Tom Welling Has An Idea For How To Get Back Into The Superman Game and Robert Pattinson Would Be Involved

Tom Welling as Clark Kent on a scarecrow post in Smallville season 1 poster
(Image credit: (Warner Bros))

Before Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman and Lois or even Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns, many of our associations with the Last Son of Krypton came through Tom Welling’s Smallville. So the iconic theme song “Save Me” rings in our ears as the 44-year-old actor shares his current thoughts on returning to the red and blue for an upcoming project.

In late 2019, Tom Welling reprised his beloved role on The CW for the crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths," but what about a feature length film? While speaking to Ernesto de Cuadros, Welling was asked about returning to Kal-El for the DCEU, perhaps for a role in 2022’s The Flash. Here’s what he said:

My buddy Rob Pattinson, he is going to be the new Batman. I would love – it would be fun to be the Superman that shows up in his movie, just because he is a friend of mine. Yeah, you know, who knows.

Apparently Tom Welling is pals with the DCEU’s newest Dark Knight, Robert Pattinson, and he’d be ready to sign on for a role alongside him any day, especially of the superhero variety. Of course, we’ve already seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice play out on the big screen, but we’re not opposed to another team up between DC’s World’s Finest.

From what we know about The Batman, Robert Pattinson’s character lives in a different universe than Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman, so there’d be room for a different Clark Kent to appear without cancelling out the versions stemming from the DCEU. There’s already two Batman actors reportedly showing up in The Flash during its multiverse storyline, with Michael Keaton and Affleck on board, so why not add in an extra Supes?

Tom Welling starred in Smallville for 10 seasons on The CW, initially beginning its run in 2001 when the network was called The WB. The series followed Clark Kent as a high school student coming to terms with his powers as his peers become altered due to the city being exposed to a meteor shower from Krypton that brought him to Earth. The series tracks Clark’s rise into a reporter for the Daily Planet, his romance with Lana Lang, Lois Lang and his ultimate rivalry with childhood friend Lex Luthor.

Unlike The CW’s current show Superman and Lois, which focuses largely on Tyler Hoechlin in the iconic red and blue suit, Smallville never quite became a Superman show. That’s why it would be awesome to see Tom Welling finally take up the mantle in a larger capacity. He sure has the resume to pull it off if Warner Bros is looking for an additional Kal-El.

Personally, as a fan of Smallville and the DCEU, I’d rather see Henry Cavill back as the DC hero first. Tom Welling had a decade to flesh out his character, yet Cavill has only had one solo movie and two team-up films. He’s a perfect Superman and he deserves a more defined arc! Back on the Tom Welling front, would you like to see the actor return to his Smallville role on the big screen? Vote in our poll below and get ready for Robert Pattinson’s The Batman on March 4th, 2022.

We have all the details about what movies are next for the DCEU here on CinemaBlend.

This poll is no longer available.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.