Smallville

Tom Welling Confirms He Didn’t Want To Go Full-On Superman In The Smallville Finale

Tom Welling reveals the thinking behind the lack of full-on Superman in the Smallville finale.

Published

8 years ago

August 8, 2017

It is a subject that has been debated among Smallville fans for years: A significant number of them insist that Tom Welling would have done the whole “Superman costume” thing in the 2011 Smallville series finale if that was asked of him.

Now, six years later, Tom did a fairly extensive interview with Entertainment Weekly where he talks about the reasons why he did not want to.

“It was something that we discussed before we ever shot the pilot with [creators] Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar],” Welling told EW about the genesis of the whole “no flights, no tights” thing that brought him to the series. “We literally had a sit down where we talked about the show and I asked about the suit and the tights and the flying, and they said, ‘No, absolutely not,’ part of the reason being is that show is about a teenager trying to figure out who he is. They felt that once Clark put on the cape and the suit, life became too easy, in a sense. They wanted to focus on who this character was before that. And, at the time, because of where visual effects and special effects and stunts were, it would be too expensive. That’s mainly why they save that for movies, more or less.”

As for the series finale, which gave fans only a shirt-rip that left many disappointed, Welling wouldn’t say it was his decision, but it sounds a lot like it. “It was literally something that the entire series was behind in not doing that,” he said. “We did things on that show where we didn’t call them powers, we called them abilities — you weren’t allowed to say powers; you just weren’t because Clark didn’t know they were powers, he just knew he had those abilities, so little things like kept us grounded and kept us faced onto the story we were telling about this character, not what he could do with these abilities.”

Welling also dropped the bombshell that there was an idea for Clark to suit up earlier in the series finale, where we’d see full-on Superman, and he was instrumental in making suer it didn’t happen. “Our series finale was supposed to be, in the first act, Clark puts on the suit and flies around, saves Lois on a plane, and does this other stuff,” Welling revealed. “It was a call that I had with Peter Roth, who is the head of Warner Bros. Television, who’s a good friend of mine and we have a great relationship. I said, ‘That’s not our show, Peter.’ He’s like, ‘No, it’s going to be great,’ and I go, ‘Yeah, but just think about what we’ve been doing. If we just jump into that, we haven’t earned it.’”

In the end, the actor was happy with the decision they made to end with a shirt rip. “We jumped onto this idea that at the end of the show, the idea is that Clark becomes Superman and he’s out there, and we know he’s out there, but we can’t go with him, but that we know and we feel good that he’s out there doing good,” he said. “That was what we strove for, and I think we hit it. I liked the ending of the series, because it’s like, ‘Yes, he did it!’ I hope the audience didn’t feel like we didn’t show them something that they needed to see. I felt like we gave them the jumping off point for their imagination as to what could happen.”

You can read the complete Entertainment Weekly interview here. Our thanks again to Zach from Always Hold On To Smallville for the heads-up, and if you’d like to talk about this with other fans, the KryptonSite forums still exist!

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Photo: Tom Welling At The FOX Summer 2017 All-Star Party

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2 Comments

Rob Lopez

August 8, 2017 at 7:08 pm

You did earn it, Tom. Do a Superman limited series under the Smallville banner and you will see how many of us are behind you.

Reply
Christina

August 8, 2017 at 8:50 pm

We wanted the suit, Tom! I hope his decision didn’t change it so much to let Tess Mercer die. That’s why I didn’t re-watch the finale. I think it would be far greater with the way it was originally written. Come on Tom! Climax!

Reply

Smallville

New Video Spotlights Superman References on Smallville

Warner Bros. celebrates the Superman references of Smallville in a new video.

