Smallville characters
From left to right: Bart Allen, Oliver Queen, Clark Kent, Arthur Curry, and Victor Stone.
Justice League
Development Information
Developers	Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
First appearance	"Justice"
In-story Information
Members	Bart Allen (Kyle Gallner) Arthur Curry (Alan Ritchson) Victor Stone (Lee Thompson Young) Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley) Dinah Lance (Alaina Huffman) Clark Kent (Tom Welling) Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack)

The Justice League is a fictional group of superheroes on the television series Smallville. Developed for television by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the Justice League consists of members Oliver Queen, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Dinah Lance, Arthur Curry, Chloe Sullivan as the team's "Watchtower", and Clark Kent on a part-time basis; the characters are portrayed by Justin Hartley, Kyle Gallner, Lee Thompson Young, Alaina Huffman, Alan Ritchson, Allison Mack, and Tom Welling, respectively. The original Justice League first appeared in the DC comic book The Brave and the Bold #28 (1960), and consisted of members Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. In Smallville, the team did not make their first official appearance until the season six episode "Justice", although each member of the team had been previously introduced on the show in their own individual episodes since season four.

In addition to the live-action television series, the Justice League have also been featured in a promotional tie-in with Toyota, which saw the team appear in an interactive, online comic book. On an individual level, Oliver Queen received his own tie-in that provided Sprint users with animated episodes depicting Oliver's backstory on their mobile phones. Before and after the first appearance of the League on Smallville, there were talks among studio heads about spinning off individual characters, or the entire team, into their own television shows, but nothing came to fruition. Smallville is the first series—television or film—to feature live-action portrayals of Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Cyborg.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Television

[edit] Individual storylines

Although the Justice League itself first appears in season six’s "Justice", each of the members had their own individual introductions and recurring storylines on the series prior to the formation of the team. The first member to appear on the Smallville was Bart Allen, who was introduced in the season four episode "Run". In the episode, Bart is the first person Clark Kent (Tom Welling) discovers to have a superhuman ability—being able to run at supersonic speeds—not created from exposure to kryptonite. When Clark and Bart first meet, Bart is a pickpocket who saves Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) from being hit by a truck in Metropolis. Eventually, Clark convinces Bart to give up his life of crime before Bart leaves Smallville.^[1] Arthur Curry appears next in the season five episode "Aqua". In his first appearance, Arthur, who has the ability to swim at super-human speeds and create energy blasts through the water, arrives in Smallville to stop an underwater weapon that Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) has developed that is consequently killing the surrounding ocean life when it is fired. Arthur and Clark initially butt heads on Arthur’s tactics for stopping Lex, where Arthur initially tries to blow up Lex’s lab, while Clark insists that they should simply talk to Lex face-to-face and ask him to stop. Eventually, Arthur and Clark locate and destroy the weapon outright.^[2] Season five also saw the introduction of Victor Stone in the episode "Cyborg". In the episode, it is revealed that Victor was mortally wounded in a car accident that also took the lives of his family, but Lex’s company, LuthorCorp, took Victor’s body to one of his research labs where they experimented on Victor—they ultimately replaced his bone skeleton with a metal one. Clark attempts to provide Victor with a safe haven after Victor escapes from Lex’s facility. Ultimately, Clark manages to convince Lex to stop hunting Victor, while the latter leaves Smallville with his girlfriend.^[3]

Oliver Queen, a billionaire who left Star City to live in Metropolis, arrives in the season six episode "Sneeze" to investigate Lex Luthor.^[4] In the episode "Arrow", Oliver begins masquerading around Metropolis as a costumed vigilante, named "Green Arrow" by Lois, who steals from the rich—only stealing objects he knows were already stolen by those wealthy individuals—and gives to the poor. Oliver also begins a romantic relationship with Lois.^[5] Eventually, his vigilante life takes priority, and he and Lois break up when Oliver is forced to leave town to investigate more of Lex’s machinations.^[6] In season eight’s premiere, Oliver moves back to Metropolis, and begins searching for Lex, who has been missing since the season seven finale.^[7] Oliver believes he has tracked Lex's whereabouts in the episode "Bride", but he does not find Lex when he arrives; instead, Oliver reveals that he plans to kill Lex when he does find him because of the threat he perceives Lex poses to both Clark and the rest of the world.^[8] In the episode "Requiem", Oliver takes controlling interest in LuthorCorp, after Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman), Lex's handpicked successor for LuthorCorp, sells him the company. As a result, Lex attempts to kill him. Oliver tracks Lex down and blows-up the medical caravan that Lex was supposedly traveling with.^[9]

