When we read comic books featuring Superman we only picture Erica Durance as Lois Lane. When we see Lana Lang pop up in comic books for one second we wonder why she has red hair. When we see Lex Luthor we can really understand his past and why he is who he is. When we see Superman we picture where he came from, what he's been through, who he saved, how his father died because of his decisions, and we grasp his humanity. All because of Smallville.
In all honesty DC should just translate Smallville into a film, I know its a fanboy's dream but lets look at the positives for Warner Bros.:
1. This allows them to skip all origin stories which is advantageous considering the current Superman legal issues.
2. A complete cast with actors who have proved they can play their 'part' and that's what matters even if they have low film cred (which may have just been caused by their degree of loyalty to Smallville).
3. Lets be realistic here, a major reason for our lack of acceptance for Superman Returns was because most fans already have their own Clark Kent, who they view regularly and convincingly every week.
4. New audiences: No matter who plays Superman he WILL be new to the audience. Whether its Tom Welling or Armie Hammer, he will be a new introduction to the wider audience. So why NOT Welling? If he wasn't on
Smallville, wouldn't we have found him and pledged for him?
5. Chemistry:
Smallville's Lois and Clark have better chemistry than the Lois and Clark in the comic books, enough said.
6. Green Arrow casted: So? Warner Bros already had a Green Arrow film in the works that didn't pan out so that isn't their priority. However if you take the
SuperMax plot and place
Smallville's Green Arrow in it, it would actually make sense. Why? because whether its Justin Hartley or Matt Damon, Green Arrow WILL be a new character to the audience. So ask yourself, why not?
With the
Smallville cast in place for the new Superman, DC will be able to make millions. Look at films like Sex and the City jump into the film business from TV and make millions world wide, how does THAT cast do it? who (apart from a closed age group of women) watched that show?
Smallville is watched by a wide age and gender range.
When my 6 year old cousin saw me watching the behind the scenes for
Smallville, he asked me why Tom Welling (in his ordinary clothes) looked like Superman. That's exactly when I knew a new audience WILL accept him, and we're just scared that they wont.
They already tried a new cast, a new story, and a new world. Let's try it the easier way this time.
If we cast anyone apart from Erica Durance, the scene below will come true as it did in Superman Returns: