Old School Supergirl

I don't know how much buzz there is for the new Supergirl television show as compared to anything else, but I came across an image of a comic book cover from 1962 that illustrated the day when Superman revealed Supergirl to the world.

In the original canon, Kara Zor-El came to Earth in 1959 after the domed Argo City, which had been thrown clear of the explosion of Krypton, stared emitting radiation dangerous to its inhabitants, even though they weren't exposed to the rays of a yellow sun and thus having super powers (Kryptonite can't hurt a non-super Kryptonian, so this was some form of anti-Kryptonite). As in Kal-El's origin, there was just room in an experimental rocket for one person, young Kara, Kal-El's cousin. Her father Zor-El had been able to monitor Superman's activities on Earth and so not only launched Kara there, but created a costume for her similar to her heroic cousin's.

Superman, upon Kara's arrival and after hearing her story, decided to send her to an orphanage (no such thing as foster families in the late 1950s I guess), telling the administrators that her name was "Linda Lee" and her family had been killed in a flood that destroyed her home town (no records). She hid her identity under a brunette wig and only used her powers in secret. Superman felt she needed practice before doing heroics publicly.

The cover below shows the day, three years later, when Superman decided to tell the world about his younger, Kryptonian cousin, the day when Supergirl became a hero in the light rather than in the shadows.

Eventually, Kara/Linda was adopted by the Danvers, a childless couple (no older sister like in the TV show).

Thought folks might enjoy the look back.

Does Supergirl Have Pierced Ears?

Does Supergirl (played by Melissa Benoist) have pierced ears? If so, how? Being invulnerable, nothing should be able to pierce her earlobes (or anything else) unless she's weakened by Kryptonine.

Evidence:

Look closer. See that right earlobe? It doesn't look like a clip on.

See! I told you. That sure looks like an earring to me, and I can't see how it could be a clip on.

OK, are there other such photos? Most of the time Benoist's hair is down so it's difficult to see her ears but in this photo, it could be an earring (click on each image to see a larger version).

While there doesn't appear to be one here.

Kara, as opposed to Supergirl, most often wears her hair in a ponytail or otherwise off her ears. Let's see what we can see.

Yes, an earring.

Same here.

Same here.

In other words, either her earrings are held on by a magnetic backing (and that would be a pretty strong magnetic field to keep them on her during fight scenes), or the folks at CBS made a big goof.

How else can you explain this?

OK, I'm taking a small detail and blowing it up way out of proportion, but on the other hand, I'm a trivia nut and I really get off on little details like this one.

What next? Superman with unexplained facial piercings?

Oh, I got the first image from the DC Comics blog.

The Pilot Episode of Supergirl: A Review

I hadn't originally intended on watching the pilot episode of Supergirl starring Melissa Benoist in the title role, but it was online, it was free, so I figured, what the heck. I didn't expect to like it all that much, but I was curious how CBS was going to adapt decades of Superman and Supergirl canon. My reaction is mixed.

I've read a few of the other reviews of the pilot, both before and after I saw the episode, and they range from "good but not perfect" to "triumph for everyone wanting a strong female hero for a change". You can see examples at Yahoo News, IGN, The Mary Sue, and The Los Angeles Times.

The episode started out with a summary of how Kara Zor-El came to Earth. Launched from a doomed Krypton just minutes after her infant cousin Kal-El, 12-year old Kara was charged by her parents with taking care of the baby after they both arrived on Earth. Granted, no one would have had a clue where Kal-El was going to land on the alien planet and under what conditions, but sending a mere 12-year-old on such a mission was a long shot at best. Still, the writers had to inject her into the canonical story of how Superman got to our planet somehow.

Then, her space pod is caught in the shock wave caused the Krypton's explosion and is sent hurdling off course and into the Phantom Zone where time doesn't pass.

Some years later (at least as time passes outside the Zone), her ship is mysteriously freed and somehow finds its way to its original destination...Earth. When it lands, the pod opens and Kara is greeted by her cousin, grown to an adult, and already sporting the blue and red.

(At this point, I figured out that this show isn't leveraging the film Man of Steel (2013) starring Henry Cavill and instead represents a separate canon)

You only see Superman in silhouette and he's never called "Superman," but it would be impossible to tell key portions of Kara's story without acknowledgement to her more famous cousin.