[edit] Justice League storylines

The Justice League made their first official team appearance in the season six episode "Justice". Here, Clark discovers that Oliver has also met Bart, Arthur, and Victor, and that he has organized them into a team of superheroes focused on stopping those who believe they are above the law. In the episode, Oliver reveals that Lex has been conducting experiments on people who developed special abilities thanks to exposure to kryptonite. Clark and Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) work alongside the team to dismantle Lex’s local experimental facility, known as Level 33.1, and after destroying the building Oliver and his team leave Smallville to seek out Lex’s other facilities around the world; Oliver asks Clark to become a full fledged member of the team, but Clark turns Oliver down explaining he is not ready to be a part of the team.^[6] In the season seven episode "Siren", Lex puts a bounty on Oliver and his team, convincing the vigilante Dinah Lance (Alaina Huffman), who goes by the name "Black Canary" and has the ability to emit an ultrasonic sound wave with a single scream, that these individuals are terrorists. In the end, Clark proves to Dinah that Lex lied to her, so she decides to join Oliver’s team.^[10] In the season eight premiere, the Justice League set out to find Clark, who has disappeared following the destruction of his Fortress of Solitude in the season seven finale. Clark is eventually found, but true identity of the League’s members are compromised, so they team decides to disband until it is safe again for them to work together.^[7] Oliver, in season eight's "Bulletproof", indicates that he also considers John Jones (Phil Morris) as part of the team, in at least an unofficial capacity, for John's help in protecting Oliver from the police.^[11] In the episode "Hex", Oliver reforms his team and gives Chloe the role of "Watchtower".^[12] In the season eight finale, it is revealed that the League has been tracking the genetically engineered Kryptonian known as Doomsday. Oliver tries to convince Clark to kill the creature, but Clark refuses Oliver and instead informs Dinah and Bart that Oliver murdered Lex, while simultaneously kicking Oliver off of the team. Using subterfuge, Dinah and Bart betray Clark, revealing that they were in agreement with Oliver's plan all along, and capture the beast to force Clark into a fight. Their plan backfires, and Doomsday injures all of them during his escape. In the end, Clark defeats the creature by burying him a mile underground, and Oliver and his team apologize for not following Clark’s plan from the start. The League leaves Metropolis afterward, so Chloe turns a Metropolis clock tower, which is also the tallest building in the city, into the Watchtower base with the hope that the team will one day return home.^[13]

[edit] Spin-offs

At various points in production, the studio held talks about developing individual shows for Bart, Oliver, Arthur, and the entire Justice League. The topic of a Flash television series actually came underway a year before the character made his first appearance on Smallville. According to writer Steven S. DeKnight, there was creative differences over how a Flash television series should be handled, given the previous attempt at translating the character to the small screen in 1990. DeKnight explains that the studio wanted to create a Flash who was a "time-traveling college student from Gotham City". As a result, the series never materialized, and the character ultimately was brought to Smallville.^[14]

Following the appearance of Arthur Curry in the season five episode "Aqua", which became one of the highest rated episodes of that season, Smallville developers Al Gough and Miles Millar began work on an Aquaman pilot for The WB Television Network, with Justin Hartley as Arthur Curry.^[15] As work progressed on season five's "Aqua", the character was recognized to have potential for his own series.^[16] As the episode was never meant to be a backdoor pilot for an Aquaman television spin-off,^[17] Alan Ritchson was never considered for the role. Gough stated in a November 2005 interview that the series would have put a different spin on the Aquaman mythology.^[16] Even though he did not look at the new series as a true spin-off of Smallville, Gough did suggest an interest in doing a crossover with Smallville at some point.^[18] Although Aquaman is currently the only series to go into production, the series was ultimately not picked up by The CW network, which had formed from a merger between The WB and UPN during the production of the pilot.^[19][20][21]

