Chloe Sullivan

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Chloe Sullivan
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
First appearance	"Pilot"
Created by	Alfred Gough and Miles Millar
Portrayed by	Allison Mack
Information
Aliases	Lois Lane Nellie Bly Watchtower
Species	Metahuman
Gender	Female
Occupation	managing the Isis Foundation
Relatives	Gabe Sullivan (father), Moira Sullivan (mother), Sam Lane (uncle), Lois Lane (cousin), Lucy Lane (cousin)

Chloe Ann Sullivan is a fictional character from the television series Smallville, played by Allison Mack. Chloe was introduced by the show's creators to be a "Lois Lane archetype" (but not Lois herself). She was created independently of the canonical DC Comics Universe,^[1] DC Comics had announced that they would introduce a comic version of Chloe Sullivan to the mainstream continuity of DC Comics in Superman #674 and 675 in March and April of 2008, but the plan fell through.^[2]

Chloe was reporter and editor at Smallville High School's The Torch newspaper (named after Superman creator Jerry Siegel's school paper). She was in the same grade as Clark Kent, Pete Ross, and Lana Lang. At one time, Chloe maintained the "Wall of Weird", a collection of articles concerning the 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 of 1989.

Currently, Chloe is enrolled at Metropolis University, majoring in journalism and fired from the Daily Planet. She is close to her cousin Lois Lane.

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 1.1 Background 1.2 The Luthor arc 1.3 Clark's secret 1.4 Journalism and the Daily Planet 1.5 Meteor freak 1.6 Family 2 Relationships 2.1 Clark Kent 2.2 Jimmy Olsen 3 Powers and abilities 4 Alternate versions 5 Casting 6 Awards 7 References

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Background

Chloe was born in Metropolis in 1987 and moved to Smallville in eighth grade. In an episode where Chloe's life was in jeopardy, Clark revealed to Lana that in their past, when he had showed her his loft, she kissed him on the lips just to "get that out of the way"; it was Clark's first kiss. Chloe is Clark's platonic friend, though she concealed a deep-seated crush on Clark that sometimes caused her to resent Lana Lang and Clark's infatuation with her. At the end of the first season, Clark admitted to having some feelings for Chloe, but he was unable to let go of hopes that he might one day be with Lana.

During the summer between her freshman and sophomore years, Chloe interned at the Daily Planet. The following summer, she was given her own column in the Daily Planet after making a deal with Lionel Luthor to dig up information on Clark.

Throughout the series, Chloe has a close friendship with Lana, convincing her father to let Lana stay with them when Lana's aunt moved to Metropolis during their sophomore year. Lana eventually moved into the apartment over the Talon before leaving for college. The fifth season opens with Chloe and Lana as freshmen at Metropolis University, where they become roommates once again.

In the season six episode "Freak," it is revealed that Chloe possesses unknown meteor powers, which are later used for the first time in season six finale "Phantom." Chloe used her powers of healing tears to revive a dead Lois Lane and then she became unconscious while using her power.

In the season seven episode "Bizarro," Lois manages to pull Chloe to safety but when they reach the hospital, Chloe is pronounced dead. Chloe then wakes up in a morgue and begs for someone to help her. Chloe calls Clark's name, and then he helps her get out of the morgue and she doesn't remember anything only that she saw Lois dead, but before Clark and Chloe leave the hospital Chloe finds her certificate of death. Then later in the episode she burns it. Later in "Gemini," she's fully aware of what she could do with her meteor power.

[edit] The Luthor arc

In "Witness", Lionel Luthor offers Chloe her own column in the Daily Planet in exchange for information on Clark. Chloe initially found the offer despicable and refused, but when she saw Clark and Lana share a kiss in his loft in the episode "Calling," in her anger, she betrays Clark by approaching Lionel and concedes to work for him.

The relationship between Chloe and Lionel develops into a dangerous power game in the third season. Lionel threatens to fire Chloe's father when she refuses to resume her investigation of Clark. After Clark stumbles upon the arrangement, their friendship is momentarily ruined, though Clark eventually forgives her. In "Delete", Chloe stops investigating Clark, stating that she realizes he'll tell her his secrets when he's ready. It is a promise she keeps, but Chloe's trouble with Lionel continues. Using his influence to strip her of her Daily Planet column, Chloe is exposed to an experimental truth agent at LuthorCorp in "Truth", and when Lionel pays her a visit, Chloe forces him to make a voicemail confession to the murder of his parents. Lionel arranges for the voicemail to be deleted, but the data is later recovered in "Forsaken," where Lex Luthor gives the confession over to the FBI, who charge Lionel with murder. In the season three finale, "Covenant", Chloe enters the Witness Protection Program with her father, but their safe house explodes shortly after they enter the building, and Chloe is declared dead.

