Before there was the Arrowverse, there was Smallville.
The series, which ran for 10 seasons on the WB and The CW, followed a teenage Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his early days as a farm-dwelling kid living with his adoptive parents Martha (Annette O’Toole) and Jonathan Kent (John Schneider).
In addition to developing his powers, Clark navigated the ups and downs of high school and his longtime crush on his neighbor, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk). Viewers also watched as Clarkformed a friendship with his future nemesis, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum).
Though Smallville fans always knew Clark was Superman, he didn’t wear the iconic red-and-blue suit until the series finale in May 2011. According to Welling, cocreators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar decided Clark would never wear the suit before they even shot the pilot episode.
“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,’” Welling told Entertainment Weekly in 2017. “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.”
Keep scrolling to see what the cast of Smallville has been up to since the show ended in 2011:
