'Smallville' Creators Explain Changes to Superman: "We Didn't Read the Comics"

Released 25 years ago, Smallville presented a new version of Clark Kent to audiences while making a series of changes to the canon of one of DC Comics' most iconic characters. In an interview with The Wrap, creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough were candid about what led them to take a different path from the comics.

“We were never really big comic book fans, we didn’t read the comics. We were big fans of the Richard Donner film, and I think that kind of lack of fealty to comic books is what made us a good choice to do it because we could honor the spirit without being slavish to the stories,” Gough explained.

"Somebody told us very early on — and to be honest, at the time we didn’t even get it — They said, ‘Oh, you’ve done the Marvel Comics version of Superman.’ Because we gave him guilt, there was angst, there was all of the those aspects", he added.

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“We just had the luck and fortune of having a moment where we had the creative freedom where no one at the studio was interested in Superman,” Miller agreed. “They didn’t see the importance or the relevance of that character. They just kind of threw it to us, it was not even something they were concerned about, so we had that moment in history where we could do what we wanted, which is incredible.”

Everything you need to know about Smallville

Smallville aired for ten seasons, between 2001 and 2011, showcasing the adventures of young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) and various other teen versions of DC heroes and villains.

In addition to Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, the cast included Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, and Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen, among others.