Tom Welling is probably best known for his role as Clark Kent alongside Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luther in Smallville, but the Supernatural spinoff, The Winchesters, recently cast Welling in role in December 2022. Tom Welling plays the long-lost father of Mary Campbell, Sam Campbell. Sam is stoic and pragmatic, personality traits that have made him a successful hunter but have led to a strained relationship with his daughter.Smallville ran for 10 seasons and pitted Superman against a variety of comic foes but his greatest was, just like in the comics, Lex Luthor. Michael Rosenbaum plays Lex as a young man walking a fine line between good and evil who seems to want to do good but can't overcome his own ambitions. Lex and Clark's relationship provides the central storyline of the show. As a long-running series, it's inevitable that the internet would find ways to meme about the show and specifically Lex and Clark's friendship/rivalry. And they even make some grand statements about the characters while doing so.
10 Analogies And Allegories
Clark Kent and Lex Luthor get along well in Smallville's first few seasons. The two actually become close friends until Lex's curiosity causes him to look too deep into Clark's past. In that time, they often wrap up episodes and scenes together after catching the bad guys to discuss the earlier events.
And without fail, Lex always ends up pontificating about some historical event that he uses as an allegory for the episode's events. Lex Luthor is incredibly smart, it's basically his superpower. In order to show that, Smallville usually has him make a speech about some high-minded topic.
9 Lex Luthor's Doctors
Lex Luthor is incredibly rich thanks to his family name and the work of his father, Lionel Luther. What all that wealth means is that Lex can basically do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And as Clark Kent's friend, he's always willing to bring in extra help for him.
Anytime someone close to Clark or close to Lex gets injured, Lex springs into action to bring in his special doctors from Metropolis. Smallville has doctors and a hospital but they must not be up to Lex's standards considering how often he's phoning his private ones in.
8 Lex Is Always Barging In
The early part of Lex and Clark Kent's relationship saw the pair as close friends. As close as any teen pair who lie in the same town and begin to behave almost like family rather than acquaintances. Many people are familiar with the neighborhood kid who would barge in unannounced.
In Smallville, it's the same idea except that it is a super-genius busting in on the Man of Steel's morning routine. Many episodes have Lex bursting into the Kent family farm to tell Clark something, even if the family is in the middle of a meal.
7 Clark Lies To Lex
While Lex Luthor does not discover Clark Kent's secret identity as Superman until Smallville season 7, he is suspicious of his friend from the moment he is saved by him. In Smallville season 1, Lex is saved from drowning by Clark under mysterious circumstances and while the two become friends, Lex still has many questions about Clark.
So while Lex is suspicious of his friend, Clark is well aware that he is hiding a major secret from his friend. Anytime Lex talks about their friendship, Clark is praying that his friend doesn't realize he is lying right to his face.
6 Grown Up Lex And Clark
Smallville ended in 2011 in a series finale that saw Clark Kent embracing his Superman persona and Lex Luthor losing all memory of his teenage friendship with Clark, bringing the series into the modern era. Fans never saw Welling or Rosenbaum as the DC characters again until the five-series crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths."
Welling is brought back as Clark Kent from the Smallville universe, but Lex Luthor is no longer played by Rosenbaum, instead he is still Jon Cryer from the Cryer's acting as Lex Luthor, most fans wanted a Smallville reunion like in this meme.
5 Lex Is Suspicious Of Clark
Lex Luthor has always suspected that his friend Clark Kent is hiding something, he just doesn't know what. Until he discovers the truth in season 7, Lex Luthor's curiosity about Clark and the town of Smallville itself drives him to be the supervillain from the comics.
There are numerous situations where Lex and Clark find themselves in dire trouble only for Clark to rescue them at the last moment, but always in a way that gives him plausible deniability about being super-powered. Each time it happens though, Lex's suspicions are raised further and Michael Rosenbaum nails the paranoid character of Lex in those scenes.
4 Pete Is Jealous Of Lex And Clark
Before Clark Kent ever met Lex Luthor, he was best friends with Pete Ross. The two had been childhood friends ever since Clark protected Pete from bullies and Pete is one of the first people to ever learn about Clark's hidden powers.
Pete and his family also have a deep hatred of the Luthor family as they believe their family business was stolen by them. So when Clark and Lex become fast friends, Pete grows jealous. Clark's time split between his childhood friend and his new one nearly tears Pete and Clark apart.
3 Bad Security At The Luthor Mansion
For someone hell-bent on discovering the true identity of Clark Kent, one would think that Lex Luthor would make sure something as simple as his own security system was working. Clark, time and again, uses his powers within the Luthor mansion, whenever Lex is not around.
But Lex is a mega-wealthy son of an industry titan and the Luthor mansion has been shown on multiple occasions to have security features. So why the cameras never seem to pick up Clark performing super feats has always been a bit of a plot hole.
2 A Different Sort Of Superman
Tom Welling only briefly appears in "Crisis on Infiinte Earths" from the CW crossover event but his short scene with Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor is still as memorable as any scene. When Lex tossed Kryptonite to Clark with the intent of depowering him, fans jaws' dropped when he caught it and tossed it away.
In the Smallville universe, Clark Kent has removed his own powers so that he can live a normal life alongside Lois Lane and is much happier for it. Lex can't begin to comprehend why he would do such a thing, and this meme perfectly sums up Lex Luthor's reaction.
1 Can't Keep Clark Out
Lex Luthor and Clark Kent are in a constant stalemate as they circle each other, one trying to hide his secret identity and the other constantly trying to figure it out. Every move Clark makes is countered by Lex which is countered by Clark and so on.
Throughout Smallville, there were many instances of Clark Kent using his powers to enter somewhere he has no business entering only for Lex to find a way to get rid of him. Inevitably, Lex only succeeds in ridding himself of Clark for a short amount of time before he returns, and they go through the same process once again.