Before the Arrowverse, Smallville, which ran from 2001 to 2011, was considered the best DC show of all time – after all, it gave us the best Clark Kent. The show was so popular, it’s still talked about today. But here’s something Smallville fans might’ve missed: Batman made a sneaky appearance in the DC show, too. And somehow we all missed it.
Smallville was no stranger to bringing in other DC heroes. Over its 10-season run, the series introduced us to Hawkman, Zatanna, Cyborg, Green Arrow (before he got his own show), Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and a Justice League’s worth of other cameos. But Bruce Wayne? He didn’t show up. Except…
Blink and you’ll miss Batman’s cameo in Smallville Season 1, Episode 6. Around the 42-minute mark, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum, who still holds the crown as the best live-action Lex) is shown a horrifying vision of the future by an old woman. In a field littered with corpses, one charred body stands out like a crispy bat in the ashes: it’s Batman, cape and all, lying in the dirt.
So, does this mean Lex Luthor kills Batman in Smallville continuity? Because it kind of looks like he did.
What most people also don’t know is that Smallville originally started out as a Batman TV show. Around the early 2000s, filmmakers had pitched a grittier Batman reboot (one based on Batman: Year One), hoping to recover from Batman & Robin. So, when a young Bruce Wayne TV series was pitched (yes, before Gotham even existed), Warner Bros. passed. Instead, they placed all their best on 2005’s Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan.
What’s wild is that Shawn Ashmore was originally cast to play Bruce in that scrapped show. Instead, he popped up in Smallville as Eric Summers, the jealous teen who briefly stole Clark’s powers in Season 1’s Leech and returned in Season 3’s Asylum.
So yes, Batman was in Smallville. Just not in the Batcave, not as a billionaire orphan training in the shadows, but as a dead, smouldering Easter egg in Lex’s worst nightmare.
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