Superman retiring without powers.

[superduperman]

Anyone else besides me disappointed with finding out Clark from Smallville gave up his powers and retired? After ten years of waiting for him to become Superman, he spends less than a decade as Superman. I would rather they not get Welling back at all if this is the only way they could get him to return. Which got me thinking, do most fans like this idea or would they prefer a Superman who keeps his powers?

[manwhohaseverything]

I have no problem with clark giving up his power. I love that he is now strong enough to take care of himself by sweating and working.having said that, If lex is the president and clark decided to just leave then that's a problem for me.I don't care if superman has power or not. I hate the sun dipping nonsense.

[Ascended]

Anyone else besides me disappointed with finding out Clark from Smallville gave up his powers and retired? After ten years of waiting for him to become Superman, he spends less than a decade as Superman. I would rather they not get Welling back at all if this is the only way they could get him to return. Which got me thinking, do most fans like this idea or would they prefer a Superman who keeps his powers?

I mean....what else did we expect from Smallville?

I'm not bothered by it for this particular version. We spent ten years watching Smallville Clark drag his feet and it took the devil himself and an evil planet literally falling on earth to get Clark to put on the cape. Of course he retired early. And since he had already dealt with most of the usual big Super-threats before the show ended, I'm assuming his Superman years were pretty mundane and boring.

For all other versions, willingly giving up his powers is not an option. No. Not for any reason.

I could.....maybe.....buy the idea of Clark, having defeated every threat in the universe, giving up his powers so he could die of old age alongside Lois, instead of outliving her by centuries. Even that would be a really hard sell for me to get behind, but I could almost maybe possibly accept it as valid if the execution was spotless.

[Jim Kelly]

It's all kind of moot given spoilers:

Earth-167's universe is obliterated by anti-matter. They're all dead.

end of spoilers

I look at it this way:

1) We don't know how long he's been Superman. You tell me it was ten years, but I have no way of knowing how much time has passed for him on his Earth.
2) There were many times that Clark lost his powers before--and he always got them back again. So with time, he could have got his powers back and returned to saving people.
3) I assume this is an Earth where Lois can't get pregnant and have kids without Clark being a regular human, so he gave up his powers to have kids.
4) We don't know if those kids have powers.
5) Given the choice between Clark in a lumberjack shirt or no Clark in the crossover, I'll take the brawny man in the lumberjack shirt. (That's what she said.)

[GSman]

Since the comics are canon, there's a league with Batman and wonder woman to protect the world in his stead. Not to mention Kara. Also him and Lex are apparently on good terms again, so not much of a reason to worry about the earth's well being.

[Sacred Knight]

It actually kinda makes sense for him. He was an incarnation that really wasn't frothing at the mouth to be Superman once the time came. It rather works for him. Like Ascended said, for most any other version there's no way. But the way the Smallville story was told, it makes some semblance of sense.

[Jon Clark]

It fits Welling's version of Clark. He spent most of the series wanting to be an average guy. Heck, even Chris Reeve fell prey to that lunacy in Superman II. Welling's version just had better timing.

My preference is for a Superman who is powerless to see it as a sacrifice or a loss depending on the circumstances I can see him take an action which erases his powers if it is necessary for the greater good. I can see him wind up powerless as the result of someone else's actions and eventually accepting that he can't regain the powers. But my concept of Superman wouldn't give up his powers anymore than you or I would give up one of our senses or our limbs. The powers are a natural part of who he is.

At the core- I'm not a fan of Supermen who aspire to come down to Earth with the rest of us, I'm a fan of versions that want to bring us up into the sky with themselves.

[Agent Z]

I'm fine with it.

[Vordan]

It works for Welling to have a “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” type of ending because he really didn’t want to be Superman, both the actor and the character. Obviously other Supermen like Routh chose differently. However I agree with what someone else said in response to this: Being Superman is more inspirational if it’s a choice for Clark, and for that to get across we need a Superman that chooses to not be Superman anymore, as a way of contrasting with the mainline version who should choose to keep being Superman no matter what.