In the beginning of Season four, Chloe is presumed dead until her cousin, Lois Lane, comes to find out the truth about her death. Lois and Clark investigate her death and find out that she is alive. Later, Clark saves Chloe, who finally testifies against Lionel. Chloe's testimony leads to Lionel's conviction of murder and imprisonment in "Gone."

[edit] Clark's secret

Chloe begins researching Clark's background in the first season episode "Zero" as part of a school assignment. She becomes increasingly curious and soon begins digging into Clark's adoption files. Though she promised to drop her investigation after a falling-out with Clark, Chloe saves the files she retrieves, which she later passes to Lionel. In the second season episode "Lineage", Chloe reveals that she had covertly researched Clark's biological lineage, which shocks Clark and nearly ends their friendship. Clark asks Chloe to stop digging, and rather than risk further damage to their friendship, she complies.

A few months after Lionel's conviction, Chloe learns of Clark's powers from a "demonstration" staged by Alicia Baker in Season 4's "Pariah." Alicia forces Chloe into her car by teleporting both of them into it and, while driving at a reckless speed, calls Clark on her cell phone and claims that her car is out of control. Alicia then uses her power to teleport her and Chloe to a safe distance. As Alicia had planned, a shocked Chloe witnesses Clark arrive at super-speed and catch the speeding car. Clark then leaves, unaware that he has been observed.

Though unsettled, Chloe decides not to reveal Clark's secret to anyone. Instead, throughout the fourth season, she drops hints to Clark that she knows of his powers, initially believing Clark to be a meteor freak, rather than an alien. In "Spirit," Chloe witnesses the effect of Kryptonite on Clark when Jonathan Kent uses it to subdue Clark after he is possessed by the spirit of a vengeful student. Chloe pretends to be knocked out and acts as if she knew nothing at all.

When Clark is struck with amnesia in "Blank", Chloe re-mentors him on his powers and walks him through a tenuous exchange with Lex. After Clark regains his memories, he can no longer remember that Chloe knows his secret. When pressed, Chloe simply remarks that Clark had "trusted" her and seems satisfied that she was there when he finally needed her support.

In the season four finale "Commencement", Chloe graduates from high school (although her name is not called due to a military interruption announcing an impending meteor shower). She later discovers a Kryptonite-weakened Clark in Lex Luthor's walk-in safe and pulls him to safety. When Lex finds her in his office, he begins acting neurotic and forcibly drags Chloe to the Kawatche Caves. There, Chloe knocks Lex down to prevent him from seeing Clark enter a hidden chamber in the caves.

Chloe is transported with Clark to the Arctic in the season five premiere "Arrival". She wakes up in front of the Fortress of Solitude, and is nearly killed from the extreme cold until Clark begs Jor-El to let him leave so he can save Chloe's life, and Jor-El reluctantly agrees. Clark takes her to a hospital in the Yukon, where Chloe tells Clark that she knows his secret and promises to never be the "iceberg to [his] Titanic." With no reason to hide anymore, Clark confides that he is an alien, not a meteor freak.

Since then, the pair has worked as partners to help conceal Clark's powers and face his most lethal enemies yet, namely Brainiac. At the end of Season Five, the entire Daily Planet building goes haywire when Brainiac unleashes a computer virus that infects every computer system on Earth. Chloe, afraid she will never see Clark again, kisses Clark passionately, who kisses her back. She promises to leave Metropolis, but the city erupts into mass riots. Chloe frantically bangs on the window of a passing limousine belonging to Lionel Luthor outside the Daily Planet. He lets her inside, but the rioters overrun the car. Chloe is pulled out through a smashed window by the mob while Lionel is attacked on the opposite side. Fortunately, Lionel is able to fend off the rioters with the help of his bodyguard, and they escape into LuthorCorp Plaza. The two regroup in Lionel's office, and after agreeing that something has to be done about General Zod, who has possessed Lex's body, Lionel elects to return to the Kent Farm and find the dagger Clark received from Jor-El to stop Zod. With her leg injured in the riots, Chloe returns to the Daily Planet to try and decipher the Kryptonian symbols they believe will give them clues to defeat Zod. Before wishing her good luck, Lionel gives Chloe a handgun, just in case.

