11th season existed
Smallville aired on TV for 10 seasons between 2001 and 2011. And when it was over, it left a legion of fans sad with its ending. Recently, the audience that accompanied the series had a “straw” from Clark Kent by Tom Welling, who returned in the special Crisis in the Infinite Lands. Participating in the crossover that involved series like Flash and Arrow, it was revealed that Clark abandoned Metropolis – and his powers – to live a common life with Lois Lane.
However, with the Smallville evidence back, many fans are discovering a valuable secret: that even though it aired on TV for 10 seasons, there was the 11th season. Best of all, fans are celebrating such a discovery.
The 11th season
Shortly after finishing its TV showing, Smallville won a sequel. Called “the 11th season”, the story had a sequence in comic format. That’s right, Smallville became an HQ and developed a direct continuation of TV stories.
In total, 19 volumes were published and the stories were very well accepted by fans. Check below some stories told in the 11th season.
Becoming Superman
Clark Kent was not well received when he first appeared on the scene as “Superman”. Even though Clark had already saved lives like “The Blur”, this was his first time appearing in public with his heroism. Therefore, the people were slow to accept it. After a while, Superman gained the confidence to confide to the President of the United States that he was an alien.
One of the first challenges Superman faced in his superhero career was, of course, Lex Luthor. Although Lex had no memory of his friendship with Clark or anything that happened in Smallville, he was back on his bad ways, forcing Clark to deal with his schemes in the classic Superman-style.
Superman became the Green Lantern
Superman was also associated with another team of superheroes: the Green Lanterns corporation. Interestingly, his participation in the team was not voluntary. A certain Green Lantern ring, which they designed for a Kryptonian, attracted Clark. Once it was on his finger, he was unable to remove it. He was forcibly recruited into the Green Lantern Corporation. As a result, he had no choice but to learn how to use it. It was this plot that introduced John Stewart’s incarnation of Green Lantern into the Smallville canon.
John Stewart put Clark under his wing and started training him. While Clark learned to wear the ring with Stewart, he found himself involved in one of Stewart’s battles with Green Lantern villain Parallax. Superman and John Stewart managed to defeat Parallax and, after the battle, the Corporation took the ring back and decided not to force anyone to join them.
Batman
As Clark’s adventures continued, he crossed paths with several DC Comics superheroes who were never able to appear in Smallville, such as Batman and Wonder Woman.
Batman, for example, was being used for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy when Smallville was still in the air. The series was unable to use it, but Smallville’s 11th comic season had no such restrictions. Batman finally crossed paths with Superman when the Bat arrived in Metropolis in search of his parents’ killer. He lured Superman into a fight as a distraction so that his partner, Nightwing (Barbara Gordon) could complete the mission for him.
However, his attempts to get a man out of prison were thwarted by Superman’s ally, the Green Arrow. Both fights continued for a while but ended when Superman and Batman agreed to a truce. The four heroes teamed up to fight against enemies from the Batman gallery, including Mr. Freeze.
Like other versions of the characters, Superman and Batman from Smallville didn’t get along. But over time, they learned to understand each other’s worldview. After Superman and Batman became allies, Batman began to serve as a recurring character in the later stories of Smallville. He even agreed to become a part-time member of the Smallville Justice League, a team that Clark took over in season 8 of the TV series.
Justice League
Clark was involved in a battle with the Monitors, who were a threat to the entire universe. The Monitors believed that to restore order, they would first have to erase all existence. In this scenario, Clark had to deal with Smallville’s version of ” Crisis on Infinite Earths “. Thus, he interacted with different characters from various timelines.
The Monitors were the main antagonists of the entire series, as their presence formed a comprehensive plot that had been built since the beginning of the series, and peaked in Smallville: Continuity, the final miniseries in the Smallville canon.
It all started when the Monitors destroyed Earth-2 and followed their only survivor, Chloe from Earth-2 to Earth-1. To win the Monitors, Clark had to put aside his differences with Lex Luthor and form an alliance. Clark has summoned almost all the allies he has ever had, including characters forgotten from previous episodes of Smallville. As well as new comic book heroes.
Everyone, from Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, the Green Lanterns, and, also, the Legion of Superheroes … Even the Teen Titans were present for Superman’s last resistance against the Monitors. Together, Superman led the heroes to victory.
Unfortunately, all of these stories needed to be seen only in the comics. But they are still available today for fans to quell curiosity about what would have happened to Superman after the end of the TV series.