Kal-El places the orphaned Kara (really, the kid must be freaking out -- her entire race and home world are long gone, her parents dead, her only relative (an infant cousin who is now 12 years older than she is) and fellow Kryptonian is the most powerful hero on her new alien home planet, and he places her with Jeremiah (Dean Cain) and Eliza (Helen Slater) Danvers (I liked the nice, continuity piece of choosing these two actors, both with ties to the television and film appearances of Superman and Supergirl respectively).

I wonder how Kal-El managed the legal niceties of getting Kara adopted or was able to explain to the authorities (since adoption requires the involvement of the civil court system) who Kara is, where she came from, how her parents died, and why she doesn't have any relatives or home community to take her in...a person with absolutely no recorded history before age 12?

This was glossed over (ignored) and we next meet Kara Danvers (no need to adopt the name from the comic books of Linda Lee Danvers apparently) working as a 24-year-old "gofer" uh, assistant, to Cat Grant, owner of her own media company Cat Co.

In spite of the fact that she has decided to play a low profile in terms of her powers (the world doesn't need another superhero) and to "fit in," she's wearing glasses, which she doesn't need, as if she's maintaining a secret identity. It's true that when she finally decides to adopt the Supergirl persona (although the "girl" part was first coined by Grant), she'd need to separate Kara from the young woman in the red cape, why did she decide to wear glasses in the first place?

Benoist imbues Kara with a wholesome, naive charm and she's instantly likable. Although she's attractive, I kept relating to her more like my best friend's sister than as any sort of "hottie". I was almost taken off guard when she went out on a blind date (with someone who quickly gave her the brush off). I was also slightly surprised when she reacted to Jimmy, uh...James (Mehcad Brooks) Olsen (who admittedly is a solid hunk) with attraction (although she clearly wasn't sure what to do about it). Benoist convincingly portrays Kara as "the girl next door," the friendly, kind, helpful girl, the one you'd never think to ask out.

Kara grew up with an older (adoptive) sister Alex who has a big secret. She's an agent for a government agency created after the first appearance of the alien Superman in orter to investigate other alien appearances on our planet.

Kara doesn't know this, of course...well, not at first. She doesn't even want to be super. Not until she has to rescue her sister's overseas flight from crashing, which she barely manages (hey, even if you're super, you still have to deal with things like mass, momentum, and inertia).

It was cute when her date asked Kara where she's from originally. It was cute when we saw Kara with wide eyed wonder, shoveling down pizza while watching herself on the news rescuing the airliner. In fact, I was beginning to be overwhelmed with cute. Is this show only written for young teens?

With the help of her friend Winn (Jeremy Jordan) Schott (isn't that the last name of the Toyman?), the IT guru where she works, Kara slowly transforms into Supergirl. Kara took a big chance telling (and showing) Winn who she really is. She couldn't have predicted how he'd react. Their boss would no doubt pay a lot of money to anyone who could deliver the exclusive story of who Supergirl is and where she could be found (right under your nose, Cat).

But Winn plays the loyal if nerdy friend and helps design her costume. Well, the first one was without a midriff and our modest Kara wouldn't wear it to the beach, let alone to rescue people.

That's actually one of the things I like about the way the show characterizes Supergirl. It's not about an overwhelmingly sexy, or even cute nymphet Supergirl doing daring do. Kara, if anything, is a bit conservative, both in how she dresses and how she acts and reacts. She's like a lot of people her age, still trying to figure herself out and walking into walls (not literally) half the time. Now she's got to figure out how to be both Kara and Supergirl.

But things get muddy fast. Turns out on one of her first missions, she's all too easily captured by Alex and her boss Hank (David Harewood) Henshaw, the director of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) using Kryptonite darts and holding her in Kryptonite bindings. Henshaw doesn't like aliens (even though the DEO has her spaceship) and demands that Kara stop being Supergirl. Alex backs Henshaw up, at least this time, but circumstances pull the "Maid of Steel" back into the fight.

When Kara's ship left the Phantom Zone, it didn't leave alone. Somehow (a lot of somehows), it brought along Fort Rozz, formerly Krypton's high security prison facility, crammed full of the biggest, baddest, aliens (apparently not all are Kryptonian) in the galaxy...and now they're on Earth conspiring to do what...take over the planet?

That part is left vague, but they're also plotting to bring someone called "the General" to our world, and they sabotaged Alex's flight in an attempt to kill her.

