Tom Welling to reprise Smallville role for Arrowverse's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' crossover

Arrow type TV Show network The CW genre Superhero

Somebody save us from the biggest “Crisis on Infinite Earths” news that has just come in…

EW has learned that Tom Welling will guest-star in The CW’s upcoming Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths” reprising his Smallville role of Clark Kent — because there’s no such thing as having too many Supermen in a massive superhero event (For those at home keeping count, the crossover will now feature three different actors as the Man of Steel). Details are scarce about how Welling’s Kent figures into the crossover; however, we do know that we’ll indeed find out what he’s been up to in the eight years since Smallville ended.

“For eight years, Arrow has stood on the shoulders of Smallville. Simply put, there would be no Arrow, and no Arrowverse, without it,” crossover executive producer Marc Guggenheim said in a statement. “So when we first started talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths, our first, second and third priorities were getting Tom to reprise his iconic role as Clark Kent. To say that we’re thrilled would be a Superman-sized understatement.”

As mentioned above, Welling isn’t the only actor appearing as the big blue boy scout in the five-hour crossover, which includes Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman. Tyler Hoechlin will reprise his role as the Arrowverse’s Superman, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow‘s Brandon Routh, who famously played the hero in Superman Returns, will appear as another version of Superman and wear a costume inspired by Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come design.

For 10 seasons, Welling played a young Clark Kent on Smallville, which tracked the Kryptonian’s journey from small-town high school hero to a superhero living in Metropolis — all while avoiding any flights and/or tights. In the series finale, Clark finally donned the cape and tights and took flight to defeat Darkseid and his Apokolips minions, the final season’s big bad (Following the show’s conclusion, a comic book series was released that chronicled this version of Clark’s time as Superman).

“We jumped onto this idea that at the end of the show, the idea is that Clark becomes Superman and he’s out there, and we know he’s out there, but we can’t go with him, but that we know and we feel good that he’s out there doing good,” Welling told EW about the finale in 2017. “That was what we strove for, and I think we hit it. I liked the ending of the series, because it’s like, ‘Yes, he did it!’ I hope the audience didn’t feel like we didn’t show them something that they needed to see. I felt like we gave them the jumping off point for their imagination as to what could happen.”

Since Smallville ended, Welling has also appeared in Parkland, Draft Day, and on Lucifer.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” kicks off with Supergirl on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9 and The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. After the winter hiatus, the crossover resumes on Tuesday, Jan. 14 with Arrow at 8 p.m. and concludes with Legends of Tomorrow at 9 p.m.

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