Chloe Sullivan
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Template:Cleanup-date Image:5Chloe Season 5 Opening Credits.jpg Chloe Sullivan (1987–) is a fictional character from the television series Smallville, played by Allison Mack. She is a new character, introduced by Smallville creators into the Superman story to be their 'proto-Lois'; there is no mention of Chloe in the Superman comics or in the movies. There have been rumors about introducing her into the mainstream comic books; DC Comics bought the character during Smallville's third season.
She was reporter and editor at The Torch, the newspaper at Smallville High School (named after Jerry Siegel's school paper). She is in the same grade as Pete Ross, Lana Lang, and Clark Kent. At one time she maintained the "Wall of Weird" - a collection of articles concerning the often bizarre and eerie events that take place in Smallville, many of which are related to the mutagenic effects of kryptonite left over from the meteor shower in 1989.
Currently, Chloe Sullivan is at Metropolis University, majoring in journalism, as well as working at the Daily Planet.
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History
Chloe was born in Metropolis and moved to Smallville in her eighth grade year with her father when he was transferred to manage LuthorCorp's Plant #3. When she was five, her mother left because of a mental breakdown and was admitted into a psychiatric facility.
According to the series, when Chloe first met Clark she kissed him on the lips just to "get that out of the way"; however, she has a deep-running crush on Clark that sometimes causes her to quarrel with Lana Lang, or to despair when Clark's head is turned by another girl (such as his short-lived girlfriend Alicia Baker, a krypto-mutant who could teleport at will).
During the summer between her freshman (first) and sophomore (second) years, Chloe interned at the Daily Planet. She earned this internship without interview after writing about her own experiences being kidnapped and buried alive by a local police officer. The following summer she was given her own column at the Daily Planet, called "Sullivan's Travels," after making a deal with Lionel Luthor.
She also cultivated a close, almost sister-like, friendship with Lana Lang, although they still had occasional disagreements over Clark and other matters. She even convinced her father to let Lana stay with them rather than have Lana move to Metropolis with her aunt during Chloe's sophomore year. Lana eventually moved into the apartment over the coffee shop, the Talon. The fifth season opens with Chloe and Lana as freshman and roommates in college.
The Luthor Arc, Journalism, and Clark's secret
When she was given a school assignment to write a biography of Clark in the first season episode "Zero," she became obsessed and soon began digging into Clark's adoption files. Though she promised to drop her investigation after a falling out with Clark, she saved the files she had retrieved. In the second season episode "Lineage," Chloe was shown to have been covertly researching Clark's biological lineage, which deeply hurt Clark and nearly ended their friendship; it was during this episode that Clark learned Lionel Luthor was behind his adoption. Clark asked Chloe to stop digging, so she did.
Near the end of Season 2, she was approached by Lionel Luthor, who offered her a column at the Daily Planet if she would use her journalistic skills to research Clark. Initially, she refused. Later, she made a pact with Clark that they would be honest with one another. But shortly thereafter, she discovered Clark and Lana had begun dating without telling her. Angered by his lack of honesty, Chloe accepted Lionel Luthor's offer.
Chloe, however, immediately regretted this potential act of betrayal. To the viewers' knowledge, she upheld her promise not to research Clark and only gave Lionel information about Clark's adoption, which he had arranged to begin with. The relationship between Chloe and Lionel was one of playing dangerous power games with each other.
During this time, Clark ran away to Metropolis and took the name "Kal," a shortened version of his true birthname. Chloe accidentally ran into him at a dance club but promised not to reveal where he was after he threatened to run even further. After Clark faced his guilt and returned home, he and Chloe grew closer.
Later, in Season 3's episode "Whisper," Clark found out about Chloe's deal with Lionel and their friendship briefly suffered. He later forgave her because he also once made a bad choice at a "moment of weakness" (i.e., running off to Metropolis).
In "Delete," Clark told her he knows things won't make sense; she told Clark that she realizes he'll tell her when he's ready. It's a promise she keeps; she decided to support him and wait for him to tell her the truth.
