We Could've Gotten Batman Cameo on Smallville, if Tom Welling Had His Way

Tom Welling, who portrayed Clark Kent in The WB/The CW superhero drama Smallville, reminisced about the show at New York City Comic Con where the cast of Smallville reunited 11 years after the series ended. During a Comic-Con panel, Welling explained that he had always had an idea that Bruce Wayne should somehow appear in Smallville even if for a short cameo. Here's his pitch for the cameo:

"I thought it would be cool for Clark to come into the Talon and Lex is sitting with somebody, who gets up and leaves, and Clark looks at Lana, 'who's that? Lex looks really upset.'" And the other person is Bruce Wayne."

Such a scene would definitely make fans fly off the handle! This is not the first time the star talks about the introduction of Batman into the Smallville universe. Back in 2021 Welling proposed a very similar idea during Smallville's 20th-anniversary panel at DC FanDome.

"I always thought we should have seen a Bruce Wayne," the actor said. "Could you imagine Clark barging into your mansion, and like, you're talking to somebody and [someone says] 'I'd like you to meet Mr. Wayne.'"

Even earlier than that, at the 2019 Fan Expo Canada, Tom Welling told fans that he had always wanted Bruce Wayne or at least some version of him to be a part of Smallville.

"I can tell you what I wish we would have seen, was some version of a Bruce Wayne that fit in with what we were doing. I think that would have been cool," the actor said.

It is indeed surprising that Batman has never made an appearance in the superhero drama throughout its 10 seasons. Smallville often refers to Gotham and even mentions Bruce Wayne a couple of times. More than that, some Batman villains like Deadshot appear in Smallville at some point.

The fans explain this slip-up by Warner Brothers' reluctance to let movie characters appear on the small screen.

"WB wouldn't allow it. It was always a stupid rights issue with WB. They don't think that casual viewers can differentiate between television and cinema. That is why they were killing off characters on Arrow who would be part of the cinematic universe left and right," a fan explained on Reddit.