An alien prisoner named Vartox (Owain Yeoman) who wields a mean, super-heated ax, calls Kara on a special high frequency only she can hear (I think I saw this done in one of the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies) to come out and fight. Turns out these aliens not only know Kara but her Kryptonian mother, who was a judge back in the day, and had sentenced all of these interstellar tough guys to Fort Rozz. Now they want revenge against the daughter of their jailer (also a theme from the second Chris Reeve Superman movie).

Long story short, Supergirl almost gets her head handed to her (literally) but her sister arrives just in time with some serious artillery to save her. Although Henshaw again warns Kara to hang up her cape, this time Alex encourages her to be the hero she's destined to be.

In the final battle between Supergirl and Vartox, with the DEO having her back, as Kara is about to lose, Alex delivers a stirring "I believe in you" speech which turns the battle around and Supergirl saves the day (it was pretty cliche and internally, I gagged a little).

Vartox commits suicide rather than be captured, but issues the dire announcement that he's only the beginning, forecasting that future episodes will feature the alien baddie of the week with the mystery of who the General is and what she...that's right, she, wants.

As if I didn't dump enough spoilers on you already, the General is none other than Kara's aunt, leader of the band of miscreants, who would like nothing better than to see her niece dead.

So like Team Arrow and Team Flash, Supergirl now has a team, or more accurately, she's now a covert super agent for the United States Government. That's truly terrifying.

It's also concerning that Henshaw, in the 1990s comic books, became the villainous Cyborg Superman. Shades of a future story arc?

Impressions: The show tries to be a little too cute (didn't I say that enough?). I get that we're supposed to like and even feel protective of Kara, but it's hard to imagine this sweet little millennial getting the chops to play in her cousin's league. I know a hero like Wonder Woman would probably embody more of the feminist ideal, an already strong, developed, self-assured figure, so it's difficult to understand why Supergirl would be appealing as the leading female-driven superhero show on television. I suppose emerging power laced with vulnerability makes her more relatable to young girls and women than a commanding personality like Diana Prince.

From the look and feel of the show, it's seems the main demographic must be between the ages of 12 and 20. Sorry, but a lot of what I watched seemed very juvenile. Maybe I'm jaded by the darkness of most of the other superhero TV shows and films. But the Flash is light hearted and "young," and yet you get the impression that adults are also supposed to relate to the main characters. By comparison, the pilot episode of Supergirl seemed a little more "cartoonish".

I didn't outright dislike the show, but I wasn't immediately hooked either, the way I was by Arrow and The Flash. Also, the show promises to be "formulaistic" as I already mentioned, with a built-in conspiracy delivering the super villain of the week for Kara to sharpen her teeth on (not literally, of course..if you want teeth, watch The Vampire Diaries).

I do believe that the world needs more female oriented superhero shows and films, but I can also acknowledge that all of the source material for each and every one of them today is at least fifty years old. Half a century ago, comic books were overwhelmingly male driven, with just a few token females on various teams (Wonder Woman being one of the notable exceptions) to break up all that "maleness". If entertainment producers want female characters more easily adapted to modern audiences, they need to read more recently created comic books. The 1960s weren't particularly progressive compared to 2015.

All that said, I wish the show success and hope the writers manage to develop the character and her supporting cast and environment into something slightly more mature people can connect with. The show isn't bad, and I know most pilots have a lot of rough edges, but the Supergirl television show has left itself a great deal of room in which it needs to grow.

Save Me, Supergirl!

Please, please, please save me!!!

Sorry. Just saw the image and had to say that. Thanks.

Halloween Fantasies: The Women 2011

Last year at about this time, I published my most popular (by number of visits) post, Halloween Fantasies: The Women. It was a "response" to my own Halloween fantasies and costumes I'd like to wear (assuming I had the body for it) on Halloween. Naturally, they all have a superhero theme. I thought that since hot women in costume seem to be a really sought after topic, I'd repeat my "success" of last year.

The first entry isn't exactly "hot" but it is interesting. I found this image at Wikipedia under Mxyzptlk's Superwoman (scroll down). The storyline doesn't look that compelling and I'm not interested at all in "Superlad", but Superwoman and Batwoman definitely look like my kind of fantasy.

Of course, I've always been a sucker for a superhero with a busted secret identity. I have no idea what the deal is behind this "revealing" pose for Supergirl, but it definitely got my attention. I wonder how she'll get out of this mess or at least, get out of something.

