Technically not Superman, but still one of the best incarnations of the character I’ve ever seen. The show, admittedly, has it’s plot holes and “freak of the week” villains. But underneath it all, there is a deep understanding of character that is going on here. Welling has everything you want in a Superman.
He’s tall, pretty well built, and overall morally wholesome. Is Superman cheesey and kind of over the top optimistic? You bet your ass he is. And Welling is able to take those qualities and show them amongst a supporting cast of “real world” characters. That’s really the greatest thing about this portrayal in my opinion. Superman is alone in our world. He holds true to his beliefs while struggling to fit in.
The show is based around him becoming Superman, not maintaining Superman. We see Clark evolve from a teenaged angsty crybaby into a stand up persona. Someone who does not back down from his beliefs, even when the people he counts on and cares about lose their way and demand the world of him.
It’s this aspect of Superman that would be most prominent should that character actually exist – and that is what makes him so interesting in our generation, more than ever before. Previously, the character had been an example for little kids to look up to. Now, he stands alone fighting desperately to keep the prospect of all encompassing good alive in the world.
The greatest battle Superman fights is against the people whom he protects. You would never guess that a show on the CW could run so deep could you? It’s really unfair to compare this translation with the formers because at this point in time he hasn’t really developed the separate personas to his life. Instead, we get a mix of the two all the time.
We can see that he really does have some personality flaws, but it’s the conflicts and internal struggle between the two sides of him that make this one character better some actors attempts at making him into two.
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TOM WELLING SUPERMAN
