Smallville really pushed the boundaries of what a superhero sequence might do on tv. In some ways, Smallville wasn’t a superhero present when it first began and felt extra like different style exhibits equivalent to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However over time, Smallville grew extra comfy with its supply materials and the identification it might then pull from the unique Superman mythos. About midway by the sequence’ run, this manifested within the journey to the otherworldly Phantom Zone, the place our hero was pressured to confront the darkish threats his father had locked away. However because it seems, it is exactly due to his time within the Zone that Smallville‘s Clark Kent (Tom Welling) finds himself embarking on the journey that will mildew him into the Man of Metal.

Smallville

A younger Clark Kent struggles to search out his place on this planet as he learns to harness his alien powers for good and offers with the standard troubles of teenage life in Smallville, Kansas.

Launch Date

October 16, 2001

Seasons

10

Studio

The CW

‘Smallville’ Season 6 Threw Clark Kent Into the Phantom Zone

Within the Season 5 finale “Vessel,” Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), who has already chosen his darkish path in life, turns into possessed by the phantom spirit of one among Krypton’s most harmful criminals: Normal Zod. Upon confronting Zod, Clark is rapidly overpowered and despatched into the Phantom Zone, which is the place we discover him within the Season 6 premiere “Zod.” Whereas within the Zone, Clark discovers that his father, Jor-El (voiced by Terence Stamp), created the alternate dimension as a method for holding probably the most vile criminals conceivable, the aforementioned Normal being one among them. Whereas this appeared merciless to Clark at first, he quickly understood why the Kryptonian Council thought this was their solely possibility, and even got here to agree with the idea over time.

However whereas there, Clark higher understood his organic father. The person who he thought — based mostly solely on his interactions with the Jor-El A.I.— was chilly, heartless, and wished him to rule over Earth was really variety and compassionate and created the Phantom Zone as a spot the place even the galaxy’s most harmful criminals might have a lifetime of their very own (one thing Clark echoes in Smallville Season 10’s “Dominion”). Seeing this completely different facet of his father, delivered to gentle largely by his former assistant Raya (Pascale Hutton) who had been trapped within the Zone since Krypton’s destruction, Clark acknowledges that whereas Jor-El could not save Krypton, he might use his talents to guard Earth.

“Ache is a part of anybody’s journey, Kal-El,” Raya explains within the episode “Fallout.” “You’ll be able to’t escape it. You need to settle for your future.” At this level within the sequence, Clark is uncertain precisely what his future entails, and for probably the most half, he is proven little curiosity in it. Jor-El tells him that he should rule over the folks of Earth again in Season 2, whereas the Kawatche folks consider that Clark is Naman, a savior from above meant to usher them into a brand new age. Early on, it is anybody’s guess as to what precisely Clark is meant to do along with his life (the viewers kows he’ll change into Superman), and, as his adoptive mother and father Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha Kent (Annette O’Toole) at all times clarify, it at all times comes all the way down to his personal alternative. After his time within the Phantom Zone, Clark begins to make completely different ones.

Phantom Zone’s Prisoners Taught Clark How To Be Proactive

Upon escaping the Phantom Zone, Clark defeats Normal Zod, expels his ghost from Lex’s physique, and sends him again to his interdimensional jail, however not earlier than first permitting a number of different prisoners (referred to as “Zoners”) to flee with him. Certain, one among them was Raya, who wasn’t precisely a prisoner herself, however others included the plant-controlling Gloria (Amber McDonald), the mass-murderer Baern (Bow Wow), the video-on-demand killer Titan (Kane), and even Dave Bautista‘s Aldar, who almost rips Clark’s backbone out from below him. Most notably, the phantom finally often known as Bizarro (Tom Welling) additionally escapes and causes lots of heartache for Clark come Season 7. However an important lesson that Clark realized from the escaped Zoners was that of non-public accountability.

You would possibly assume that this sounds an excessive amount of like Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man (which is type of “on-brand” on condition that Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar wrote Spider-Man 2), nevertheless it’s true. Clark’s personal actions let the Zoners out within the first place, and it is due to the way in which he was raised that he takes that accountability severely. In contrast to earlier seasons the place villains like Brainiac (James Marsters), the Disciples of Zod, or whichever meteor freak of the week on Smallville is inflicting bother that week intersect with Clark’s life and due to this fact trigger a response, our small-town hero is pressured to actively search these Zoners out. It is this proactive angle that Clark develops on account of his time within the Zone that manifests itself all through the present’s sixth season and nicely into the again half of the sequence.