While working in the Daily Planet basement, Chloe runs into an old friend: Jimmy Olsen, who was working his first day at the Daily Planet as a photographer when all hell broke loose. Chloe and Jimmy rekindle a whirlwind relationship they started when she was an intern in high school. However, Clark's reaction to the kiss they shared is unclear. Continuing to be Clark's sidekick, Chloe helps a fledgling version of the Justice League on their first mission, but she stays in Smallville with Clark when they leave.

[edit] Journalism and the Daily Planet

By the time Chloe arrives in Smallville, she is already an avid Daily Planet reader. In "X-Ray", Chloe explained that she joined the staff of The Torch when she was in junior high, and then became editor as a freshman (possibly because no one else wanted the job). Chloe's curiosity and overzealous nature means she often oversteps journalistic boundaries, but she shows promise as a reporter. An example of this is in "Leech", where Chloe received her first byline in the Smallville Ledger for writing an article on Eric "Superboy" Summers, a name she coined herself.

During her internship at the Daily Planet, Chloe worked as a runner and receptionist (detailed in the Smallville comic "My Summer Vacation"). During this time, she helped an investigative reporter nail a mob boss named Hitch. It is detailed that, with the aid of blueprints from Lex Luthor, she snuck into Hitch's lair and took photographic evidence to corroborate the story, which she delivered anonymously.

At the end of season two, Lionel Luthor strong-arms the Daily Planet into running a regular column by Chloe. In return, Chloe agrees to give Lionel all the information she can find about Clark Kent. She does this because she is angered that Clark and Lana are seeing each other, without telling Chloe. Chloe's Daily Planet column lasts about three months, from "Exodus" to "Whisper".

When Chloe meets Perry White, an inspiration and idol, in "Perry", he admits to her that Lionel has reduced him to tabloid TV journalism. Chloe mirrors his experience after Lionel blacklists her, but says she can use her cousin's name as a pseudonym to continue writing. Chloe never actually publishes under this, however, and Max is later killed when he looks further into Chloe's information about Summerholt, bringing about the end of her first job as a reporter at the Daily Planet.

Later, Chloe returns to the Daily Planet as a freshman in college. She attempts to get her job back in "Thirst". The current editor-in-chief, Pauline Kahn initially refused to hire her back because Lionel Luthor had arm-twisted the Planet into giving Chloe a column she didn't earn, that she didn't deserve (and describes Chloe's previous columns as "juvenile pablum" and tells Chloe the staff ate cake the day Chloe got fired). But Chloe is given the fabled "Perry Chance", and brings Kahn a story about a Kryptonite strain of rabies that turned a sorority of Metropolis University students into parasitic "vampires". Kahn calls the article "tabloid nonsense", but believes Chloe may have some writing talent, and gives her a job at the bottom of the Daily Planet, working in the basement on the tipline.

Chloe soon gets a break when she and Lois witness a gruesome hit-and-run slaying of an informant they were meeting in "Exposed". Together, they track down the girl's identity to an underground strip club located in a remote part of Metropolis. There, Chloe "volunteers" Lois to go undercover as a stripper, putting her in the line of fire of a world-wide kidnapping gang. After learning that the son of a Russian diplomat was selling girls into international slavery, Chloe writes up the story that gets her a byline...on page 73, at the bottom.

Chloe was writing obituaries and wedding announcements at the Planet until she was subsequently fired by Lex Luther, who found her in possession of a key that Lionel Luther had given her.

With Lana being comatose because of Brainiac, Chloe is now taken over Lana's operation on running the Isis Foundation.

[edit] Meteor freak

Ironically, Chloe had been obsessed with finding and exposing meteor freaks for much of her time in high school, only to eventually find out she is one. In the Season Six episode Freak, a metahuman with the power to sense Kryptonite-infected people detects Chloe as a meteor freak — Chloe initially hypothesizes that this is due to the abundance of Kryptonite she'd come into contact with since going to Smallville High, although it is later learned that this is an ability which she developed at a young age. Her mother has a Kryptonite power to control other meteor freaks if she's touching one of their possessions. We find out in the Season Six episode "Progeny" that she controlled Chloe when Chloe was young using one of Chloe's necklaces, thus showing that Chloe must have been infected since the first meteor shower, or around that time.