Wonder Woman is probably the most obvious superhero fantasy for most guys but I've always thought she was kind of overkill. First of all, women with boobs that big probably just can't fight. Those triple-Ds would always be getting in the way. WW's real power over men would be the fact that, the minute she showed up, all the straight guys would just be paralyzed with lust and completely distracted by her cleavage.

I found an interesting pic of her at scifiwright.com (there a lots of compelling images here) with WW at the subject on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine. It's another secret identity switch that makes me think Diana's best power is when she changes clothes. The parallel image is one that really goes with the previous paragraph. Oh my but how in the world could she fight or do just about anything that requires movement without a serious wardrobe malfunction?

The last in my series of super women for Halloween 2011 is of Mystique from the original X-men films (as opposed to the reboot). What really "makes" Mystique for me isn't the costume but actress Rebecca Romijn. Not only is she classically beautiful, in costume or out, but standing at almost six feet tall, she is every tall (or short) man's dream woman. She's got legs.

Happy Halloween.

Oh, click on the images to see their original sizes.

Supergirl? Not So Much

Ubergirl? Power Girl? Annoying Girl? What the heck was Laura Vandervoort doing on Smallville, anyway?

It's not that I don't think she's attractive or a good fit for the Kara/Supergirl role, but Smallville's recent episode Supergirl seemed like a jumbled mess.

OK, I get that Darkseid has come to Earth (though in a radically different form than in the comic books) to cause havoc and generally be a pain in the neck, but when did Jor-El suddenly start being Kara's promotional manager and turning over the safety of our planet to her?

Clark has been on Earth all his life. He knows who humans are. He knows what sort of hero we need. Kara grew up on Krypton and spent most of Clark's life in suspended animation at the bottom of a lake. She's had at most just a couple of years of experience with Earth and with people, and now she's an expert?

Also, Jor-El usually tells Clark when he's blowing him off and usually does something nasty like take away his powers, just to prove that dead guys still have pull. It must have been really painful to hear from your bratty blonde cousin that "Daddy doesn't love you anymore."

The writing seemed very inconsistent in the episode. The return of Lois to Metropolis and to Clark seemed more understated than it should have been. True, Lois was in fine form (literally) when she went after possessed "shock jock" Gordon Godfrey. She's normally that much of a pit bull and I have to admit, just dumb enough not to run with the pictures while the bad guy is still in handcuffs. I even liked the kinky outfit she chose to model, but it all seemed just a little too contrived. Does Darkseid really need to blow off some steam at the local S & M club while he's planning on taking over the world?

The whole "Kara bracelet repelling Darkseid" thing seemed to belong in a Saturday morning cartoon rather than a prime-time science fiction/fantasy program. Again, contrived. Oh, and why are both Kara and Lois (Lois?) "pure of heart" but not Super Boy Scout Clark? Don't tell me that Lois doesn't have conflicts and doubts and if Kara just came back from an unsuccessful trip to find her Mom, how can she not be experiencing internal conflicts and issues?

I can understand, given her "mission", why Kara would choose a costume to "perform" in public, but how did she end up at a photo shoot modeling the thing? She had time to go to a modeling agency, convince them to promote her, and do a shoot of Metropolis's latest superhero? That entire sequence was amazingly lame and designed only to show off her rather fabulous body. In other words, "eye candy filler" (not that I'm above such things, but it really contributed nothing to the story).

Hooray! Clark flew! Boo! It lasted about five seconds. Kara acts like it's some sort of Zen exercise to fly. It's just like any other power. He just has an Earth person's fear of falling, even though he's fallen plenty of times and knows it won't hurt.

Kara acts more like Jor-El than Kara, being punitive of Clark rather than trying to relate. It does make sense to have them both team up to defeat Darkseid. Bracelet aside, she might not be able to beat him alone.

Oh. Linda Lee Danvers. Clark Kent in drag. Laura Vandervoort looked like she was wearing a wig, fake glasses, and a frumpy costume straight out of wardrobe. I wasn't convinced for a second that she was a "real" person. No one else would be either. So much for having a "secret identity".

About the best part of the episode was the Green Arrow subplot. I know a lot of fans didn't like Ollie's presence and felt it was a distraction, but he was meant to mirror Clark's own doubts. Both Clark and Ollie were expressing worries and concerns about "working in the shadows" and the distrust the public has over "masked vigilantes" operating in Metropolis. Lois acted as the fulcrum between the two heroes and by the end of the episode, they had each chosen different directions. Clark will remain an unknown face as "the Blur", while Oliver at a press conference at the end of the episode declares, "I am Green Arrow".

