Arrowverse Boss Reveals Why Tom Welling’s Superman Gave Up His Powers

Tom Welling Superman Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse Smallville

Arrowverse head honcho Marc Guggenheim has revealed why Tom Welling’s Superman gave up his powers.

The Arrowverse’s Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover was an unprecedented episodic undertaking and featured a plethora of cameos from numerous stars. One such cameo was Tom Welling’s Superman, who played the iconic Son of Krypton in Smallville on The CW. Tom Welling played Clark Kent for a decade on the television drama that gave us a look at Superman’s early days.

Ending in 2011 with Tom Welling’s Clark Kent finally assuming the role of Superman, Smallville has since been revered as one of the best superhero shows to have aired on the small screen. When it finally came time for Tom Welling’s appearance on the Arrowverse crossover, fans were surprised to find that his Superman had given up his powers.

Speaking with the Fake Nerd podcast, Arrowverse boss Marc Guggenheim revealed that Tom Welling’s character giving up his powers was a nod to the seminal Superman II.

“We discussed a nod to, believe it or not, Superman II, it wasn’t relevant to the story that we were telling in terms of getting into the specifics of it, and there are certain things that I believe are best left for the fans to discuss and debate.”

“I don’t believe in giving the fans the entire picture all the time, but the idea that Clark would give up his powers in order to have this kind of life, that really resonated with all of us, and I think it really resonated with Tom [Welling]. It just makes sense.”

The Arrowverse boss’ reasoning for not showing Tom Welling’s Superman have powers is actually quite powerful when one understands the burden of bearing them. However, the Arrowverse helmer was completely aware that fans were hoping to see Tom Welling go all-out as the Man of Steel as the star had never gotten the chance to do so in his own show. Guggenheim continued by discussing that Tom Welling’s Clark Kent did go on to become Superman and have all the adventures fans were hopeful he would go on when Smallville ended.

“It was one of the reasons why it was so important for us to show you those Daily Planet articles that Lois wrote. We very much wanted to tell the audience that the promise of Smallville was, ‘He’s going to become Superman.’ We wanted to make it very clear that that did happen, that he did become Superman, that he did have all these adventures, but they are left to your imagination.”

Tom Welling’s appearance as Superman in the Arrowverse crossover was most certainly praised but many fans found his appearance to be short. While it would have been stellar to see Tom Welling’s rendition of the character go to the action-packed route, his appearance in the Arrowverse crossover was sentimental and heartfelt, echoing the premise of the show he came from.

What were your thoughts on Tom Welling’s appearance as Superman in the Arrowverse crossover?

Source: Fake Nerd