Published

4 weeks ago

January 1, 2026

Craig Byrne

We’re starting to think someone at the Warner Bros. social media team may be a Smallville fan as they have recently posted a new video spotlighting the references to Superman on Smallville. Of course, it’s not every reference ever, but it’s nice to see the show being spotlighted by WB and DC in this day and age, especially now that we are in the year that will mark 25 years since the premiere of Smallville on October 16, 2001. With ten seasons and 218 episodes, there’s a lot to choose from! (Yes, 218. “Absolute Justice” counts as two!)

What was your favorite Superman reference? Leave some comments below and unless there’s some kind of disaster, we promise the KryptonSite Forums will return sooner rather than later! Happy Anniversary Year, everybody!

Smallville

Michael Rosenbaum on Smallville Animated, Favorite Lexes & More

Michael Rosenbaum spoke with Bleeding Cool about his version of Lex Luthor on Smallville and offers a Smallville animated update

Published

2 months ago

November 28, 2025

Craig Byrne

Michael Rosenbaum recently spoke with the Bleeding Cool website about a number of topics, including the much-asked-about Smallville animated project. Unfortunately, the latest seems to be no update on what we’ve heard before.

“I would say the Smallville animated series that I created, and we have Al and Miles, creators of Smallville, who are in, and Tom Welling. We want to do it, and it’s just got to be the right timing. Right now, I’m not sure it is, but we’ll see. I think it will happen at some point, but I don’t know when. I wish I had an oracle, but I hope it comes to fruition,” Michael told them.

Rosenbaum also discussed the things that really made his Lex Luthor work.

“Ultimately, if you don’t know anything about the character’s past or don’t know why he became evil, then to me, you’re missing the special sauce and the ingredients. That’s what is most important to me. I knew I was playing a character, we were going to delve into his past, his childhood, his relationship with his father, and with other people. We saw him evolve, and I thought that’s what was interesting,” he said. “I thought the creators (behind Smallville, Al (Gough) and Miles (Millar) did a terrific job, and that’s why people liked what I did, because I had the opportunity to be likable, lovable, and be understood, and then I turned. You know why I did, and to me, that’s the best villain. When you see different layers, that’s all I’ll say about that. There have been some great actors to play Lex, but I think that’s the most important thing to me, and I had the luxury of having years to develop and become the ultimate villain,” he continued.

As for his favorite Lex Luthor actors?

Michael’s favorite is Gene Hackman “because of the nostalgia,” and he loves Nicholas Hoult’s take on the character from James Gunn’s 2025 Superman film. He also had fond things to say about Michael Cudlitz and Jon Cryer.

You can read the full Bleeding Cool interview here.

Smallville

Salute to Smallville 2026 Adds Erica Durance & Laura Vandervoort

Erica Durance and Laura Vandervoort will be attending the 2026 Salute to Smallville convention in Nashville.

Published

2 months ago

November 20, 2025

Craig Byrne

The 2026 Salute to Smallville convention celebrating the 25th anniversary of Smallville is happening in Nashville on November 6 & 7, and while that time is a little less than a year away, Creation Entertainment is already adding more guests!

Previously, the convention announced Tom Welling (Clark Kent), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor), Eric Johnson (Whitney Fordman), and Adrianne Palicki (Lindsay Harrison/”Kara” from “Covenant”) – today, they are announcing two of Smallville’s most popular actors to the roster. Who, you ask?

The first of the two guests joined Smallville in Season 4. Originally set for only four episodes, she was so well liked and did such a great job in the role that she kept coming back… and coming back… and ultimately, the show was able to give us the actual Lois Lane that we all deserved, finally allowing Clark and Lois to be romantic on the show. We are talking, of course, about Erica Durance!

Next up is our favorite Supergirl, with no offense to others who have played the role. Yes, actor and award-winning director Laura Vandervoort is coming too! Laura was busy getting married at the time of the second Salute, and it’ll be great to see her again.

DISCLAIMER: KryptonSite webmaster and Salute to Smallville co-emcee Craig Byrne who wrote this article also is an employee of Creation Entertainment. But trust that means that I know full well how great we plan on making it!