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Smallville was a landmark series for superhero TV. As a modern retelling of the origin of the DC Comics’ iconic hero Superman, creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar made the story relatable and engaging by choosing to focus on Clark Kent as a person, rather than Superman as a hero. The series followed Clark from his days in Highschool all the way to his career as a reporter for the Daily Planet in Metropolis, primarily focusing on what kind of experiences and decisions would push Clark to take on the identity of Superman.
However, all these years later, there are many questions that come to mind regarding story decisions, character motivations, and the weirdly inconsistent rules for the more supernatural elements, such as superpowers and the nature of Kryptonite.
10 Why Did There Need To Be A Reason Lex Was Bald?
The main plot device for the early seasons of Smallville is the meteor shower created from Krypton’s destruction. This not only brought Clark to Earth but a wealth of Kryptonite shards as well. The meteor shower is what brings most of the cast together. Lex Luthor is present when the meteor shower occurs and is caught in the blast.
For some reason, the writers thought that Lex’s baldness needed to have a deeper meaning than simple hair loss. The explosion from a crashing meteor caused a young Lex to lose his hair. However, this is never brought up in any major fashion. It’s also never explained how the meteor caused Lex to lose his hair. If it’s a result of the radiation from the Kryptonite, why does Lex never develop any kind of powers like every other villain from the early seasons? It’s an unnecessary addition to Lex’s character that never needed to be added.
9 Clark Is Inconsistently Vulnerable Throughout The Series
So many of the early episodes show how Clark is invulnerable to all kinds of physical harm. Bullets, physical strikes – nothing can hurt him. Yet, in the first episode, a woman with electrical powers nearly killed him for no explainable reason. In that same episode, Clark is pinned by a regular-sized car. By this point we know that he can lift the family tractor with one hand, so why does this car hinder him so much? The most likely answer is that it’s for plot convenience and having a main character who is invincible isn’t very fun to watch.
8 Why Did Exposure To The Sun Cause Martian Manhunter To Lose His Powers?
In the mid-to-later seasons of Smallville, more classic DC characters show up, including Martian Manhunter who has already claimed his identity as Detective John Jones. However, during the series, Clark loses his powers and the only way to return them is for him to recharge with the sun. As the only character who can survive the journey, John takes Clark to the sun. While Clark is granted his Kryptonian powers, John loses his Martian powers…but this doesn’t make sense. John is a Martian.
He doesn’t have ‘powers’ – his abilities are something that all Martians can do, so did the sun make him human? While all Martians are pyrophobic, there has never been any mention that exposure to heat could completely depower them.
7 Clark’s Power Level Varies Throughout The Series
Sometimes Clark will run to high school from his farmstead in the middle of nowhere and arrive at school in a matter of seconds, and other times he fails to stop a bullet from a few feet away. Smallville makes multiple statements to remind us that Clark is immensely powerful and unstoppable, and then has moments where Clark is overpowered by characters who should not be able to, or he struggles to lift a pile of rubble. Clark’s speed and strength are the powers he uses the most throughout the series yet they’re the hardest to gauge because their limits change every episode.
6 How Does Kryptonite Give People Powers?
In the early seasons of Smallville, instead of shoehorning in notable villains to this small town setting, the series was supported by a villain-of-the-week structure where each episode Clark would fight a member of his community who had been granted powers by the various Kryptonite shards that had been left in a meteor shower over a decade ago. While Kryptonite has the ability to weaken Clark, it can also grant people a wide variety of powers, like telekinesis, self-cloning, and pyrokinesis. However, it is never explained how this happens. People simply come into contact with the irradiated rocks and gain a random power.
5 Why Did Pete End Up Leaving?
In the early seasons of Smallville, Clark had two childhood friends that he grew up with, Chloe and Pete. Much of the early episodes had Clark trying to hide his secret from his friends. However, his secret would soon come out and change the nature of their relationships. In Chloe’s case, she gained a massive new role in the series, becoming essential to the growing metahuman community in Metropolis, founding ISIS, an organization dedicated to protecting young metahumans.
Knowing about Clark’s powers also meant that they could help with Clark’s battles. When Pete finally found out, he was on the verge of gaining a whole new role in the series, but instead, he simply left. Whether it was studio interference or actor Sam Jones III didn’t want to be on the show, it was sad to see a character with so much potential leave so soon.
4 How Does Kryptonite Effect Clark?
As always, Kryptonite is one of Clark’s greatest weaknesses, and unfortunately, following the meteor shower that brought Clark and the Kryptonite to Smallville, the verdant radioactive rock has become a national symbol for the small town. Many people wear them as jewelry. We see that merely being close to Kryptonite makes Clark physically ill and may even rob him of his powers. However, the extent to which it can actually harm him is unknown.
In one episode Clark is shot with a Kryptonite bullet and nearly dies. However, in another episode, Clark is strung up like a scarecrow in a field with a shard of Kryptonite around his neck as part of a hazing act. We don’t know how long he is up there, but not only does this not kill him, he recovers almost instantly. It seems that Kryptonite is not as lethal to Clark as the show would have us believe.
3 How Does The Government Not Know About Clark’s Powers?
In the town of Smallville alone, there is so much destruction and property damage that happens on a weekly basis it is remarkable that any form of U.S. government agency has not quarantined the town and run an investigation. While cops and assassins have become aware of Clark in the past, his endeavors should have attracted more attention. Vehicles are destroyed and buildings have man-sized holes blown through the walls, yet nothing ever really happens as a result. Clark’s actions were treated as small-town mythology rather than something that was actually happening.
2 Remember When Metropolis Had A Zombie Apocalypse? Apparently, No One Does
In season nine, episode three, “Rabid,” a zombie virus appears in Metropolis, infecting nearly everyone in record time. While attempting to save Lois in the Daily Planet, Clark meets with Oliver who shoots one of the zombies with a shotgun. After solving the issue with a deus ex machina, the virus is instantly cured, and everyone just moves on. This isn’t an exaggeration – no one ever discusses this incredibly traumatic event ever again. Did Oliver kill those people? Did they come back as well? Smallville never expanded further.
1 Why Did Clark Change Costumes In Season 9?
In the ninth season, Clark changes his red and blue attire for a black suit with a long dark trench coat. This is done in memoriam of his friend Jimmy. Clark also changes his moniker to the Blur. However, he later changes his suit to the classic red and blue Superman suit.
It is understandable why he’d want to remember his friend, but Clark has already been known as the Red-Blue Blur in Metropolis for a number of years, so a sudden change to an all-black suit wouldn’t make sense with the general public. Some may suspect that it’s a villain of some kind, standing in strong contrast with the original bright colors. And as soon as people get used to the new colors, he just changes back to the original red and blue with a new identity of Superman.
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