For instance, when his former pals and allies all brush into city to take down Lex’s 33.1 program at LuthorCorp, although Clark first thinks he can deal with all of it on his lonesome, he quickly acknowledges the energy in numbers and genuinely desires to be part of Oliver Queen’s (Justin Hartley) superhero league. “I wanna be part of this guys, I actually do,” Clark says to the proto-Justice League within the Season 6 episode aptly titled “Justice.” “[But] that drawback I instructed you about, the one which I precipitated, I’ve bought to handle that first.” And he does. Clark spends the remainder of Season 6 looking down Zoners, which bleeds into Season 7, earlier than taking to the streets of Metropolis because the illusive “Purple-Blue Blur,” defending folks from the shadows. From there, he spends the ultimate three seasons of Smallville prepping to change into Superman.

Clark Finally Overcomes the Phantom Zone on ‘Smallville’

What’s difficult concerning the Phantom Zone is that it is a lawless place stuffed with violence and uncertainty. On three distinct events, Clark finds himself within the Zone, and every time he learns how one can deal higher with the prisonland and its inhabitants. He goes from barely surviving the Zone in Season 6 to serving to Lois Lane (Erica Durance) and his cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoort) escape it in Season 8’s “Bloodlines.” By the point Season 10 rolls round, Clark modifications his tune utterly and jumps head-first into the Phantom Zone (with Oliver tagging alongside) to cope with an issue there and higher handle the jail world.

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In some ways, Clark’s closing enterprise into the Phantom Zone completely mirrors his preliminary stint within the jail world. In Season 5, Normal Zod sends Clark to the Phantom Zone as a result of he refuses to hitch up and rule over Earth, turning it right into a New Krypton. Because of this, Clark’s time within the Zone is a punishment slightly than a mission, and it is totally centered on his personal survival there with out his powers. However in Season 10’s “Dominion,” Clark willingly enters the interdimensional jail with the intention to convey justice and safe order, pitting him face-to-face with Normal Zod as soon as once more in order that he would possibly strip the Kryptonian warlord of his energy. This reveals that, even with out his talents to help him, Clark remains to be prepared to sacrifice himself to maintain the world secure.

What was first a daunting endeavor that Clark thought he may not escape within the present’s center turns right into a closing attraction to his enemy’s higher angels by the sequence finish, all earlier than sealing the door shut and shutting that chapter of his life. It is solely upon leaving the Phantom Zone behind as soon as and for all (although presumably not perpetually) that Clark can take his subsequent step towards each Lois and his future because the Man of Tomorrow.

‘Smallville’s Clark Kent Might Not Have Turn out to be Superman With out the Phantom Zone

There isn’t any doubt that the Clark Kent we see in Smallville was at all times going to change into Superman. In truth, as early because the present’s third season, we see a glimpse of his trademark cape and defend coupled with the data that Clark will seemingly “dwell perpetually” (see “Hereafter”). No, Clark is not immortal precisely (no less than, we do not assume he’s), however his legacy as Superman far outlasts his mortal life on Earth. Already the character has been round for 85 years in the actual world, and if a fictional character like Superman might final that lengthy with out slowing down, there isn’t any telling how far the actual deal would possibly stay on this planet’s collective consciousness. Or, no less than on this planet of Smallville.

In Season 10’s two-part “Finale,” Jor-El reveals to Clark that his time in Smallville, Kansas was all part of the trials he was put by that will develop and develop him to changing into Superman. This additionally contains Clark’s preliminary time within the Phantom Zone and the ensuing years of proactive superheroing that adopted. In fact, most of these ten years weren’t straightforward, and the whole lot from that fateful second between Clark and Lex on the bridge to our hero’s battle with the Lionel Luthor-possessed-Darkseid (John Glover) simply prior all led the younger hero to that highly effective second within the Fortress of Solitude the place Jor-El and the spirit of Jonathan Kent handed him the uniform that Martha made for him.

However Clark’s time within the Phantom Zone was a formative one. After having misplaced his earthly father, Clark was nonetheless studying how one can be the person he knew he was alleged to be, and being despatched to the Zone helped him determine a few of that out. Sure, Clark was at all times a accountable man, and sometimes took on different folks’s issues as his personal, however when it got here to being a superhero, when it got here to saving the entire world, nicely, he did not get into that type of factor till after leaving the alien jail his father constructed. With out that perspective, displaying him what might occur to Earth if of us like Normal Zod, Brainiac, Bizarro, and Doomsday had their manner, it could have taken Clark a very long time to don the crimson cape and take flight. Fortunately, Smallville‘s Clark Kent took on the accountability of a superhero, saving the world many occasions over.

Smallville is obtainable to stream on Hulu within the U.S.

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