During the sixth season, there was initial talk about spinning the Green Arrow off into his own series. Hartley refused to talk about the possibility of a spin-off out of respect for his role on Smallville. The actor felt he should respect what Smallville had accomplished in five seasons, and not "steal the spotlight" by thinking he was better than he was just because there was "talk" of a spin-off after only two appearances on the show. According to Hartley, "talking" was as far as the spin-off idea ever got.^[22] According to Gough, the Green Arrow spin-off would have introduced the idea of Oliver acting in more of a "Professor X" role, where he takes in people with superpowers who have no place to go, and trains them. The series would have used characters that would be more easily cleared by the film division at Warner Bros.^[23] As DeKnight clarifies, the series would feature the introduction of some new characters—some from the Teen Titans and others from the DC Comics Universe—as well as going into more depth for the background story of its primary characters, like Bart, Victor, and Arthur. As with the other potential series, this one never came to fruition.^[14]

[edit] Other media

Although the team’s prominent appearances are on the television series, there has been additional media appearances based around marketing tie-ins. In early 2007, Oliver Queen received a personal treatment with a promotional tie-in with Sprint, titled Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles.^[24] On April 19, 2007, a tie-in with Toyota, promoting their new Yaris,^[25] featured an online comic strip as interstitial programs—during new episodes of Smallville—titled Smallville Legends: Justice & Doom. The interactive comic was based on the episode "Justice", and picks up after the events of that episode, following Oliver, Bart, Victor, and Arthur as they seek to destroy all of LuthorCorp's secret experimental labs;^[26] the team ultimately uncover a prototype soldier LuthorCorp is working on that combines the superpowers of various kryptonite enhanced individuals and places them in a single soldier.^[27] The online comic then directly ties-into the television series when Oliver and his team, off-screen, contact Clark in the episode Prototype and tell him how to defeat one of these soldiers.^[28] The online series allowed viewers to investigate alongside the fictional team, in an effort to win prizes. Stephan Nilson wrote all five of the episodes, while working with a team of artists for the illustrations. The plot for each comic episode would be given to Nilson at the same time the production crew for Smallville was filming their current television episode. Artist Steve Scott would draw comic book panels, which would be sent to a group called Motherland. That group would review the drawings and tell Scott which images to draw on a separate overlay. This allowed for multiple objects to be moved in and out of the same frame.^[26]

[edit] Portrayals

Originally, the producers wanted to use either Wally West or Barry Allen as the Flash alter ego for the show, but DC Comics would only approve the use of Bart Allen. In DC Comics, Bart typically goes by the codename of "Impulse", but did have a short series in 2006 where he took over the role of Flash.^[14] Kyle Gallner learned through his agent about a super hero role being called for on Smallville, and when he learned that it was going to be that of Impulse he convinced himself that he was going to win the role. Gallner went in for two auditions, but was so disappointed with his performance during the second audition that he believed he had failed to get the role. His fear was unfounded when the producers offered him the part of Bart.^[29] Following his season four appearance, Gallner stated that he had given up hope of appearing on the series again, because of the extended period between season four and when they called him to appear in the season six episode "Justice".^[23]

