Tom Welling Reveals Major ‘Smallville’ Regret: “It Would Have Been Really Cool to See”

Over the ten seasons of “Smallville,” the series that explores the early years of Clark Kent/Superman, Tom Welling harbors one particular regret about an unrealized creative idea.

Before the Arrowverse took root on the CW, Smallville was the network’s flagship DC series, beloved by many. While the drama starring Tom Welling did introduce several iconic superheroes, there were a few characters the show couldn’t bring on board, including Batman.

At Terrificon 2024 (via Screen Rant), the actor expressed his wish that Smallville had been granted the rights to use Batman in the Superman prequel series. He revealed the obstacles that prevented this from happening and shared his ideal dream scene between Clark and Bruce…

I always thought we should have somehow brought Bruce Wayne into it. It would have been really cool to see. You know how Clark would always walk into Luthor’s mansion with no problem? He could have walked into Lex’s office, and it would have been as simple as Lex saying ‘Nice to meet you, Bruce’ or ‘I’ll talk to you later, Bruce’ as he walked out. I think that would have been cool! But one of the challenges we faced was that the DC films and television didn’t communicate with each other, which made it very difficult for TV shows to use certain elements – that’s a big issue, even just using the Superman soundtrack.

How Smallville Eventually Introduced Batman

In 2011, shortly after the series concluded its ten-year run, Smallville made a comeback, this time in the form of a comic book. Between 2012 and 2013, DC Comics published Season 11 of the show, penned by Bryan Q. Miller, who had served as a writer on the series for several years, allowing the story to continue. One of the major “episodes” of Season 11 was titled “Detective,” which finally introduced Batman into the Smallville universe.

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Throughout the chapter, fans learned what the Smallville version of Batman had been up to during the time the series was on air. Without the constraints of a television budget, this glossy paper season was able to offer fans a true team-up between Batman and Superman and also brought Batman into subsequent stories with Tom Welling’s Justice League.

As frustrating as it was to never see Batman in the live-action series, this written version was nonetheless a fantastic chance to finally see Welling’s Superman interact with the caped crusader. If the animated series of Smallville ever becomes a reality, perhaps fans will hear Tom Welling interact with this continuity’s version of Batman, even if it’s just in the animated realm.

Meanwhile, you can rewatch Smallville in its entirety on Prime Video.

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