With all the excitement surrounding the new trailer for James Gunn’s Superman this week, it’s a great time to celebrate the original superhero. DC appears to be going all in on the Man of Steel in preparation for his 2025 film. McFarlane Toys just revealed a new statue based on the Justice League member’s many comic appearances, for example. Now Funko is getting in on the action with a new wave of Pops honoring the hit series Smallville.
There are three new figures for DC fans to enjoy. This includes Tom Welling’s Clark Kent, Laura Vandervoot’s Kara Kent aka Supergirl and Doomsday Max. The latter of which had a human form played by Sam Witwer. As usual, there’s a ton of great detail on these Pops, like Clark’s zippers on his jacket sleeves, the different colorful layers of Kara’s Girl of Steel look and the bony scales of Doomsday’s sinister exterior. Clark is also in his red leather “S” emblem jacket that he wore in the final season of Smallville before he donned his traditional costume in the series’ final scene. That’s something that was depicted in the last Smallville Pop wave. Kara and Doomsday now join Green Arrow and Lex Luthor in Funko’s CW series collection.
‘Smallville’ Redefined Superhero TV
While there were many live-action Superman shows before, like The Adventures of Superman, Superboy, and Lois & Clark, Smallville brought the character back to his roots. Focusing on Clark Kent in high school and changing his origin so that he would befriend a younger Lex Luthor, the series over the course of its 10 seasons defined Superman in the 2000s. At a time when Superman was still figuring out a way to fly back onto the big screen, Welling and his counterpart Michael Rosenbaum (Lex) were the definitive versions of the genre’s greatest rivalry. The show often suffered from the “villain-of-the-week” resurgence at the time and there were some moments in the later seasons that felt like Smallville had run its course. However, this remains one of the most ambitious shows in history with its creative effects, emotional storylines and a main villain arc that still holds up almost 25 years later. It also started The WB/CW as we knew it. Without Smallville’s massive success, we wouldn’t have had shows like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Superman & Lois and Riverdale. It also served as a great way to introduce a new generation of comic book fans to the larger DCU outside of Batman and Superman. Smallville was many viewers’ first exposure to then-more obscure characters like Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, Doomsday, General Zod, Cyborg, Green Arrow and The Justice Society of America.