After being cast as Arthur Curry, a character who had previously never been officially portrayed in any live-action form, Alan Ritchson did some research on his character when he discovered that Aquaman had a "serious […] fan base". Ritchson wanted to live up to the expectations he felt fans of the character would have.^[30] Like Gallner, Ritchson did not expect to be a part of the show again. After season five, there was an attempt to launch an Aquaman television series, which ultimately was never picked up. Ritchson relished the opportunity to return when he was called in to appear in the episode that would feature the first official appearance of the Justice League.^[23] Until season five’s "Cyborg", the DC Comics superheroes who had paid Clark a visit on the show were all members of the Justice League of America, but Gough and Miller felt that Victor Stone, who goes by the alias "Cyborg" and is a member of the Teen Titans in the comics, shared a "relatable dilemma" with Clark—the fact that both Victor and Clark’s abilities get in the way of their romantic relationships with the women they love—and was someone the developers felt was just an interesting character. Casting Lee Thompson Young was something the producers had always wanted to do, even before they had decided to bring in Cyborg.^[31] The actor reveals that his first contact with the Cyborg character came not from the comics, but from the Teen Titans animated television series. According to Young, he was fortunate that this version of Victor Stone was Smallville's spin on the character, and as such the majority of the character’s background was in the script. While preparing, Young expressed his pleasure in the fact that the producers decided to keep Victor’s robotic parts internal, as opposed to the comic’s version where half of Cyborg’s visible body is covered in metal.^[32]

According to Al Gough, Justin Hartley was the producers’ first choice to play the role of Oliver Queen, and his alter-ego Green Arrow. The introduction of the character was designed to provide an alternative view for what it means to be a hero. At the same time, the producers wanted a character that could impact the lives of both Clark and Lois.^[33] The actor is also the first, and currently the only actor to portray Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in any live-action media.^[34] Hartley believes that it was the season six episode "Reunion" that really helped him to understand his character. In the episode, it is revealed that Oliver was "a jerk to Lex" when the two were at school together, and after another kid falls into a coma because of Oliver and Lex’s actions Oliver decides to start a new path for himself. According to Hartley, this allowed the actor to "justify why someone would put their life in danger every night and have such strong feelings about going out and being this social advocate".^[35] Hartley was a recurring guest in the sixth and seventh seasons, but became a series regular in season eight.^[36] When Alaina Huffman went in to audition for Smallville no one told her who the character was she was auditioning for. It was not until after she landed the role that they told her that she would be playing Dinah Lance/Black Canary, while also informing her of how major this character is to the DC mythology. Following the audition, Huffman began doing research on the character to learn more about her, which included buying comics featuring the super heroine and doing online research.^[37]

[edit] Character development

[edit] Characteristics

When writer Steven S. DeKnight was crafting the episode "Run" for the first official appearance of Bart Allen, otherwise known as Impulse/Flash in the comics, he know he had to give the character certain characteristics that embodied his printed counterpart. Of those, DeKnight knew that Bart had to be physically faster than Clark, because in the comic that is one advantage Flash has over Superman. The writer also knew the television version would be a "smart-ass", which DeKnight said is partially inspired from the Flash that appears in the animated television series Justice League. DeKnight’s belief is that Bart enjoys his powers, and would not exhibit the more "somber or serious" characteristics of others.^[14] As Gallner points out, Bart accepts who he is, and what he can do, and he even abuses his gifts somewhat. The difference between him and Clark is that Bart is he is not afraid to show the world what he can do. Gallner also suggests that in his character’s initial appearance, Bart is living in a "confused" state, because he has developed these extraordinary powers, his parents do not accept him, and he ends up turning to thievery just to take care of himself.^[29]

Ritchson describes his character as someone who will "do anything to save what he loves". The actor goes on to say that Arthur is "passionate about nature, about the earth, and about the seas", and he is not afraid to use his abilities to save those things that are dear to him. When comparing his character to that of Clark, Ritchson states that Arthur is more confident in his abilities, and as such he already knows what he can do and what his path is in life. Another big difference the actor points out is that unlike Clark, Arthur is willing to sacrifice people and things if it means preserving the greater good.^[30] One of Victor’s key characteristics when he first appears is that both he and Clark can relate to the fact that they feel their abilities inhibit them from having a true relationship with the women they love. The writers tried to create parallels between the characters to emphasize this more, like having Victor discuss his fear of telling his girlfriend the truth about what LuthorCorp had done to his body. At the same time, Clark was wrestling with the same idea of telling Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) his secret.^[31]