Soon, however, Chloe discovers herself to be meteor-infected after being kidnapped by Lex's men although she has forgotten everything about her abduction.^[3] She subsequently reunites with her mother, Moira, who is revealed to have the ability to control meteor-infected people. Lex attempts to exploit Moira to control other meteor freaks and kidnaps Chloe to use as leverage against her. Chloe and Clark are able to relocate her mother to safety.^[4] Later, Chloe's power is finally revealed to be healing when she revives a dead Lois. However, the powers appear to drain Chloe's own life-force at the same time.^[5] She dies, only to come back to life some time later in the morgue, in an as of yet unexplained way.^[6] When Chloe uses her power on an individual, their pain and injuries subsequently become her own after the healing process is completed. Her power then causes a rift between her and Jimmy as he begins to become hateful towards meteor freaks after being attacked by one of them. After being unable to be cured, she breaks up with him.^[7] Chloe has just recently told Jimmy her secret and has shown him her powers by healing a cut he had on his finger. This also hurts her in the process because she can feel the side effects of Jimmy's cut. [Those who know of Chloe's meteor abilities are Clark ("Freak"), Jimmy ("Gemini"), and Lionel ("Fracture").

[edit] Family

Chloe moved to Smallville in the eighth grade when her father, Gabe, was transferred to LuthorCorp's Plant #3. When she was 5, Chloe thought her mother, Moira, abandoned her, but it is later revealed that her mother suffered from a mental illness and was institutionalized when Chloe was 12. In the sixth season episode "Progeny", it is revealed that the real reason Moira left was that she was infected by Kryptonite and has the power to control Chloe and any other meteor freak, and was scared for the safety of her daughter and husband. Chloe has two cousins, Lois Lane and Lucy Lane, and an uncle; Sam Lane. It is unknown whether Sam (Lois's father) is related to Moira or Gabe.

Lynda Carter plays Chloe's mother Moira in "Progeny." She has the ability to control meteor-freaks in what the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described as a "memorable guest appearance."^[8]

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Clark Kent

Chloe and Clark Kent are close friends, but she has had a one-sided crush on Clark since they met. Clark was oblivious to this fact until psychic Ryan James read Chloe's mind and informed him during their freshman year of high school. When Chloe was kidnapped, Clark realized how much she meant to him and took her to a school dance. In the middle of the dance, there was a tornado warning, and Clark ran off to see if Lana was okay, effectively putting an end to the fledgling Clark/Chloe romance.

For the first five seasons, Chloe kissed Clark a single time in each year of the series. That was not true in Season Six, though, when for the first time, Chloe gets a true boyfriend. In Season One, Chloe was hypnotized to do something she had always wanted to do, and in Season Two, she was infected with a parasite that caused her to do wild and impulsive things. In Season Three, Chloe and Clark were caught snooping through medical files and she began kissing him, making it seem like they were simply in the file room for privacy. In Season Four, she was affected by a love potion and became singularly devoted to Clark. She cornered him in his loft, wearing only his football jersey, and Clark had to ward off her advances until he found a cure. In Season Five, when Clark prepared to face the recently released General Zod, Chloe was afraid they might never see each other again and gave him a romantic goodbye kiss. As with the other kisses, this one did not lead to a romantic relationship between the two. However, once Clark returned he began to ask Chloe about the kiss. She told him that, "it was the end of the world. It's not like I'm expecting us to hook up." Clarks facial expression showed that he was upset and was obviously ready to start something new with Chloe.

[edit] Jimmy Olsen

Whatever her feelings for Clark, Chloe has gotten involved with other guys. She told Lana Lang in "Unsafe" that she lost her virginity a few years ago to a fellow intern at the Daily Planet, Jimmy, whom she describes as "very cute, in a bow-tie kind of way." This is a reference to Jimmy Olsen, the ambitious kid journalist often dubbed "Superman's pal" and usually depicted in the comics as wearing a bowtie.

Jimmy Olsen joins the Smallville cast during its sixth season. Al Gough revealed that Jimmy is the guy Chloe lost her virginity to^{[citation needed]}. Chloe and Jimmy became a couple almost immediately after Jimmy arrived in Season Six. However, their relationship comes under sufficient strain after Chloe discovers that she has kryptonite-based powers. An unknowing Jimmy eventually tells her of his dislike for meteor freaks and they eventually break up after she cannot bring herself to confide in him in "Cure."

Later on in "Gemini," under the stress of being trapped in an elevator with Jimmy and a bomb, Chloe tells Jimmy that she is a meteor freak and that's why their relationship wouldn't have worked. Jimmy is shocked at first, but tells Chloe that he still sees her the same and kisses her. At the end of the episode, Chloe demostrates her meteor power on Jimmy by healing his sliced finger. It is yet unknown if they will continue their relationship due to Kara being "in the picture."

Jimmy and Chloe didn't rekindle the flame, until Kara lost her memory. In "Hero", he told Chloe that the spark had fizzled between them. Then, he asked her if she wanted to go out for a cup of coffee, indicating that he wanted to try and restart the relationship. Chloe agreed.

