In the world of comic book superhero shows, Smallville is certainly one of the most iconic. It is the longest-running superhero series, lasting a full decade. For ten seasons, audiences tuned in to see a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) on his way to becoming the iconic character Superman.

At the time of its premiere, Warner Bros. had spent years trying to develop a live-action Superman movie to no avail, and the comic book movie genre was in a weird place as it was following the box office flops of Batman and Robin and Spawn, Blade and X-Men were recent hits and Spider-Man had yet to come out and blow the doors open for superhero popularity. When Smallville premiered on The WB, it set a record for the network’s most-watched pilot and became a hit overnight, and introduced a new younger Superman for a new generation.

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Smallville and the New Era of Superheroes

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Smallville became an iconic piece of the Superman lore, that by the time Man of Steel was released in theaters just two years after the series concluded, very little of Clark’s childhood and teenage years were shown in the film because of how fresh Smallville was still in the public mind. Smallville led to a wave of superhero TV shows, like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC, the Marvel Netflix series, and the Arrowverse series on The CW.

The Arrowverse even paid tribute to Smallville in both the Elseworld’s crossover when the theme ‘Save Me’ played, and in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprised their roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane showcasing what the future held for their characters following the final episode. Smallville continued on as its own comic book and stars Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling even launched a podcast Talkville recapping the whole series.

For an entire generation, the versions of the Superman characters on Smallville are the definitive versions of these classic characters, and the series continues to find new fans every day. Smallville is just as important to the character’s overall pop culture identity as Superman radio serials or the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. This is how Smallville redefined Superman for the 21st century.

Explored an Unexpected Era of the Superman Mythos

The Superman origin story is one of the most famous, but most adaptations at the time tended to put the focus on Kryptonian history or his time in Metropolis when he suits up as Superman. However, the teenage portion of Clark Kent was always one glossed over, and Smallville used that to great advantage to carve out its own unique story.

While the audience knows Clark will become Superman, the fun comes from Clark discovering pieces of his story that the audience knows will become important like the fact that he and Lois Lane start as not liking each other when the viewer knows they will eventually become the love of their lives. Or the tragedy of knowing Clark and Lex’s friendship is doomed as the two will become arch rivals, there is a fun sense of dramatic irony only the viewer is privy to and the enjoyment comes from seeing how Clark Kent will get from point A to point B.

However, the series also had fun remixing classic elements of the Superman story, exploring a variety of different versions of kryptonite to allow Clark Kent to meet his various enemies years before becoming Superman. It was a Superman origin that was both familiar but also unique to this story where audiences could be surprised by what would come.

Relatable Human Drama

One of the common critiques leveled at Superman is that he is too perfect therefore that makes him unrelatable. While that point is up for debate but making the story about a teenage Clark Kent meant the character was not the ideal form of his adult characterization, and audiences could see how Clark Kent would grow into the good man he is to become. They could see a young Clark Kent struggle with his identity, who he is and who he wants to be, and how his friendships either grow closer or further apart in life. They found a great thematic link between superpowers and puberty with superpowers.

Airing the show on the WB made a great amount of sense. Obviously, Warner Bros. owning DC Comics made it the ideal home, but the WB was a youth-oriented network and comic books were originally created for a young audience. The conventional storytelling format of teen youth drama is a perfect marriage with superhero storytelling, where the big emotions are dramatized with superhuman powers. Every teenager feels emotions in apocalyptic ways. Smallville gave the viewer a way to connect with Clark Kent in that way, as they saw that becoming Superman like growing up was a difficult one.

Smallville Came At The Perfect Time

Smallville aired on the WB in October 2001, just one month after the tragedy of September 11th. It was certainly a time of great uncertainty, and the idea of heroes and villains had drastically changed. Superman is the ultimate symbol of heroism to generations, across different languages. He represents the best in humanity, yet the character had been gone from the public spotlight for a long time.

Smallville is a perfect mix of the early 2000s superhero trends. Like 2000’s X-Men, it downplays many of the more traditional superhero elements (the series’ motto was no tights, no flights) but also like Sam Raimi’s 2002’s Spider-Man there was an inherent optimism to the series fitting the Superman character. As the years went on and superheroes became more popular, the series gradually introduced more superhero elements into the series. Even when Superman Returns hit the big screen, Smallville remained the most popular piece of media at the time featuring Clark Kent and Superman because it was a story that matched that very specific time period. It was a Superman story of the moment.

Smallville Introduced Audiences to the DC Universe

Smallville not only introduced audiences to new takes on Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor but also to a variety of characters most mainstream audiences likely had never heard of. Smallville brought many classic Superman villains to live-action for the first time including Metallo, Doomsday, and Brainiac. It also likely was the first introduction to many audience members for a variety of DC heroes.

Over the course of the series, Clark Kent met Green Arrow, Zatanna, Aquaman, Black Canary, Cyborg, Hawkman, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, and many more heroes. A year before Nick Fury would tease the Avengers at the end of Iron Man, Smallville brought various superheroes introduced on the series together as the Justice League. Smallville exposed these characters to a wider audience and became a testing ground for gauging interest. Aquaman’s guest appearance was the most watched episode of season 5, and while the Aquaman spin-off Mercury Reef didn’t take off, it was an early indicator that an Aquaman movie had big audience potential which paid off with a $1 billion worldwide gross.

After making Green Arrow a major player on Smallville, the CW decided to create a stand-alone series around the character that became Arrow which launched a successful shared universe on the CW called The Arrowverse. Smallville made these characters cool to an audience who likely never heard of them before. It got audience members who never picked up a comic book familiar with them and created new fans they likely never would have had before.