I probably don't need to tell anyone who regularly reads the site that I am an enormous fan of Smallville, so when I had the chance to talk with that show's Superman last week, I took it so fast. Tom Welling is currently doing press on his film The Choice, in theaters now, and "waiting for the greenlight from CBS any day" on Section 13, the black ops show he hopes to produce, star in and occasionally direct.

But we mainly talked DCTV, how it's grown since Smallville and what hand he feels Smallville has had in the success of The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, on which he's constantly rumored to guest star despite repeated denials from the star.

"You know, the success of Smallville is directly correlated to The Flash or Arrow – that genre that Warner Bros has been able to do. I do feel proud that it started with us, but it wasn’t just because of us. I think technology and timing – we were suddenly able to do things in television that were, until then, only available in film because of how expensive they were. So we were lucky to be able to have that timing. A lot of the people who worked on Smallville, it’s a lot of the same crew on Supernatural, The Flash, Arrow. Glen Winter is now the god that we all knew he was, and it all started with Smallville. He’s a genius, and he’s earned everything that he has. He’s so creative, and such a great guy. Glen Winter is somebody who hasn’t been singled out yet by anyone, but if you look at what he did on Smallville and then Flash and Arrow, he’s the throughline.”

Winter started as a DP on Smallville and went on to direct twelve episodes of the show, and he's since directed several episodes of The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl - of which Welling said, "I do enjoy it. It’s got a different angle, a more comedic angle, of course. It’s telling the story in a different way, and I don’t think it’s a world that I ever existed in with Clark because they’re two different shows. There’s really nothing in common, there are no parallels at all. I say that being a fan of what they’re doing. I think they’re doing a great job."

Finally, we talked Batman v Superman and how he feels about the big screen's latest interpretation of a character he spent ten years portraying. "Superman is an interesting character because if you look at where he came from, and the time period that he was created, we’re in very different times now. And I think trying to maintain that relevancy has been a challenge, because for a long time they’ve been trying to get that character to work on the big screen in a different way, a more modern way. I think they’re doing it. I can’t wait to see the movie, I’ve seen all the trailers. I’m totally into it, I am! I’m just like everybody else. I think it’s cool, tough, it’s got a lot of action, it’s grounded, and I don’t know yet what the storyline is, but I want to go see the movie so I can find out."