In the Smallville seventh Season Finale, Jimmy proposed to Chloe, but she was arrested before she even had time to answer.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Throughout the majority of the series, Chloe was thought to be totally powerless. Her computer hacking skills and determined journalistic nature were her primary skills in aiding Clark against various threats, both human and metahuman. When using the technology at Oliver Queen's disposal, Chloe acted as "Watchtower" for Oliver's proto-Justice League, a role very similar to that of computer-savvy Oracle in the comics.

In season six, it is revealed that Chloe is a "meteor freak" — a human with a metagene activated by kryptonite. Chloe's power, described as "super-empathy" by Allison Mack in a CW Source interview hosted by Jason C., allows her to heal others by taking their pain and making it her own. This allows her to heal most injuries, including reviving the recently deceased, at the cost of her own well-being.

Depending on the severity of the wound she heals, Chloe's body takes varying amounts of time to recover. For example, when she heals Jimmy Olsen's cut finger, her own finger develops the same cut. Using her ability to revive the dead shuts her body down, giving the outward appearance of death. This includes certain post-mortem symptoms such as rigor mortis. Her body then restores itself several hours later. When she first uses her power to cure Lois Lane, who had been stabbed, she is declared clinically dead for three hours. When healing Lex, who died of a gunshot wound to the head, she remains dead for eighteen hours. Her powers also seem to work defensively, as shown when Brainiac attempts to rewire her brain in the episode "Arctic". Though successful, her powers make the process so taxing on Brainiac that he uses up nearly all of his energy just to complete it.

Apart from her healing abilities and her genius expertise in system hacking and journalism, Chloe has shown to be an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. In the season six episode "Progeny", while under the control of her mother, Chloe showed expert combat skills close to that of her military trained cousin.^[9]

[edit] Alternate versions

At one time, it was planned for Chloe to become a character in the DC Comics universe. According to Superman editor Matt Idelson the DC comics version of Chloe would be similar but at the same time different from the character on Smallville. “‘Our’ Chloe is clearly inspired by the Smallville character, right down to wanting to be a journalist, and being roughly the same age as the Smallville character. And she’s still Lois’ cousin. Beyond that, though, since she’s obviously a different age than Clark and Lois, she’s got to be her own, unique character," Idelson says.

According to writer Kurt Busiek, “The problem we'd have faced if we brought her in with the same background as the TV show is that she'd fill two basic roles -- the Girl from Back Home and the Reporter -- and those roles are both pretty solidly filled in the adult Superman cast, by Lana and Lois. So she's got to have a different spin, one that lets her occupy a different role from either of them. She's the younger sister of someone Clark went to school with, not a classmate of Clark's herself. As a result, she's the new intern at the Daily Planet, fresh out of journalism school and itching to make a name for herself. That'll make her clearly different from Lois and Lana, and at the same time more familiar to watchers of the show.” Busiek has also pointed out that this "Chloe" will not know Clark's secret, nor will she have super powers.^[10]

Although it was announced that Chloe would make her comic debut, Dan Didio has confirmed that this will not be the case. “Chloe is an exciting character on the television show, and we had hoped to work her into DC continuity, but unfortunately, the stars did not align properly, and even though we had announced it, she will not be appearing in any of the issues of Superman or Action Comics.”^[11]

[edit] Casting

Allison Mack had toyed with the idea of auditioning for the role of Lana Lang, but chose instead to audition for the role of Chloe Sullivan.^[12] The character was created just for the series,^[13] and was originally intended to add ethnic diversity to the cast.^[12] Part of the reason she was cast was because Gough and Millar felt she had a "rare ability to deliver large chunks of expositionary [sic] dialogue conversationally."^[13] Kristen Bell (eventual star of Veronica Mars) also auditioned for the role.^[14]

According to a report by TVGuide.com's Michael Ausiello, Mack has agreed to a contract to appear in all episodes of the series' eighth season.^[13][15]

[edit] Awards

Allison Mack has been nominated for a number of awards for her role as Chloe Sullivan. She was nominated for a Saturn Award as best supporting actress in a television program in 2006 and 2007.^[16][17] Mack was also nominated for a Teen Choice Award as Choice Teen Sidekick in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, winning in 2006 and 2007.^{[18][19][20][21]}

[edit] References

v • d • e Smallville Episodes Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 • Season 7 Main characters Clark Kent • Lana Lang • Lex Luthor • Chloe Sullivan • Jonathan and Martha Kent • Pete Ross Whitney Fordman • Lionel Luthor • Jason Teague • Lois Lane • Jimmy Olsen • Kara Kent Guest characters Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • Season 6 • Season 7 Related information Chloe Chronicles