[misslane]

Anyone else besides me disappointed with finding out Clark from Smallville gave up his powers and retired? After ten years of waiting for him to become Superman, he spends less than a decade as Superman. I would rather they not get Welling back at all if this is the only way they could get him to return. Which got me thinking, do most fans like this idea or would they prefer a Superman who keeps his powers?

Not really. First, the episode didn't say he gave them up permanently. Like the other meta "jokes" and references in the crossover, like Sara saying she didn't want the Legends involved in another "crossover" and the Monitor calling last year "Elseworlds," Lois' "about a decade" quip to Clark and the fact that the newspaper articles stop at 2017 with Lex president (the finale stated Lex was elected in 2018), it's almost certainly meant to be the fall of 2019. That being the case, Clark's daughters are twins and likely only about 4 months old. If it's meant to be exactly 10 years since his Superman debut, he could have a 2 year old and a 1 year old (and that's only if Lois got pregnant the second time almost immediately after giving birth to her first daughter). Second, neither the script nor any of the writers have said it was a permanent power loss. Meaning, Clark basically just took a year of paternity leave either for <1 year old twins or 1 year leave first for his 2 year old when she was a baby and another year off as his second baby grew to a year old. As far as what the show explicitly stated and implicitly suggested, this is not a long term retirement.

Second, this Superman may have only been a public superhero for about a decade, but he had been saving people since was a teen and been working as a hero in the shadows for about 3 years prior to becoming Superman. He defeated almost all of his major villains and has a host of superfriends ready to pick up the slack. He's also not unlike Hoechlin's Superman who said in the first COIE episode that he had intended to "give up the cape" to be a father. Meanwhile, you have other Supermen, like the one Routh was ostensibly playing, who in Superman II and Superman Returns gave up his powers to be with Lois or abandoned Earth to seek out the remnants of Krypton, which are not exactly superior reasons to make such a decision.

I will say, contrary to others' claims, SV Clark was not presented as someone who wanted to be normal or not be a hero. He just didn't want to be a freak. He was also a teenager who was figuring out his identity. The show was his journey to wanting to be a hero and embracing that. There are several lines throughout the final seasons that make it very clear that Clark wanted and liked being a hero. It's not "in character" for him to regress back to turning away from that. And that's the key here, he's not regressing or turning away. He's just taking a break. Part of his journey was also learning to reach out to people and trust them. That's what he's doing now with his team.

I think it's fine. That being said, the truth is what was presented left plenty of room for interpretation; it was so vague. If I'm angry about anything, it's that they were so ambiguous. It makes interpretations, whether they're more optimistic or pessimistic, equally valid, which means it's difficult to have anything but mixed or confused feelings about this. I would have preferred something clearly positive as opposed to this mixed bag.

[Jon Clark]

Not really. First, the episode didn't say he gave them up permanently. Like the other meta "jokes" and references in the crossover, like Sara saying she didn't want the Legends involved in another "crossover" and the Monitor calling last year "Elseworlds," Lois' "about a decade" quip to Clark and the fact that the newspaper articles stop at 2017 with Lex president (the finale stated Lex was elected in 2018), it's almost certainly meant to be the fall of 2019. That being the case, Clark's daughters are twins and likely only about 4 months old. If it's meant to be exactly 10 years since his Superman debut, he could have a 2 year old and a 1 year old (and that's only if Lois got pregnant the second time almost immediately after giving birth to her first daughter). Second, neither the script nor any of the writers have said it was a permanent power loss. Meaning, Clark basically just took a year of paternity leave either for <1 year old twins or 1 year leave first for his 2 year old when she was a baby and another year off as his second baby grew to a year old. As far as what the show explicitly stated and implicitly suggested, this is not a long term retirement.

