SMALLVILLE Star Tom Welling Reflects On Batman Not Appearing And How He'd Have Liked A Cameo To Play Out

SMALLVILLE Star Tom Welling Reflects On Batman Not Appearing And How He'd Have Liked A Cameo To Play Out

Smallville star Tom Welling has looked back on the fact Batman never appeared in The CW series and reveals how he'd have liked Bruce Wayne to factor into the Man of Steel popular TV show. Check it out...

By JoshWilding - Sep 04, 2024 10:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Smallville
Source: KSiteTV

With DC Studios' Superman now less than a year away from swooping into theaters, the DCU will soon have a new Man of Tomorrow. Superman & Lois wraps up on The CW later this year and, despite frequent updates, that Smallville animated revival appears no closer to happening. 

That means David Corenswet will soon be our one and only live-action Superman, though that could always change seeing as The Batman II and The Brave and the Bold are both on the way. 

Back when Smallville was on the air, there were constant rumours about Bruce Wayne or Batman showing up. It never happened, though Clark Kent did finally cross paths with the Dark Knight in a comic book sequel series. 

Talking at TerrifiCon (via KSiteTV), Superman himself, Tom Welling, shared his thoughts on how Bruce Wayne could have factored into The CW series. 

"I always thought that we should have had Bruce Wayne pass through somehow," the actor told fans during a Q&A. "That would have been really cool to see. Like, you know how Clark always got into the Luthor Mansion with no problem? [What if] he had gone into Lex’s office, and it was just as simple as Lex being like 'Good to meet you, Bruce,' or 'I’ll talk to you later, Bruce,' and have him just walk out."

Welling added, "I think that would have been cool, but one of the challenges we had is DC movies and DC television don’t talk to each other."

There were some talks of a potential meeting in the early 2000s, though it didn't happen. Smallville showrunner Alfred Gough previously said, "To be honest, that was more of a pipe dream, only because at that point, the feature side and [Christopher] Nolan were developing Batman Begins, [but] we always thought if we put it out in the press, maybe we could get them to turn the corner."

Fellow showrunner Miles Millar added, "It was always our dream to have Batman...young Bruce Wayne. It was always our dream to have young Diana Prince, and both were shattered at the feet of Warner Bros. features. It all changed when the head of production at the feature studio left. And the idea that you couldn’t make a movie and make a TV series of the same character at the same time."

That attitude to having certain characters be off-limits to TV shows continued right through to the conclusion of the DCEU last year. However, with DC Studios now in charge of the DCU, we expect that to change courtesy of one cohesive shared universe similar to the MCU.

Are you disappointed that Batman never appeared in Smallville?

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0bstreperous
0bstreperous - 9/4/2024, 10:13 AM
Smallville jumped the shark after season 5
Matador
Matador - 9/4/2024, 10:15 AM
@0bstreperous - Went from Smallville to Metropolis
Spoken
Spoken - 9/4/2024, 10:24 AM
@0bstreperous - Yeah the moment Season 4 ended, it completely went into a new direction. Season 4 is my favorite though.
Conquistador
Conquistador - 9/4/2024, 10:57 AM
@Spoken - season 4 was the weakest imo of the gough and millar run.

5 and 3 were the strongest imo.

That witch shit was back. After Gough and Millar left though at the end of a shortened season 7 you could see the budget and time constraints but season 9 with the cloned kryptonians was pretty good for what they had to work with.
Spoken
Spoken - 9/4/2024, 11:17 AM
@Conquistador - I thought Season 1 was the worst to me. Season 2 shows some improvement but same ol-schlocky shit. Season 3, almost the same. OK, but EH. Love the ending though for Season 3. For Season 4 to me, it had a lot more going for it and I feel they finally were embracing the bigger world and moving away from Donner Superman and becoming its own thing.

Season 9 was pretty good too. Season 8 also was very very disappointing. It always felt like it was holding back and then when it was time not to hold back, THEY STILL HELD BACK! LOL.

Conquistador
Conquistador - 9/4/2024, 12:01 PM
@Spoken - To be honest Smallville as a whole went on too long...I don't think we can really see season 1 as the worst as, well it was the first and hit the right strides, freak of the week aside...it touched the right notes for the core audience... being a Dawson's Creek with a Superhero and because of its success if went on for so long.

They always had to hold back, the season's finale of the promise to come next season always set it up to fail as they then had to stretch out the story with a bunch of side plots for 20 to 24 episodes.

