Let me answer the recurring question: why does Lois react so violently to learning the secret?
From the prologue:
Clark being Superman was suddenly an incredibly immense burden and she couldn’t stand up under it.
Clark had betrayed her. He’d kept a life-altering secret from her ever since she’d known him. He was no better than Lex Luthor, no better than Claude, no better than Patrick, no better than Paul, no better than her father. He was unfaithful, untruthful, untrustworthy, unfit to be ground under her foot, not worth the effort to scrape him from the soles of her shoes.
From chapter one:
Clark had betrayed Lois.
A part of her mind tried to tell her she shouldn’t be surprised, that men had betrayed her over and over again ever since childhood. Her father had betrayed the family and left. Danny Williams had betrayed her as a junior in high school, spreading the rumor that she was frigid and scared of boys after she’d fought off his forceful offer of sex in the back seat of his car. Paul Murphy had betrayed her in college, allowing Linda King to seduce him away from her. Patrick Sullivan had betrayed her in Ireland, making promises he’d had no intention of keeping. Claude Bouchard had betrayed her when he’d convinced her he loved her, slept with her, stolen her first big story and told everyone at work how unresponsive she was in bed.
Now Clark had betrayed her. He’d kept the biggest secret of all time from her for almost two years. He’d let her think he was dead, shot to death in Georgie Hairdo’s club, for almost three days. He’d told her he loved her, gotten her to tell him she loved him, then clubbed her with the confession that he—
She couldn’t even think it.
And not only had Clark betrayed her, Superman had betrayed her too. The superhero wasn’t nearly as heroic as he claimed to be. He was fully capable of deceit, of playing the trickster, of deliberately misleading her to believe one man was actually two different men.
I tried to make it clear that this Lois has trust issues, issues that Clark inadvertently and unknowingly poked with an electric cattle prod. Her reactions are based in those insecurities, and this time she didn't have the buffer of her willingness to risk herself for Clark's parents and almost dying as a result. She put Clark on a pedestal, and when he got down he stepped on Lois' heart. He believed that she could handle the truth. (
Check this out.) It's probable that she still has unresolved issues regarding her father's behavior, and those would affect any other relationship with any man for as long as she leaves those issues unresolved.
I hope this clears up any misunderstanding about the violence of Lois' response.
The question of whether of not her reaction is reasonable is related but separate. We'll see how the people around her react to her ultimatum and whether or not Clark actually leaves. (Spoiler: Of course he leaves. How else will he meet Rachel again?)
