While lots of fans are really disappointed, it is learned that Tom Welling loves his portrayal of Smallville in Crisis On Infinite Earths.
Crisis revealed that Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor had received the Book of Destiny and was going around the different Earths in the multiverse killing versions of Superman. Lex came to the Smallville Earth to do the same to the Tom Welling Superman, but found that Welling’s Clark Kent had given up his powers to start a family.
The showrunner of the Batwoman episode and the producer behind Crisis filled in EW that Tom Welling loved the storyline:
“We had conversations about how to best see Tom again,” Dries told reporters at screening of Parts 1 and 2 last week. “We knew that we really wanted Brandon Routh as Clark Kent in the Daily Planet. I think the Tom Welling Clark Kent that we all kind of picture when we think of him is Clark on the farm. So, it made sense. The farm is still there.” She continued, “It all felt very 10 years ago in a great way. To us, it just felt natural that that’s kind of his natural environment where we’d see him.”
According to crossover executive producer Marc Guggenheim, Welling loved what they had written for him.
“He was like, ‘I love this,’” said Guggenheim. “He basically said to me, ‘You guys have basically written the one scene that I can’t say no to,’ which was really really nice.”
While Tom Welling has been adamant since Smallville ended that he never wanted to don the Superman suit, since the end of Smallville teased just that, fans were hoping Welling would do it for Crisis, one last time, especially considering the stakes.
However, while the episode actually saw Tom Welling told that his family was in danger, his Clark Kent made a joke about it to Erica Durance’s Lois.
Many fans have been taking to social media to voice their disappointment with Tom Welling, producer Marc Guggenheim and the show.
A comment on the EW article offers the following:
On Smallville, so many people died for Clark’s destiny. In some cases Clark didn’t even know, such as the time a Braniac infested Chloe killed a man who knew his secret. Or when Brainiac killed Dax-Ur who Clark didn’t know existed. And there was much more.
Clark giving up his powers would be like a kid going to college because their parents saved and sacrificed for 20 years, and after they spend their parent’s money, they drop out.
It would be a huge slap in the face to all who sacrificed for Clark, a slap to all the people Lex killed trying to get to Clark’s secret such as Lionel Luthor and many, many more. And a huge disrespect to Jon Kent, as well as Jor-El. Hell, even to Lex who grew into a villain obsessing over Clark’s secrets.
All of that, just so Clark could give up.
Welling was wrong to go along with something that attacked the legacy of 10 years of work in his life and the work of many others.
But I’m not surprised to garbage Arrowverse creators wrote it. They are obsessed with identity politics. Obsessed with making statements that the women characters are better than the male characters. So obviously, the Chris Reeve Superman will end up being tarnished so the Benoist Supergirl can be made to look better. That’s the game they are playing.
Welling agreed to do something that undid the legacy of his series. Mark Hamill helped Disney destroy Luke Skywalker. But at least Hamill got a big paycheck. What did Welling get? $5K?
Unless his character is restored later, he should not be surprised to see a dwindling interest in Smallville at cons just as it was surging. The Crisis cameo just killed Smallville.
Watch the Crisis On Infinite Earths Tom Welling footage:
