Smallville

Tom Welling on Playing Superman: “How Cool Would It Be!”

Tom Welling expresses a changed response to “would you play Superman” on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast.

Published

4 years ago

December 24, 2021

For most of the 20 years of discussion about Smallville, one thing that frequently came up is Tom Welling‘s strong stance toward the “no tights” part of “no tights, no flights.” This week, Michael Rosenbaum had Welling on his Inside of You podcast and Tom, who played Clark Kent for 218 episodes of Smallville, had a surprising answer when asked if, down the road, he was asked to play Superman.

“Especially during Smallville, it wasn’t about being Superman or not,” Tom replied, echoing his previous stance over the years. “It was only being Clark Kent on Smallville. They did some Superman movies; they were never gonna shut down Smallville for me to even do one, right? It’s just a different thing. DC movies and DC television are very different things,” he said, particularly referring to that period of time.

“Then when Smallville ended, I was very anti-playing Superman, but now as I get older, I’m like, ‘oh, maybe? I mean, yes, I think it would be fun’,” Tom now admitted. “And I think I would like to think that I could add an element that maybe hasn’t been there for a while, as far as like, maybe Superman’s not so detached. Maybe he’s not such an alien.”

Tom talked about a particular scene from the Superman movies that got his attention, that readers might see as something that could happen with the version we saw in Crisis on Infinite Earths, even though Tom didn’t cite that himself.

“My favorite scene is when Superman goes into the cafe and doesn’t have his powers, he gets beat up, and then he comes back with his powers, and how does he and how he deals with that? I think that element may need to come back in a little bit. It would be fun,” he said. “I think that having my boys [his young sons Thompson and Rocklin] now, I kind of have to get over myself a little bit. Like, how cool would it be!”

Finally, Tom spoke about how the TV shows and now movies are now embracing the multiverse

[Show as slideshow]

. “You could have five different guys playing Superman in the same movie,” he pointed out.

You can listen to the entire episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum below. There’s more Smallville discussion within, including some talk of which cast mates they’d love to see again someday.

Related Topics:Inside Of You Michael Rosenbaum Smallville Tom Welling Tom Welling Superman would Tom Welling play Superman

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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

7 days 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 weeks 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!

Smallville

Salute to Smallville 2026 Gold Passes Are Now Available!

Creation Entertainment has announced their 2026 Salute to Smallville in Nashville, Tennessee!

Published

1 month ago

October 24, 2025

Craig Byrne

The event itself may be a year away – happening November 7-8, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee – but that hasn’t stopped Creation Entertainment from formally announcing the launch of their third Salute to Smallville convention! This one will be a very special one as it will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the show, which premiered October 16, 2001 on The WB television network.

Tom Welling (Clark), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex), Eric Johnson (Whitney), and Adrianne Palicki (Lindsay Harrison/”Kara” from “Covenant”) are already confirmed, and if one of your favorites is not yet announced, do not worry – this is just the beginning!

Creation has put their highest-tier Gold Passes up for sale so if you want one of the really good seats, right in the front — now is your chance to reserve your ticket! As I just said, this is going to be quite a big deal as we’ll be celebrating the anniversary! (Also, early sales will show Creation that Smallville fans mean business!)

There’s also a whole website up for the event where you can read more about it – be sure to sign up for the e-mail list to be among the first to know about new additions!

DISCLAIMER: KryptonSite webmaster Craig Byrne (that’s me!) has been the co-MC for the first two years of the event and is currently an employee of Creation Entertainment, having even designed their latest Smallville site.