Although ‘Smallville’ finally featured Tom Welling in his Superman costume at the end of the story, we never got to see him in the full outfit. This was due to Welling’s ‘no tights, no flights’ rule, which he explained during a recent interview with Screen Rant at Comic-Con Stockholm.
“What happened, technically, in my original contract it said I would never [wear the costume],” he revealed. “It’s literally in the contract, and I say that with a smile on my face because they tried a couple [of] times. But my whole thing was once Clark puts the suit on, it’s no longer ‘Smallville’. It’s about Superman, it’s not about Clark. I signed on to tell a story about Clark Kent. But yeah, they got a little cheeky about it.”
The production team found loopholes throughout the show’s 10 seasons by having Welling wear proto-costumes without actually donning the traditional Superman outfit.
About one of those instances, the actor said, “Even there’s one episode where they had me wear glasses like the reporter. I remember this because I’m in the Luthor Mansion, and I’m taking a corner, and it’s written that I adjust the glasses. If you watch it, I do this thing where I use my middle finger, and I went like this [shows him adjusting the glasses,] and that’s on purpose.”
Welling was still not wearing the suit when he reprised his role in the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover. In fact, he had completely given up on his powers to live a peaceful life with his family.
These days, the actor is more open to wearing the red cape, though. He told ComicBook last month, “You know, I think now because of the two boys that I have with my lovely wife. We have a bunch of costumes at home. It started out at the first Halloween and now we have, I don’t know, 40 or 50 costumes. The one costume we don’t have is the Superman costume.”
“I asked my son why and he said, ‘Because he’s taken,’ and I said, ‘By whom?’ ‘By [you].’ That was like, ‘Alright, I think I’m open to the idea now.’ So, if you know anybody, I think it would be great. I think it would be fun to be part of.”
Currently, Welling and Michael Rosenbaum are planning to revisit Clark Kent’s story from a new angle in an animated sequel show.