Can you imagine if they did smallville in 2024!

The talent of writers and directors around now, advances in VFX, the higher budgets and more concise story telling we're use to getting in 8 to 10 episodes per season. It would be awsome. I'd ALMOST prefer that to a new Superman movie.
dragon316
dragon316 - 9/4/2024, 1:33 PM
@Matador - I’m glad romance with Lana Clark was annoying like those character where there not couple
Matador
Matador - 9/4/2024, 2:40 PM
@dragon316 - LOL I 100% agree Lana was annoying way too much drama
Beer85
Beer85 - 9/17/2024, 3:46 AM
@Conquistador - If they did Smallville in 2024 it would have **** cast, and nobody would give a rats @ss becouse there has been a million superhero shows and movies by this time. Smallville, for the first few years at least was almost an event. Since they were making Marvel movies already then, and Smallville was pretty much the only DC thing around (well the short lived Birds of Prey too) so no, I wouldn't want it today. The first few seasons of Smallville look really expensive compared to most things on CW today, or TV in general. It would however have been cool if they would have made "Superman&Lois" with Tom Welling and Erica Durance. That would have been cool.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/4/2024, 10:22 AM
I had read (though this is likely incorrect) that Ian Somerhalder’s “ Adam Knight” character was meant to be Bruce Wayne but then they had to change it because of Begins which in turn led to the weird storyline we got with him lol.

User Comment Image

Some of his backstory even includes things that could fit Bruce Wayne such as leading a privileged life and learning skills such as martial arts & computer hacking.

It’s unfortunate because Ian could have done well as a younger Bruce.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 9/4/2024, 10:24 AM
WB are stupid. Always have been.
Spoken
Spoken - 9/4/2024, 10:26 AM
I legit always thought this rule was beyond stupid. It was a joke called "the Bat-Embargo" and still dumb till this day.

And I am pretty sure, those rules are still applied
valmic
valmic - 9/4/2024, 10:46 AM
Showing Clark visit Gotham City would have been a great way to introduce that aspect of the show we never got to see. A dark run down city compared to the farm life. Bruce up on a screen in "Times Square" talking about trying to fix the city. So much potential, WB wasted it all.
knomad
knomad - 9/4/2024, 12:20 PM
Honestly I thought Adam Knight (a "dark knight" - get it?) was going to end up being Bruce Wayne in disguise. Master martial artist, genius, etc.. it was an opportunity.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 9/4/2024, 12:29 PM
Always had the idea that Bruce should've been introduced via the Luthors. Mostly Luthors centric episode.

1. After Lionel's trial for the death of his parents, he dangles some other illicit information he may know, including a possible hand in the deaths of the Wayne's and/or info on it
2. Bruce has been traveling abroad and not seen in the US in years; he turns up in Metropolis to question Lionel when he hears of this news
3. Alfred hires Henri Ducard to hunt down Bruce and bring him home

-We get a sense of the skills Bruce has acquired as he dispatches Luthorcorp security and breaks into Luthor strongholds for info
-its believed someone is coming to kill Lionel as Bruce's activity speaks to someone on a collision course for him
-Bruce manages to kidnap Lionel during a prison transfer; he keeps his identity a secret with Lionel blindfolded
-Clark gets involved and meets Bruce briefly
-Lionel ultimately did not have a hand in the eventual killing but knew of a past attempt on the Wayne's

4. Ducard ultimately tracks Bruce down and alerts Alfred of his whereabouts and intentions; Bruce convinces him to train him and they leave
5. Alfred comes to Metropolis but is too late; he confronts Lionel about the Wayne's murder; speaks to Lex about Bruce as they both use to attended Excelsior Academy but Bruce was kicked out after s short stint, for behavioral issues and multiple fights; he disappeared shortly after
6. Alfred and Clark meet and talk about Bruce's vendetta and Alfred's regret of not doing more when he witnessed "Bruce Wayne figuratively "perish" at the young age of 10" along with his parents and become something else entirely
7. We get a closing scene of Alfred receiving a letter from Bruce simply stating: "I made a promise."
SpiderBloke2099
SpiderBloke2099 - 9/4/2024, 1:45 PM
The whole thing about not being allowed to use certain characters on Smallville or on Arrow (the Suicide Squad) or Batman in Batwoman is absolutely insane. WB are dumb and have been for going on 30 years or more now. It's not one person or another, it's an institutional idiocy.

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