Perry White is a fictional character who appears in the Superman comics, and is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet.
Perry is famous for being boisterous and loud, as well as being a fairly strict editor. He is known for shouting "great Caesar's ghost!" when angry, exasperated or surprised. Perry also dislikes being called "chief" (Jimmy Olsen being his main employee that calls him "chief"), usually causing Perry to shout "don't call me chief!"
Perry's other defining trait is a love of smoking cigars; in the 1990s Superman comics, this practice was mostly discontinued, thanks to a storyline in which Perry underwent treatment for lung cancer.
Like Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, Perry is also known for being an acquaintance of Superman.
Perry White is married to Alice White.
History
Golden and Silver Age History
The earliest Superman comics presented Clark Kent and Lois Lane as working for the Daily Star for an editor named George Taylor. However, this was soon changed, with Perry White first appearing as the editor of a newly-renamed Daily Planet in 1940's Superman #7.
In the 1960s and 1970s DC Comics, after the multiverse method of continuity tracking was implemented, the above inconsistency was explained away by declaring that on Earth-One (the Silver Age universe), Perry White was Clark and Lois' employer at the Daily Planet, while on Earth-Two (the Golden Age universe), George Taylor was that world's editor-in-chief of the Daily Star.
Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, or "pre-Crisis" for short, Perry began his career as a freelance reporter for various newspapers, including a Chicago newspaper and Gotham City's Gotham Gazette. He eventually went to work at the Daily Planet as a reporter, and earned his first Pulitzer Prize by being the first to write about Superboy's extraterrestrial origins thanks to an exclusive interview with the Boy of Steel.
Later still, Perry's reporting skills earned more praise after being the first to discover that Superboy had moved to Metropolis from Smallville (Superboy had intended to keep his move quiet for an undefined period of time, so as not to alert anyone to Superboy and Clark Kent leaving Smallville around the same time).
Finally, during Clark Kent's junior year of college, Perry was promoted to editor-in-chief of the newspaper, after the retirement of the paper's previous editor, the Earth-One version of George Taylor.
In the early 1970s, the Daily Planet was bought by Morgan Edge, president of the media conglomerate Galaxy Communications, with much of Perry's power in running the paper overtaken by Edge.
Modern Age History
With writer John Byrne's post-Crisis on Infinite Earths (also called "post-Crisis" for short) revamp of Superman's origin in the Man of Steel miniseries and his subsequent Superman comics, Perry's history was fleshed out more fully.
Post-Crisis, Perry was born in Metropolis's Suicide Slum area, growing up with a father missing after heading off to war overseas. He became a copy boy at the Daily Planet, beginning a lifetime career that would take him up the newspaper's career ladder. Perry met Lex Luthor when they were children (Luthor also grew up in Suicide Slum).
After Luthor became a successful businessman, Luthor began diversifying his holdings in his newly-founded LexCorp company, which included buying the Daily Planet. Luthor soon sold it after deciding to pursue technology and television investments. Turning down an offer from Luthor to become part of Luthor's new television station WLEX, Perry found an investor who saved the Daily Planet on the condition that Perry was promoted from reporter to editor. The entire episode left Perry bitter and angry with Luthor.
Perry married Alice Spencer and had a son, Jerry White. Much later, after Jerry was fully grown, Perry would learn that Lex Luthor was Jerry's biological father. Luthor had briefly seduced Alice while Perry was overseas reporting on a war and thought to be killed.
Perry White's two greatest moves as editor would be to hire Lois Lane and (later) Clark Kent. When she was 15, Lois had impressed Perry with her persistence in trying to get employment at the newspaper (by lying about her age). After Jerry White died from a gunshot, Perry and Alice grieved for some time, resulting in Perry taking a leave of absence from the Daily Planet.
Later, Perry and Alice adopted an orphaned African-American boy named Keith Robert, who soon had his named changed to Keith Robert White. At about this time, Perry took another leave of absence for lung cancer treatment, putting Clark Kent in charge as the Planet's temporary editor. After many grueling months of chemotherapy, the cancer went into remission.
One of Perry's proudest moments was to attend the wedding of Lois and Clark. He sat in the front row beside Lois's parents (Lois considering him as close a relative as her own family).
As the paper continued to struggle, the Planet's owner Franklin Stern sold the paper to Lex Luthor. Luthor, acting out of pure malice, dismantled the paper. He fired everyone except Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and two others who were relocated to Lexcom, Lex's new Internet-based news company. Fortunately, shortly thereafter, Lex sold the Planet to Bruce Wayne for $1 (thanks to a secret deal with Lois Lane). White was hired back as editor-in-chief, and the entire former staff was hired back as well.
Perry's editorship has kept the Daily Planet as one of the few newspapers that dared to heavily criticize Luthor (even after Luthor's successful election as President of the United States).
Because of the changes in Superman's history in recent years, including 2003-2004's miniseries Birthright, much is not certain about Perry's history. The history of Jerry White and whereabouts of Perry's adopted son Keith are more or less up in the air.
Other Media
- In one episode of the TV series Smallville, Perry White was portrayed by Michael McKean. In this, he was a former Daily Planet reporter reduced to tabloid television. He knows, and is keeping, Clark's secret.