In Season 3's episode "Truth," Chloe was exposed to a kryptonite-based truth agent at LuthorCorp that was designed to make anyone the "ultimate interrogator" and she gained the ability to make anyone tell her the truth. Using her new ability, she recorded an audio confession from Lionel Luthor about him killing his parents. After his confession, she revealed that her mobile phone was recording and tried to blackmail him into hiring her father back; Lionel told her that she should not have done that and that he wants her to ask Martha and Jonathan Kent where Clark is from. Chloe went off to do so, but the drug was slowly killing her; Clark saved her on the side of the road.
The next day, she admitted that she was going to ask "all the questions [he] would never answer." Clark said she wasn't herself and forgave her. Later that night, she discovered that her voicemail had been hacked into and the confession deleted. Fortunately, the data was still retrievable and a transcript was used later in her second partnership with Lex Luthor, to put his father in prison for the murder of his parents.
In Season 3's finale, "Covenant," Chloe entered a safe house, which then exploded, causing many to believe her dead. At the start of Season 4, in "Crusade," Clark, along with Chloe's cousin Lois Lane, began investigating her apparent murder. In the episode "Gone," she was revealed to be alive. Lex Luthor told Clark how he had saved her and her father from the blast, and faked their deaths to prevent Lionel from finding them. Lionel's people found her, and he sent someone to kill her, but they failed due to the combined efforts of Clark and Lois. Her testimony and voicemail confession helped convict Lionel of the murder of his parents, landing him in prison.
In Season 4, episode 10, entitled "Scare," it is revealed that Chloe found her mother in a mental hospital with a hereditary mental illness and that she had been hiding this information for three months. This is retcon from season 2, episode 7's "Lineage," which had her knowing where her mother is; some speculate if it is a set up to further link Nellie Bly to Chloe (Nellie was revealed as Chloe's hero in "Gone" and Chloe wore a Nellie-esque jacket in this episode.)
In Season 4, episode 12, "Pariah," Chloe learned of Clark's powers from a "demonstration" arranged by Alicia Baker. She decided not to reveal this to Clark or anyone else, and didn't even realize that Pete Ross knew. Throughout the season she dropped little hints to Clark that she knew. However, she initially believed Clark to be a krypto-mutant, like Alicia and many other Smallville residents, rather than an extraterrestrial, thus not knowing the entire truth.
In Season 4, episode 18, "Spirit," there was a krypto-mutant named Dawn Stiles whose soul could possess anyone at will. She had taken over Chloe's body and actually was in her body as Chloe was announced Smallville High's prom queen. Afterwards, Dawn possessed Clark's body, then knocking Chloe to the ground, making it seem like she was unconscious, when in fact she wasn't. Jonathan Kent soon appeared and used kryptonite on Clark to get Dawn out of his body, revealing to Chloe that Clark's body was in fact vulnerable to kryptonite.
In Season 4, episode 19, "Blank," Chloe found Clark, who had amnesia, and protected and mentored him as he re-discovered his abilities. When Clark regained his memories, Chloe simply told him that he "trusted" her - still not revealing that she knew, instead waiting for him to tell her on his own.
In Season 4's finale, "Commencement," Chloe graduated from high school (although her name was not called due to a military interruption announcing a meteor shower on its way). She later discovered a kryptonite-weakened Clark in Lex Luthor's walk-in safe and pulled him to safety. When Lex walked in to find her in his torn-up office, he showed his true colors, became neurotic, and dragged her forcibly to the Kawatche Caves. He told her that they were at the "epicenter of the story." There, Chloe knocked him down to protect Clark, and saw him enter a chamber that mysteriously opened in the far wall. The last the viewers saw of her was a blinding light throwing her backwards slightly as Clark was transported to the Arctic.