Writer Tracy Bellomo characterizes Oliver as a guy that does not take himself very seriously, and enjoys making fun of people that try to take him that way. Bellomo believes that this is one of the reasons that he is attracted to Lois, with the other being that Lois provides a challenge for him. Oliver’s relationship with Clark is designed to "broaden Clark’s rather limited horizons", and to teach Clark that a world exists beyond Smallville.^[33]

[edit] Costumes

In the episode "Wither", Oliver and Lois attend a costumed ball, where Oliver dresses up like Robin Hood. When creating his costume, the designers decided to model it after the traditional look of Green Arrow from the comics.^[38] Costume design Caroline Cranstoun designed Oliver’s official Green Arrow costume in conjunction with illustrator Andy Poon. To hide his face, Green Arrow typically wears a mask, but Cranstoun and Keith Christensen, of Ocean Drive Leather, opted to use a hood and a pair of dark sunglasses to hide Oliver’s face. Cranstoun revealed that Miles Millar was the one who came up with the hood idea. The costume is also made entirely out of leather, as the creative team wanted to keep away from using tights. Hartley was very impressed with the costume, but confesses that it was uncomfortable to wear because it had layers of leather, and he had to wear boots with four inch lifts.^[39]

When coming up with costumes for Smallville's Justice League, designer Caroline Cranstoun researched various comic book designs before crafting her own. With Black Canary, Cranstoun chose a design that held a Lara Croft/Tank Girl feel.

After creating Oliver’s Green Arrow costume, Cranstoun had the task up creating updated costume looks for Bart, Arthur and Victor. Cranstoun explains that even though Victor does not have any metal on his physical body, like his comic book counterpart, she wanted to include a metallic look to his costume. The designer tried to give Victor a more "futuristic" feel, along with " a bit of Transformer-y" essence, by including angular pieces on his vest and coloring them silver, black, and purple. For Bart, the costume designers tried to take what was used in his season four appearance and move that to the next level. In season four, Bart wore a red hoodie with yellow cargo pants, which were used to reflect his teenage identity. With his Justice League appearance, they tried to give the character an appearance that seemed faster. His yellow cargo pants were replaced with red jeans, and his red hoodie was updated to incorporate more of a lightning bolt logo throughout the piece.^[23]

Arthur’s costume was the easiest to create, as the color scheme mirrored his comic book counterpart, and was constructed to give a "wetsuit look". The costume was also designed to be more form fitting, to complement Ritchson’s physique. Victor and Arthur’s tops were also hoodie variations.^[23] When designing Dinah Lance’s Black Canary costume, certain aspects of the comic book character were kept, while others changed entirely. For instance, the character retains her classic fishnet stockings, but the external, black mask the character wears is swapped for a painted mask.^[40] Cranstoun researched the various versions of Black Canary’s costume, looking through the 1940s and 50s, to try and come up with the right version for the show. Cranstoun explains that what she primarily came across were two versions. One version reminded the designer of a Playboy Bunny, with a "curvy, corseted, strapless thing that was not at all action-friendly". The other was more reminiscent of Lara Croft and Tank Girl, which is the route Cranstoun took. What Cranstoun created was a "zipped, sleeveless body suit with a boot that was really flat and practical". The designer also kept the yellow accents the comic version had, as well as the long gloves. The filming crew did test shots with various masks for the character, including a leather mask reminiscent of the comic book character’s look.^[37]

Each of the actors had their own unique experiences with their costumes. Hartley is first quick to point out that before "Justice", the series did not focus on "the costumes and the capes, the flying and the superhero stuff", because they have their "no flights, no tights" rule in effect. That changed with "Justice", and Hartley suggest that the actors really had to commit themselves to their roles while wearing the costumes, "otherwise you look like a standup comedian who doesn’t like his jokes very much". Young suggests that he was one of the luckiest out of the group, because he only had to wear a silver vest and regular pants, unlike Ritchson who had to put on a "onesie Speedo". Ritchson suggests that you can get distracted by what you are wearing, but it is best to try and take your mind off of the subject. Hartley, Ritchson and Young state that they felt sorry for Gallner for having to wear a costume that "sucked". The group describes Gallner’s costume as something his mom might have made with "some cotton fabric and a Magic Marker".^[41]