The only "incredible" part of the GA subplot is how all of the reporters instantly believed Ollie was telling the truth. He didn't even produce his GA costume, bow, and trick arrows. It reminded me both of Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr) admission at the end of the first Iron Man film and of Harvey Dent's (Aaron Eckhart) "confession", "I am the Batman". Yeah, in the latter case, he was lying, but the reporters bought it then, too.

I watched Supergirl knowing it was panned in the reviews, but when you're a fan, you watch even the bad episodes, looking for a glimmer of hope.

Dear Smallville writers. We need a better episode next time, gang.

Who Should Appear in Smallville Season 10?

I suppose I could write a review of the Season 10 opener for Smallville just like everyone else but, face it, I don't want to be like everyone else. I suppose that's why I don't give a rats about Chlois, Clana, ClChloe, ClLex, Cl_whatever. For those of you who need to be emotionally enthralled with who Clark's in bed with, good on you, but it's not why I watch Smallville.

Rather than a review, I'll write about the other topic that Smallville fans are all over (no, not Michael Rosenbaum returning as Lex). I'm talking about what characters I'd like to see appear or return to Smallville.

I watch Smallville because I like the Superman legend and I like what the Smallville writers, producers, and actors have done to tweak the canon. I've been a long time Superman fan (you have no idea how long), so I love seeing references in Smallville that appeared in Superman related comics years or even decades ago. I'm kind of a trivia junkie, so that sort of stuff appeals to me.

So who do I want to appear in Smallville? Keep in mind that my wish list is completely unrealistic and has virtually no hope of being fulfilled for legal, contractual, and a jillion other reasons. I'm just doing this for the fun of it.

Lex Luthor

I figured I'd go with the obvious one first. Yes, I do want Michael Rosenbaum to return to Smallville as Lex. He did a fantastic job over eight years of slowly moving Lex into the dark side of himself. There were times I wanted to kill Lex and other times I was hoping he'd come out on top. He's an interesting and complex "bad guy" and Rosenbaum did a fabulous job in the role. I know he doesn't want to go through the rest of his life shaving his head, but if he comes back for the final season, it would be the icing on the cake.

Lana Lang

Actually, I find Lana kind of whiny and annoying, but I'd love to see "Kryptonite Girl" make a reappearance. I'd also love to know what she's been up to with her super powers lately. Although she's now deadly to Clark, she would come in handy if he were threatened by other Kryptonian baddies. Probably not much help against Darkseid, though.

Hal Jordan

Here's where the lack of realism starts. There's no way WB will bring a young, pre-Green Lantern Hal Jordan into Smallville, but a Hal Jordan/Oliver Queen team-up would so rock!

Bruce Wayne

Again, WB isn't going to bring a pre-Batman Wayne into Smallville. I'm not sure how the timeline would even work since "now", Batman should exist in Gotham City. Totally off the radar, but seeing Clark and Bruce in a "World's Finest" meet would be terrific.

The Justice Society

We know that Carter and Shayera Hall (Hol?) will be showing up with Lois in Egypt in the next Smallville episode, Shield, but what about other Society members? The original Green Lantern was a guy named Alan Scott. If Hal Jordan can't make an appearance, how about Scott's Green Lantern?

Wonder Woman

Actress Lynda Carter (TV's Wonder Woman from the 1970s) appeared on Smallville in 2007 as Moira Sullivan, Chloe's mother, but how about a new, young, smoking hot Wonder Woman or even a Diana, Princess of Paradise Island, fresh in this country and before the (skin tight) costume and invisible plane (she could have the golden lasso)? It would make my night!

The Martian Manhunter

I'd like to see John Jones again. He's a good "wingman" for Clark and well as a wise and pragmatic mentor. If at all possible, I'd love for his powers to return. Something tells me that when Darkseid cuts loose, Clark's going to need all the help he can get.

I've already heard that John Glover will be reprising his role as Lionel Luthor for the very last two episodes of the series. I take it as a foregone conclusion that the Justice League members will be coming back sometime during this season, if for no other reason than to get revenge for Oliver's torture and to rescue Chloe. It looks like Annette O'Toole will be returning as Martha Kent and her real life husband Michael McKean will be returning as Perry White (Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet?). Everyone knows that Laura Vandervoort is returning for the 200th episode of Smallville, Supergirl as both Kara (Supergirl) and Linda Lee Danvers.

