Its been a while since we've gotten to see Superman on the big screen, with Henry Cavill's time as the character still up in the air, we've only had a brief cameo of from the big blue boy scout in Shazam! to keep us satisfied. Thankfully CW seems to be well aware of this Superman drought, as they're providing us with not one, but three different Clark Kents from alternate universes in their upcoming crossover event Crisis On Infinite Earths. Months ago the big news that Brandon Routh, who played Kal-El in Superman Returns and has since found a place at CW as The Atom, would be playing a Kingdom Come version of the character. And in some more shocking news, we found out Tom Welling would also be returning as his version of Clark from Smallville.
Now with pretty much all the big announcements out of the way, the network has begun to give us a look at what both actors will look like as their versions of the character. Its important to note that Routh won't actually be playing the exact version of Clark that he played in Returns, as that was of course a continuation of Christopher Reeves' version. He will instead be playing an adaption of the older version of the character from the Kingdom Come storyline of the comics, which is evident in the suit that includes the black Superman symbol as well as the grey temples in his hair.
Welling on the other hand is playing the exact version of Clark Kent that he did in Smallville, and will be accompanied by his version of Lois Lane played by Erica Durance. Lex Luthor actor Michael Rosenbaum was apparently offered to return for the event as well, but ultimately declined due to personal reasons and lack of information about the script. Its unknown whether Welling will actually finally suit up fully as Superman in Crisis On Infinite Earths, having never worn the suit throughout the entirety of Smallville back when he was just known as "The Blur".
The Arrowverse of course already has its own version of Superman played by Tyler Hoechlin, so its been clear for some time that Smallville took place in an alternate universe despite them both being CW shows. There's other big cameos from actors who have played DC characters in the past including voice actor Kevin Conroy as an older version of Batman, the original Robin Burt Ward from the 60s series, and Ashley Scott as Huntress from the Birds of Prey CW series. There's also been rumors that Lynda Carter could be making a surprise appearance as a version of Wonder Woman, but this has yet to be confirmed.
So what do you think of Routh and Welling's returns to the Superman role? Are there any other versions of characters you'd like to see appear? Let us know below!