[edit] Creating superpowers

In order to illustrate the special abilities of the Justice League members, special effects company Entity FX had to come in and digitally create the powers for each character. Senior Producer at Entity FX Trent Smith explains that they wanted to give Bart’s super speed a "more current" look, so they employed 3D techniques in conjunction with the 2D graphics from season four to create a "hybrid" image for the screen. Smith explains that the 3D technology allows the team to "[choose] a path for [Bart] that he may not be able to achieve in the 2D composite world". Entity FX used Autodesk Maya and Adobe After Effects to create the 3D stream that follows Bart when he is running at super speed.^[42]

For Victor, Entity FX tried to create digital imagery of the character’s inner workings to give the audience the chance to see how his robotic side operates. For instance, Entity FX visually walks the audience through the process of how Victor’s CPU downloads the schematics and diagrams to Lex’s Level 33.1 facility, as well as disarming the security. Creating abilities for Arthur posed their own challenges, as there are not a lot of opportunities to put the character in the water when he is in the Mid-West. Using the technology they had when Arthur first came to Smallville, as well as the effects used in the unaired pilot for Aquaman, Entity FX was able to digitally create both Arthur and the water he swims in for the character’s arrival shot at Level 33.1. When creating Arthur’s super swimming speed, the team attempted to give the imagery a look similar to that of a torpedo gliding through the water. The team battled back and forth on how to illustrate Arthur’s movements, deciding between having the character leave a trail of bubbles like a torpedo, or "maneuvering around the water and is actually traveling with the bubbles".^[42]

[edit] Release

[edit] Reception

When judging individual appearances, DVD Verdict’s Jennifer Malkowski felt that Alan Ritchson's performance as Arthur Curry in "Aqua" was rather "wooden",^[43] while Filip Vuckevic, of IGN, felt that the introductions for Victor Stone and Arthur Curry were simply wasted, as the characters are not "given anything to do".^[44] Commenting on the introduction of Oliver Queen’s Green Arrow persona, in the season six episode "Arrow", IGN’s Chris Carabott felt that the series took its time developing a character that fit the style of the show. Carabott acknowledges that Green Arrow’s costume, though not exactly like in the comics, respects the spirit of the character in its design; the gadgets he uses make it feel like the producers are taking a page out of the Justice League Unlimited book, which makes for "quality entertainment".^[45] Alan Blair, editor of Airlock Alpha, felt that Smallville's approach to Black Canary succeeded where the television series Birds of Prey's attempt failed. First, Smallville dropped the idea of "meta-humans", which Blair believes is what doomed Birds of Prey, and managed to make Black Canary look more like her comic book counterpart, and also give her Canary Cry "some level of credibility".^[46] Carabott acknowledges that Smallville created a "fairly good depiction" of Black Canary, but disagreed with certain aesthetical choices. First, Carabott did not appreciate the removal of Black Canary's long, blonde hair, or the addition of make-up around the eyes that gave the character the look of "Pris from Blade Runner". Carabott stated that Huffman's acting came off as "a little over-the-top at times", but overall her felt that Huffman was the right choice for Smallville.^[47] Carabott also had his own feelings about the first official "Justice League" appearance in season six's "Justice". The writer suggests that the first live-action appearance of the League since the failed pilot back in the 1990s deserved more than just a single episode. Carabott states that at least two or three episodes would have been needed to properly tell the narrative of their introduction.^[48] Instead, he felt like the character introductions were rushed, even though they had all appeared on the series prior to season six.^[49] "Justice" would go on to earn the highest ratings of any episode in season six, with 5.26 million viewers.^[50]

[edit] Merchandise

Following the end the end of the sixth season, DC Direct announced at the San Diego Comic-Con that they would be releasing new action figures, this time modeled after Smallville's Justice League as they appeared in the season six episode "Justice". The toys featured detailed likenesses of Welling, Hartley, Ritchson, Gallner, and Young.^[51]

[edit] See also

• Justice League — The DC Comics version

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Justice League at Smallville Wiki