scene shows the girl to be a young Lois telling her parents (portrayed by Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill in uncredited cameos) without them believing her.

Soon after, Clark and Lois learn that three Kryptonians, led by General Zod (Terence Stamp), have arrived on Earth and are threatening humanity.

An early screen test between Reeve and Kidder for the first movie was used for the scene in which Lois finds out Clark's secret identity by coercing him at gunpoint with a pistol filled with blanks.

[15] In addition, Lois breaks up with Clark at the end, unable to deal with his dual identity as Superman, causing him to fly around the globe at supernatural speed and travel backward in time to undo the events of the film, including Lois finding his identity and leaving him, while ensuring Zod and his sidekicks never escape the Phantom Zone, similar to the first film.

Since the Lester footage was shot two years later, continuity errors are present in the physique and styling of stars Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve.

Kidder also has dramatic changes throughout; in the montage of Lester-Donner material, shot inside the Daily Planet and the Fortress of Solitude near the movie's conclusion, her hairstyle, hair color, and even make-up are all inconsistent.

To replace creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz, Superman co-screenwriters David and Leslie Newman were then brought back to re-tool the script constructing a new opening and ending.

[19] After Margot Kidder publicly criticized the Salkinds for their treatment of Donner, the producers reportedly "punished" the actress by reducing her role in Superman III to a brief appearance.

Instead, he said, the creative team decided to pursue a different direction for a love interest for Superman, believing the Lois and Clark relationship had been played out in the first two films (but could be revisited in the future).

Kidder and Hackman subsequently reprised their roles as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, respectively, in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), with which the Salkinds had no involvement.

[21] In alternate continuity from the first two films, Superman (now portrayed by Brandon Routh) returns to Earth after five years travelling in space to investigate what he believed to be his home planet Krypton.

Superman reemerges to the world when he saves a space shuttle test launch during a mysterious nationwide power outage, triggered by Luthor using Kryptonian technology.

Luthor plans to use the Kryptonian crystal, stolen from the Fortress of Solitude, to create a new land mass, which in turn will destroy the United States.

As part of Kidder serving as a guest host on the March 17, 1979 episode[22] of Saturday Night Live, she would parody her Lois Lane role in a sketch called "Superhero Party".

Also featured in the sketch were Superman (Bill Murray), Flash (Dan Aykroyd), Lana Lang (Jane Curtin), Hulk (John Belushi), Thing, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Ant-Man (Garrett Morris), and Invisible Girl.

Saraiya specifically noted Kidder's ability to balance Lois's laid-back, ditzy nature with her ambition and no-nonsense attitude, proving to be a worthy foil to Reeve's Clark Kent/Superman.

Before the end of Smallville's seventh season, IGN's Daniel Phillips compared the actresses who have portrayed the character of Lois Lane over the past three decades.

Apart from her beauty, Phillips states, "Durance makes Lois intelligent, capable, funny and dangerously curious – exactly the type of woman Clark Kent would fall for.