When the WB-CW television series Smallville ended in May 2011, I admit I was not secretive about my annoyance and disappointment that at series’ end we did not see Tom Welling fully suited up as Superman. It seemed like ten years were leading to that moment, and then we got… a tiny computer generated Man of Steel seen from far away at best. We did get a shirt rip, but I wanted more.
“The show was never about Superman. It was about Clark Kent,” several people involved with the show, including Tom Welling, said at the time and in the years to follow. I was still disappointed. Of course it was about Superman, I thought. I mean, Booster Gold himself talked in “Booster” about what a big deal it had been to see Superman revealed.
If Smallville had ended at five (or seven) seasons as show creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had intended, I would have understood. Definitely in those early days, the show was about Clark Kent in his formative years, and if the last shot had been something like the first formation of the Fortress of Solitude, Clark’s future would be left to our imaginations. As far as I know, Gough and Millar have never explicitly revealed their original planned ending for Smallville though I would be really curious about it. But I digress. The fact of the matter is, by Season 10 we would have seen the “S.” We had met characters like Hawkman, Booster Gold, Slade Wilson and Dr. Fate, for crying out loud. Anything less than the full-on “S” would be anticlimactic.
Flash forward eight years. 2019.
We live in a world where old characters we enjoyed like Kimmy Gibbler and even the Buchmans of Mad About You come back to TV. Comic book movies and TV are “hot” and The CW — the network that shuffled Smallville to Fridays to try to kill it, yet it still was among their highest-rated shows — now relies on DC Comics TV for their bread and butter. There are currently six DC shows on the network, with possibly more to come in the future. And with so many shows, comes this year’s big crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. And somewhere along the line, it was decided that one of those “infinite Earths” is the world of Smallville, and Tom Welling and Erica Durance are back.
Beyond the excitement of the fandom — and I’m right there with you — the biggest question asked was “will Tom Welling finally wear the suit?” After all, we were denied that in episode 218 of his 218-episode long series. And my response to that question may be surprising… because…
I hope not.
While it might be exciting to finally see a Tom Welling Clark suited up as Superman in live-action (we did get it in Bryan Q. Miller’s Smallville Season 11 comic books at least), it also might betray what Smallville ultimately was. We watched for 218 episodes hoping for something, and it might be a bit of a cheat to see it happening on a series that is not even his own. Also, if Smallville taught us anything, it was that Clark Kent didn’t need a traditional Superman costume to do good in the world.
There is also the really fascinating notion that Welling’s appearance, as with Erica Durance’s, is a post-script in which we revisit a world with some old friends. Tom might not have even filmed a lot. It’s possible Erica might have only done the Smallville scene in addition to potentially appearing as her Supergirl character of Alura. Wouldn’t it betray the notion and the vibe of what Smallville was if this was about him as Superman, and not the farm boy who has now done some good as a man? If Smallville was Before Superman, could this be… After Superman? After all, those gloves in the official photos make it look like he might be powerless.
I don’t always get what I want. If I did, someone would have convinced Tom to put on the suit back in 2011 and Michael Rosenbaum would have been in Crisis on Infinite Earths. It would be Tom Welling and Erica Durance starring in Superman & Lois, where literally the son would become the father, and the father, the son. I’m very happy and excited to see my Smallville favorites in Crisis, and even a little bit of time with them is enough for me. But as for the costume? If it doesn’t happen, I’m good, especially if we find out that “no suit” is what got Tom Welling to come back in the first place…. without Tom, Crisis would feel incomplete, and I’m so grateful that Welling was willing to return. If he wears the suit? I won’t be sad — I’d probably be very excited — but I will be surprised. We’ll see what ultimately happens.
Crisis on Infinite Earths begins Sunday, December 8 on The CW.
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We got to see Bruce Wayne suit up as Batman at the end of Gotham after a mere five seasons compared to Smallville's 10 year run. Tom "No Tights, No Flights" Welling will never be in the same realm as Henry Cavill, Dean Cain and will never come close to Christopher Reeve. He's "Clark Kent." That's it.