CW's Elseworlds Throws an Easter Egg WAY Back to Smallville

The landscape for comic books on TV is a very different one from what it looked like 18 years ago. Back then, comic book shows had to be disguised as dramas, with promises that costumes would never come out. Now we get comic-accurate costumes and annual crossovers that mimic the old "Annual" issues of comics. This year's crossover, Elseworlds, is paying homage to the CW's long history with comic shows - back before it was even called the CW.

The Super family is going to play a big role in this crossover, with Supergirl, Superman, and Lois Lane all in attendance. The crossover is looking to add a little more Kent history to the overall picture. Images from the upcoming crossover have emerged that put Clark Kent and Kara Danvers back on the Kent family farm. Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that this is the same farm used as a backdrop in Smallville.

Gallery

Smallville ran from 2001 until 2011. It was a flagship show for the network, then called The WB. The show avoided putting the iconic "S" on star Tom Welling's chest until the show's very last moments. Shortly after that show ended, Arrow began, and became the show that eventually launched an entire ring of superhero shows that now includes The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and a planned Batwoman series starring Ruby Rose.

Putting Clark and Kara's current selves - played by Tyler Hoechlin and Melissa Benoist - on the same farm that the Clark and Kara - Tom Welling and Laura Vandervoort - stood on is a great throwback in a long history of such homages. The CW has consistently placed former DC actors into roles on new shows. Former Superman and Supergirl Dean Cain and Helen Slater play Kara Danvers' adoptive parents on Supergirl, while 90s Flash star John Wesley Shipp has played multiple characters on The Flash.

This crossover is going to be very different from last year's 'Crisis on Earth-X', which had every character from every CW show playing a role in fighting the Nazi regime of the alternate earth. This time around, the multiverse seems to be in a state of flux. Shots in the gallery above show off Grant Gustin's Barry Allen as the Green Arrow and Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen as the Flash, while Shipp has suited up in his classic duds. We also get a peek at the Monitor and Batwoman. It's going to be a more intimate show this year, but no less ambitious, it seems.

10 comments

AnonymousHero

November 20, 2018

Smallville. The one that started it all for the CW's superheroes. I have all 10 seasons. Nice for them to take a nod back to the early days. Good times.

Seb is a Socialist
November 20, 2018
good times till season six. the whole lana lex relationship just ruined the show for me. plus the phantom wraiths and bizarro were when the show began to lose ideas.
1. AnonymousHero
  November 21, 2018
  They had some rocky and drawn out moments, no question. Sometimes it was downright painful but we stuck around because we knew it'd pay off. Took him forever to fly. I did like the Bizarro episodes and didn't mind the wraiths either. And I thought one of the best episodes in the series was the Lana & Lex Christmas episode where Lex dreams that Lana dies in childbirth -- it's a pivotal point into his psyche and why he does what he does. Smallville offered a lot of great practical ideas that Superman would go through and how he learns to stick to his guns of no killing and the inner emotional rollercoaster he deals with in his teens with his power and responsibility in becoming a man. Overall, the pros vastly outweighs the cons in my book.
  And when Rosenbaum (Lex) was part of the show, those were the best times. It got worse when he left but not to the point of abandoning it for me.
  1. Seb is a Socialist
    November 22, 2018
    it rarely paid off. he flew in the earlier seasons and from what i heard he never even wore the costume. i didnt say the wraiths were bad im just sayin it was clear that they were runnin out of ideas. one of them was a fuckin poison ivy ripoff ffs.
    yeah lexmas was good even if the santa subplot was cheesy. but again the whole romance was just kinda forced imo.
    the vastly outweigh it bc u were probably a kid when you watched it. as an adult i really had a lot mroe flaws than ppl want to give it credit for.
    1. AnonymousHero
      November 24, 2018
      I was in college watching it. Youth had nothing to do with the pros outweighing the cons for me. I simply just appreciated more of what they were doing with the Superman mythos than you. Kind of hard for you to weigh in fully when you didn't watch it completely so I won't waste time going to deep into things from the show.
      They did their own thing throughout here and there but complimented a lot of the comic characters in different ways while pulling off their CW "Dawson's Creek-vibe" drama. At times, that drama did make things drawn out even if it was somewhat entertaining. But Lois coming in to stay for the latter part of the series did a lot to bust up the mundane Lana bits. And they did manage to work in the suit CGI-style and it was satisfying enough in the end.
    2. Seb is a Socialist
      November 24, 2018
      i watched enough of it to know they shit on the superman mythos. seriouslyl what was up with that native american nonsense? and clark losing his powers to electricty? gtfo.
      yeah no i just googled it. u dont even see him in the suit lolz. ill give u that lois was well done and i was glad they didnt do a shitty love triangle that the cw loves to do with flash. it was an alright show in the end. nothing spectacular but good enouf.