Second, this Superman may have only been a public superhero for about a decade, but he had been saving people since was a teen and been working as a hero in the shadows for about 3 years prior to becoming Superman. He defeated almost all of his major villains and has a host of superfriends ready to pick up the slack. He's also not unlike Hoechlin's Superman who said in the first COIE episode that he had intended to "give up the cape" to be a father. Meanwhile, you have other Supermen, like the one Routh was ostensibly playing, who in Superman II and Superman Returns gave up his powers to be with Lois or abandoned Earth to seek out the remnants of Krypton, which are not exactly superior reasons to make such a decision.

I will say, contrary to others' claims, SV Clark was not presented as someone who wanted to be normal or not be a hero. He just didn't want to be a freak. He was also a teenager who was figuring out his identity. The show was his journey to wanting to be a hero and embracing that. There are several lines throughout the final seasons that make it very clear that Clark wanted and liked being a hero. It's not "in character" for him to regress back to turning away from that. And that's the key here, he's not regressing or turning away. He's just taking a break. Part of his journey was also learning to reach out to people and trust them. That's what he's doing now with his team.

I think it's fine. That being said, the truth is what was presented left plenty of room for interpretation; it was so vague. If I'm angry about anything, it's that they were so ambiguous. It makes interpretations, whether they're more optimistic or pessimistic, equally valid, which means it's difficult to have anything but mixed or confused feelings about this. I would have preferred something clearly positive as opposed to this mixed bag.

It was vague, but if Clark was just on paternity leave why give up the powers at all. Hang the suit in the closet and stay with the wife and kids but no need to reduce you abilities. In fact wouldn't having X-ray vision tp keep an eye on the kids and super-speed to get to them in a literal blink be helpful?

[Agent Z]

It was vague, but if Clark was just on paternity leave why give up the powers at all. Hang the suit in the closet and stay with the wife and kids but no need to reduce you abilities. In fact wouldn't having X-ray vision tp keep an eye on the kids and super-speed to get to them in a literal blink be helpful?

People help their kids without superpowers all the time.

[misslane]

It was vague, but if Clark was just on paternity leave why give up the powers at all. Hang the suit in the closet and stay with the wife and kids but no need to reduce you abilities. In fact wouldn't having X-ray vision tp keep an eye on the kids and super-speed to get to them in a literal blink be helpful?

Because it's heartwrenching to hear the cries for help knowing you've opted to take a break. It's the same reason we turn our devices on silent when we need time off. I think it would be nice to age a bit too, so as to ease suspicions and not outlive your wife too much.

[superduperman]

I suppose I can take some consolation in the fact that the Smallville fan wiki doesn't appear to consider Earth 167 (we still haven't figured out why it was given that number) the "official" Smallville Earth. Anyway. My guess is that his Earth will be restored regardless since apparently Welling filmed at least one more scene. And one of the Earths they wiped out was the Titans show which I doubt they'll cancel for this. So I'm assuming all the Earths will be eventually restored. To me, him giving up powers seems a bit selfish. He may not always go out as Superman but it makes sense to at least keep them just in case. Earth 2 Superman went into semi-retirement but that was partly due to his powers fading as he got older. Supposedly Clark was still in his prime. The ten year timeline is going off the show itself. He started as Superman officially in 2011 when the show ended. Assuming that episode takes place in the modern day, then technically it would be less than a decade. And, yes, there are other heroes. I personally don't know that I would be able to just look the other way at a world in need and turn my back on it.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Can I buy Clark giving up his powers and hanging up his cape? Sure. Even Superman isn’t above making (bad or even selfish) emotional decisions under the right set of circumstances. But just like in Superman 2, the minute the earth is imperiled again, he’ll snap out of it and try to reverse it.
For SMALLVILLE though, maybe that just never happens and earth stays relatively stable for the remainder of Clark and Lois’s lifespans. So I can accept their happy ending. I’m pretty sure the multiverse will be restored at the end of this.