Four years later, fans are still discussing the return of Tom Welling as Smallville’s Clark Kent in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover that aired on The CW, and earlier this week, Tom Welling spoke about that opportunity at a live TalkVille event held in Hollywood.

“They had asked me to kind of bring Clark into some of the other shows, and it didn’t feel right,” Tom recalled. “But when they sent me [the “Crisis” script] they were like, ‘just read it.’ It was one scene, and I read it and I was like [sigh] ‘this is a really good idea’.”

Tom talked about how the Batwoman crew wasn’t familiar with the Kent Farm location, so he was helping them at the same time. But as for playing Clark again?

“It was really fun, because I was able to kind of bring Clark back again, but a little more grown up,” he said, noting that he tried to have mannerisms like John Schneider had as Clark’s human father Jonathan Kent on Smallville, with the gloves and the way he walked. “My favorite part of the whole thing was Jon Cryer and he says ‘I’m Lex Luthor’ and I’m like ‘you’re not Lex.” That line was a lot of fun… one of the easiest lines I’ve ever said, because this is Lex Luthor,” he continued, pointing at Michael Rosenbaum on stage.

Most importantly, Welling seems happy with where the Crisis on Infinite Earths story took Clark. 

“It was really great, and I thought as a fan of Clark, this fits the tone in which would see him again,” he affirmed.

You can watch video from the event below.

Arrowverse architect Marc Guggenheim has been releasing a fantastic Substack newsletter called LegalDispatch in recent months, and with this week’s edition, he answered some Smallville-related questions regarding the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover — specifically, what Michael Rosenbaum‘s Lex would have done if he had shown up, and also, if there were more plans for Erica Durance to appear as Lois beyond her brief scene with Tom Welling.

Being transparent, Marc answered some of those questions! First, regarding what role Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex would play:

Well, here’s the thing. By the time we’d engaged with Michael about appearing in Crisis — thanks in huge part to Stephen Amell’s efforts — we’d already shot the Smallville reunion scene in Hour 2. Nevertheless, I was eager to get Michael’s Lex into the story if I could, so my brain started working on options that could be fit into the episodes that we were still shooting.

I forget the story impetus for them, but I noodled with a version where Michael’s Lex would interact with Jon Cryer’s Lex, which I think would’ve been quite entertaining had it come to pass.

Also, was there any temptation to have Erica Durance’s Lois Lane appear in more than one episode?

There was absolutely a temptation for sure. As with most things, however, we were subject to the limit of a combination of screentime, story requirements, money, shooting schedule, and the actors’ personal schedules.

You can read this week’s LegalDispatch here.

A highly anticipated moment from Crisis on Infinite Earths, often rumored but seemingly denied by producers and Tom Welling himself, seems to exist after all but sadly ended up on the cutting room floor before the most recent DC TV crossover hit the air, KryptonSite has learned.

Prior to the airing of the crossover, super-producer Greg Berlanti hinted that such a scene might exist, causing a lot of Internet speculation. “In one scene we have three Supermen on screen at one time and that’s pretty cool,” Berlanti told EXTRA. But when the show aired, the most Supermen per scene was two, with Brandon Routh and Tyler Hoechlin — so where was #3? And if there were really three Supermen in a scene, does that mean Smallville’s Tom Welling finally wore the suit?

Apparently two additional scenes were filmed that would have given us exactly that.

In one scene, airing in Chapter Two (Batwoman), the scene cuts back to the Kent Farm in Earth-167 as Clark and Lois are discussing his encounter with Lex, which reminds Clark of his past encounters with characters from other Earths, including other versions of himself and Lionel Luthor. “This is what I have to do,” he says before referencing going to see Jor-El and finding something called a “mirror box.” We wouldn’t see what happened next. Fans of Smallville will remember the “mirror box” from Season 10 as being the means in which people could travel the Multiverse.

But, in Chapter Three, which aired as an episode of The Flash, when many Earths are destroyed and Lyla/Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) starts attacking the Monitor, Tom Welling’s Clark, mirror box in hand, shows up…. in a full Superman costume. Underpants on the outside and all. When you follow the link below, you’ll see a photo of the suit, and that it is not the costume worn in the Superman: Season Eleven comic books. It’s full-on Superman, and after 18 years, we finally would get what we’ve been waiting for. The other characters are as surprised as we are. Sadly, there’s no time for small talk as it’s full-on chaos, and when the red wave hits after everyone is taken away, this other Superman is gone, wiped away like Hoechlin’s Superman, Elongated Man, Iris West-Allen, and others.

So why didn’t we get this awesomeness on the air, especially since there were some Smallville fans unhappy with Clark’s “happy ending?”

Sadly, Crisis on Infinite Earths was a packed affair, with only so much time and space to fit everything in. Additionally, there were concerns that introducing Welling’s Superman in a series that was not his own 10-season show would be a bit of a cop-out, and Welling’s contract also required that if the costume scene actually aired, he would get a bonus of $100,000 — something that was just not in the already-high Crisis on Infinite Earths budget.

But now, with productions shut down and The CW wanting new content, some extra money could be found under the proverbial couch. So, before anyone starts hashtagging #ReleaseTheCostumeCut — you’re in luck. The Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover is re-airing the week of April 5 on The CW, and guess what? These scenes are restored. After 18 years, we will finally see Tom Welling in live action in a Superman costume. Not in a comic book with someone else’s face. The real steel deal. And, yes, the alternate version will be on the DVD’s.

Take a look at the official picture of Tom Welling in costume here, and be sure to catch Crisis on Infinite Earths Chapter Three Wednesday, April 8 to see Tom in costume at last!