Fréaláf Hildeson

November 20, 2018

"Smallville ran from 2001 until 2011. It was a flagship show for the network, then called The WB."

Pretty much, but note that the CW was the merger of the The WB (Warner) and UPN (CBS).

Bruce

November 20, 2018

I'm a season-and-a-half behind in all things Arrowverse. This sounds like a fun crossover.

Started "Smallville", never really got into it. Is it worth it?

Scripted_Fan

November 20, 2018

Just typos... (every character from 'every' CW show) & ( 'duds' not 'dudes' in reference to clothing). Correct on spell-checking, but not usage. Great article, though, Eric, thanks for writing it! Yes, I grew up to be my parents :)

Sean P. Aune
November 21, 2018
Both fixed. Those crappy times where both spell checker and a rushed editor (me) misses them. Thanks for pointing them out.

AnonymousHero
November 20, 2018
Smallville. The one that started it all for the CW's superheroes. I have all 10 seasons. Nice for them to take a nod back to the early days. Good times.
1. Seb is a Socialist
  November 20, 2018
  good times till season six. the whole lana lex relationship just ruined the show for me. plus the phantom wraiths and bizarro were when the show began to lose ideas.
  1. AnonymousHero
    November 21, 2018
    They had some rocky and drawn out moments, no question. Sometimes it was downright painful but we stuck around because we knew it'd pay off. Took him forever to fly. I did like the Bizarro episodes and didn't mind the wraiths either. And I thought one of the best episodes in the series was the Lana & Lex Christmas episode where Lex dreams that Lana dies in childbirth -- it's a pivotal point into his psyche and why he does what he does. Smallville offered a lot of great practical ideas that Superman would go through and how he learns to stick to his guns of no killing and the inner emotional rollercoaster he deals with in his teens with his power and responsibility in becoming a man. Overall, the pros vastly outweighs the cons in my book.
    And when Rosenbaum (Lex) was part of the show, those were the best times. It got worse when he left but not to the point of abandoning it for me.
    1. Seb is a Socialist
      November 22, 2018
      it rarely paid off. he flew in the earlier seasons and from what i heard he never even wore the costume. i didnt say the wraiths were bad im just sayin it was clear that they were runnin out of ideas. one of them was a fuckin poison ivy ripoff ffs.
      yeah lexmas was good even if the santa subplot was cheesy. but again the whole romance was just kinda forced imo.
      the vastly outweigh it bc u were probably a kid when you watched it. as an adult i really had a lot mroe flaws than ppl want to give it credit for.
      1. AnonymousHero
        November 24, 2018
        I was in college watching it. Youth had nothing to do with the pros outweighing the cons for me. I simply just appreciated more of what they were doing with the Superman mythos than you. Kind of hard for you to weigh in fully when you didn't watch it completely so I won't waste time going to deep into things from the show.
        They did their own thing throughout here and there but complimented a lot of the comic characters in different ways while pulling off their CW "Dawson's Creek-vibe" drama. At times, that drama did make things drawn out even if it was somewhat entertaining. But Lois coming in to stay for the latter part of the series did a lot to bust up the mundane Lana bits. And they did manage to work in the suit CGI-style and it was satisfying enough in the end.
      2. Seb is a Socialist
        November 24, 2018
        i watched enough of it to know they shit on the superman mythos. seriouslyl what was up with that native american nonsense? and clark losing his powers to electricty? gtfo.
        yeah no i just googled it. u dont even see him in the suit lolz. ill give u that lois was well done and i was glad they didnt do a shitty love triangle that the cw loves to do with flash. it was an alright show in the end. nothing spectacular but good enouf.
Fréaláf Hildeson
November 20, 2018
"Smallville ran from 2001 until 2011. It was a flagship show for the network, then called The WB."
Pretty much, but note that the CW was the merger of the The WB (Warner) and UPN (CBS).
Bruce
November 20, 2018
I'm a season-and-a-half behind in all things Arrowverse. This sounds like a fun crossover.
Started "Smallville", never really got into it. Is it worth it?
Scripted_Fan
November 20, 2018
Just typos... (every character from 'every' CW show) & ( 'duds' not 'dudes' in reference to clothing). Correct on spell-checking, but not usage. Great article, though, Eric, thanks for writing it! Yes, I grew up to be my parents :)
1. Sean P. Aune
  November 21, 2018
  Both fixed. Those crappy times where both spell checker and a rushed editor (me) misses them. Thanks for pointing them out.

Batman News Archive

CW's Elseworlds Throws an Easter Egg WAY Back to Smallville

10 comments

Browse By Topic

Browse By Year