In the first episode of the fifth season, "Arrival," it was revealed that Chloe too was taken to the Arctic. She found the Fortress of Solitude and upon entering, she was hit with an ice blast caused by Jor-El attempting to educate Clark, and subsequently began to freeze to death. Clark begged him to save her life, and Jor-El relented; Clark then took her to a hospital in the Yukon. While there, Chloe told Clark that she knew his secret, and became his confidante, promising to never be the "iceberg to [his] Titanic." At this point Clark revealed that he is an alien, not a meteor freak. Lex Luthor found her in the hospital and took her back to Smallville; in "Mortal" he had sought her out to try to find answers to what exactly happened in the Kawatche Caves. It appears that Chloe's struggles between the Kents and the Luthors is far from over.
Season five shows some interesting things on her horizon; she leaves Smallville to start her college education at Metropolis University. Also, she applies for another job at the Daily Planet in 505, "Thirst", which she gets after proving herself to the current editor in chief, Pauline Kahn, played by Carrie Fisher. In this episode Chloe gets the typical 'Perry chance' of proving herself by her writing skills; it earns her a job in the basement. Chloe comments from the future that "the way I look at it, I had no place to go but up, up, and away" and has caused many fans to rejoice that the character's ultimate end point will not be 1.8m (six feet) under; it also brought about a resurgence in many fans' belief that she will ultimately become the iconic Lois Lane by the end of the series (given some amount of credence by season 3, episode 11, "Delete", and possibly season 4 episode 09, "Lexmas", possibly foreshadowed by Lex's dream).
Miscellaneous facts
In Season 3, episode 11, "Delete", Chloe, now working for the Daily Planet, is only allowed to have her damaging story concerning the Summerholt Institute printed on the condition that she uses a pseudonym. She decides to go by the name of her cousin, Lois Lane, saying "She won't mind. [She's] not interested in journalism." (first aired January 28, 2004)
In Season 4, episode 18, "Spirit," Chloe was nominated Prom Queen, a development orchestrated by Clark himself. Chloe won the honor. Some speculate that this is partly an allusion to dialogue spoken by Chloe in Season 1, episode 21, "Tempest" and Season 2, episode 22, "Calling," where she commented about her similarities to Cinderella.
In Season 4, episode 21, "Forever," Chloe took down her infamous "Wall of Weird" and emptied The Torch as she prepared to leave for college, at Metropolis University where the Wall took its new home - in the dorm room she and Lana Lang share.
In Season 5, episode 9, "Lexmas," the "It's a Wonderful Life" style sequences show Chloe and Clark working at the Daily Planet; Clark is below her as he "just" made it as a full-fledged reporter while she's finishing her first book deal about LuthorCorp.
In the comics, Lois Lane lives with Clark Kent in an apartment at 1938 Sullivan Place in Metropolis.
Producer Miles Millar confirmed at ComicCon 02 that Chloe's name "purposefully has a lot of L's in it." Many fans have pointed out that the name "Lois Lane" is within her name with the letters c, h, l, u, v being left-over.
In March 2006, plans to add Chloe into the comics were announced.
Chloe's love life
Although crushing on an unwitting Clark and her budding journalism career doesn't seem to leave her much time for a social life, she mentions to Lana in "Unsafe" that she lost her virginity the previous summer to a fellow intern at the Daily Planet, Jimmy, whom she describes as "very cute, in a bow-tie kind of way." This is almost certainly a reference to Jimmy Olsen, the ambitious kid journalist often dubbed "Superman's pal" and often depicted in the comics as wearing a bowtie. However, this throws the chronology a bit out of whack, suggesting that Olsen and Clark are roughly the same age, when in the comics Jimmy is significantly younger. Of course, Smallville is a 're-envisioning' of Clark's life, and are not meant to have any consistency with the comics given that Luthor cannot know the face of Clark (Superman) without spectacles.
Spoilers also indicate that in Season 5 Chloe might be getting a boyfriend.
External links
- Reporter and Photographer -Fansite for Peter Parker/Chloe Sullivan fans
- AllisonMackOnline - A resource for all Chloe and Allison fanses:Chloe Sullivan