It’s been over six years now, but some DC fans are still bitter that the series finale of Smallville didn’t deliver what they hoped for. Superman lovers had waited a whole ten seasons for Clark Kent to don the iconic red and blue outfit and finally suit up as the Man of Steel. In the end, though, the most we got were a few blurry glimpses at a CGI Supes and, in the episode’s final moments, the classic shirt-rip, revealing the ‘S’ shield underneath.
To promote his return to the DC TV universe in Fox’s Lucifer, Tom Welling turned up on daytime show The Talk recently and was pressed yet again for information on the controversial Smallville finale. The actor maintained that the way it was handled was in keeping with what the show was all about and also hopes that fans were on board with the decision, even though we all know that most definitely weren’t.
“One of the things when we started the show was that it was going to be about Clark in high school. It was not going to be about Superman. So, at the end of the series, it was about trying to put Clark in the position where you knew he was going to become Superman, but you couldn’t go with him. But we hope the fans felt like it was good that they knew Clark was out there being Superman.”
If you’re wondering why Welling is so keen to stand by this, that’s probably because he was a big reason it played out that way. Earlier this year, the actor revealed that there was initially talk of him donning the Superman suit in the finale. However, as he explains above, he felt that it would be disingenuous to the story and tone of Smallville as to him, it was about what happens before Clark Kent is Superman. After all, the show’s original tagline was, “no flights, no tights.”
There was one other reason as well, though. As Welling has said before, he didn’t relish the idea of squeezing into the costume.
“I wasn’t exactly excited with the idea of getting into tights anyways, so it worked out.”
Tell us, do you think the actor should have donned the iconic suit in Smallville? Or are you happy with the decision they made? Sound off down below!