"I Hated It": Tom Welling Reveals His Least Favorite Storyline In All 10 Seasons Of Smallville

By Andy Behbakht

Published Jan 13, 2025

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Tom Welling explains what his least live-action Superman TV show was able to take a lot of creative liberties with Clark Kent's journey before he eventually suited up as the DC hero. Before donning the Superman mantle, Clark began his superhero career in Metropolis being known as the Red Blue Blur, before eventually being known as just The Blur in Smallville season 10.

During their appearance at this year's Smallville cast discussed storylines from the show's decade-long run. In Welling's case, he brought up that his least favorite arc during Smallville's trajectory was the Red Blue Blur saga, as the cast had the following exchange about it:

Tom Welling: I'll tell you my least favorite was the Red Blue Blur stuff.

Erica Durance: I was going to say it's my favorite because you hated it so much!

Tom Welling: I hated it! You saw me being just disgruntled.

Erica Durance: It was weird!

Tom Welling: I knew it needed to happen because we were... we were dying! [laughs]

Erica Durance: But it was really hard to say Red Blue Blur.

Laura Vandervoort: What was the Red Blue Blur thing?

Tom Welling: It was this stupid thing where Clark had this Alter Ego where he dressed in black, and he was like Batman. And then, as much as I hated it, and Clark really didn't like it - I had to do scenes with Lois who keeps saying how great the Red Blue Blur is. It was just like, "What are we doing?" It was just Clark being a vigilante at night.

What Tom Welling's Smallville Comments About The Red-Blue Blur Storyline Means For The Show

Welling's commentary about Clark's darker days as a hero is specifically about Smallville season 9. That was when Clark switched to a full-black costume, with the intention to no longer focus on his human life, but only operate as Earth's protector, in the shadows. It's key to that the reason Clark took this turn was because of the aftermath in Smallville season 8, which was a metaphorical death for Welling's character during its version of the Doomsday saga.

This is why Smallville season 9 focuses on Clark's re-development of getting out of that mindset - to get himself closer to being the hopeful hero he was always meant to be, a.k.a. Superman. Welling's comments highlight the idea that having Clark as a brooding vigilante was likely a very non-Superman direction for the character to go, hence why there was more of an optimistic change in Smallville season 10. As goofy as it may have felt for Welling, it is still one of the best stories in Smallville, as this fits Clark's origin story.

Our Take On Tom Welling's Smallville Comments About The Red-Blue Blur Storyline

Despite its many strengths, Welling's comments about the darker days of Smallville's Blur saga are valid, because there were moments in that season where Clark made questionable moves because of the darkness that he was dealing with. However, that approach is arguably one of the reasons why Smallville works as well as it did - because the writers could take their own spin on Superman's origin story before he eventually became the DC icon. In the end, if Clark hadn't gone through that dark period as a hero-in-training, he could have very well missed some of his most important lessons during Smallville.