I think James Masters is returning to Smallville from the 31st century as Brainiac 5, perhaps along with the Legion of Superheroes, and that will be interesting. Can we trust version 5 when versions 1 and 2 were such a tremendous pain?

That was my A list. If a B list shows up in my imagination, I'll let you know. How about you? Is there anyone you want to see come to or come back to Smallville that I missed?

Smallville: The Perfect Ending

I know it's a little early in the game to start talking about the final episode of Season 10 of Smallville, but I've been wondering for years how the writers would end it in such a way that the Superman legend could begin. Think about it...it won't be easy.

In most of the classic Superman canon, Clark meets Lois, Perry, Jimmy, and Lex in adulthood when (or after) he gets a job as "a mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper". Up until this point (depending on the version of the comic book you are reviewing), Clark has never publicly used his abilities before, or at least never in a way that could possibly be connected to Clark Kent. The costume is the "mask" that lets Clark use his powers to help people while allowing Clark live an "ordinary" human life. Nobody (OK, Lois always does) makes the connection between Clark Kent and Superman.

In Smallville, all that has been turned upside down. Everyone meets and gets to know Clark years before he puts on his tights. Except on rare occasion, Clark has never worn glasses and doesn't appear to have vision problems (aside from occasionally lighting something on fire with his heat vision). Lex Luthor used to be Clark's best friend and the day Clark shows up in Metropolis wearing his famed blue, red, and yellow "fighting togs", it'll take more than bright primary colors to keep him from seeing that Superman is just Clark in a costume. No pair of glasses, no matter how nerdy, will effectively keep Lois from seeing that Clark and Superman are the same guy. No one is going to be fooled because they all know what Clark looks like too darn well.

Let's take another example: the season 7 finale. Lex learns that "The Traveler" is really Clark Kent. In his attempt to take over Clark and rule his powers, he discovers and visits the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic. Lex has finally put a long list of clues together that started when Clark saved him from drowning in a car accident seven years ago. All of the tons and tons of weird, odd, strange, and bizarre events that have clustered around Smallville finally add up. Unless Lex gets brain damage and forgets the last decade of his life, how in the world will he ever not know that Clark Kent is Superman? Don't tell me that the WB folks will kill off Lex. They can't. It would be like Batman with no Joker or the Fantastic Four with no Doctor Doom. It just can't be done. All superheroes need arch villains to balance the equation. Lex is Clark's arch villain.

How about we consider some scenarios and forget about solving the puzzle for awhile. Yes, the Smallville writers have their hands full, but they created this mess so now they'll have to fix it.

Some questions.

• Will Clark and Lois be in love by the final episode?


• Will Lex show up to screw up Clark's life again with some evil scheme (and will he still know that Clark is the Traveler)?


• Will Lana show up one more time to let us know her fate (and in the comic books, she marries Pete Ross)?


• Will Perry White be the editor of the Daily Planet by the final episode?


• Will Clark learn to fly before the final episode (and will the mystery of why he couldn't fly before this be revealed)?


• Will Martha Kent still be alive at the end of the series?


• Will Chloe still be alive at the end of the series?


• What will be the fate of Kara/Supergirl by the end of the series?


• Will the series end in a cliffhanger?


• What will be the final scene in the final episode in the series?

As far as the last question goes, someone on twitter yesterday mentioned the same final scene I've always envisioned. Clark in a room/alley/other secluded place, responds to an emergency by opening up his shirt. We see the famous Superman emblem and know, as we've always known, that this is a job for Superman. Fade to black.

In other words, Smallville ends and Superman begins. A fitting ending and tribute. Of course, if Clark really did get "the costume" from his Mom at the end of season 9, that means he has to hang on to it without "officially" wearing it (yeah, he could try it on for size, just so we can have the thrill), for 22 episodes. In Clark's "dream", he's Superman in 2012 and the series ends in 2011. If the 2012 date (which matches the release date for the Superman reboot Superman: The Man of Steel) marks the first appearence of Superman in the world, then the final scene in the final episode could be Clark going into the Fortress, finally submitting to Jor-El's will and beginning his training, as Clark did in the original Superman (1978) film.

I don't have a crystal ball (or Kryptonian crystal anything) and I have no special insight or access to spoilers, so this is all just in my imagination. Consider this, though.

If it were up to you, how would you end Smallville? Comments now being accepted.