Smallville’s Clark Kent Gets the Perfect Sendoff on The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths

When it comes to Smallville, many of us remember watching the show back in 2001. I was ten when it started and in love with Tom Welling because, come on, can you blame me? I wore my Kryptonite necklace to school every day and would try to talk to my brother about theories like he didn’t know infinitely more than I did about Superman and his lore.

But, like all good things, Smallville had to come to an end, and did so without Clark Kent ever really wearing the Superman suit that we have come to know and love. The show, which spawned countless fanfic accounts for Clark and Lex Luthor, is something of a cult classic, I suppose. If you can push past Allison Mack’s involvement (she played Chloe Sullivan on the show), then you can watch all ten seasons and fall in love with the teenage Clark Kent as he grows into the Clark we know and love at the Daily Planet.

So, when the news broke that Tom Welling was returning to his Smallville roots to play Clark in The CW’s Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, my brother and I both had expectations for where we would see the character go. What neither of us excepted was for Clark to have a very fitting end that really had nothing to do with his Superman ways at all.

When Lex Luthor (played by Jon Cryer) comes to Earth-167, Clark Kent is outside his home in Smallville, Kansas, chopping wood. Lex comes and is ready to kill Superman on every Earth and hands Clark a bit of Kryptonite to do so, but surprisingly, it has no effect on him.

In an incredible twist, all Clark Kent from Smallville wants is a family. Throughout the run of the show, the death of his father, Jonathan Kent, weighed on Clark because for the first time really in Superman history, we got to explore their relationship more and more. We saw the tension when Clark wanted to play football and when he went behind Jonathan’s back to do so. We saw their love and their growth in ways that have always been brushed aside in other properties.

So the fact that Clark Kent was Superman up until he had his own kid and then gave it all up to be there for his daughters? It would have made Jonathan Kent proud, and as far as we know, Earth-167 doesn’t need a Superman, so him giving up his powers isn’t selfish, but rather, the best thing for the world and for Clark and his family. It’s a beautiful end to a show that built a relationship around Clark and his Earth parents that never existed that much in the other screen adaptations, and seeing Clark in this way now, after all these years, is the perfect end to a beautiful series.

Twitter also shared their love of both Smallville and Clark’s ending after last night’s episode.

Sure, there is an argument that Lois Lane and Clark Kent would have worked something out so he could still be Superman, but guess what? As I previously said, we don’t know what this world is like. Clark Kent might not need to be Superman anymore, and if he gave all that up for his family, it just makes me love him even more because he’s making Jonathan and Martha Kent proud.

(image: Dean Buscher/The CW)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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