The CW superhero verse has always had excellent, meta casting, but they are going to the next level with this year’s big crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths. The network just made the announcement that Tom Welling, aka Smallville‘s Superman, will be appearing in the five-part event, which is set to air in December. Welling will reprise his role as Clark Kent, and the crossover will “reveal what happened to Clark Kent almost ten years” after the Smallville finale.
“For eight years, Arrow has stood on the shoulders of Smallville,” Arrow-verse executive producer Marc Guggenheim said in a statement, recognising just how much the noughts WB show has meant to superhero TV and the Arrow-verse in particular.
“Simply put,” Guggenheim continued, “there would be no Arrow, and no Arrowverse, without it. So when we first started talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths, our first, second and third priorities were getting Tom to reprise his iconic role as Clark Kent. To say that we’re thrilled would be a Superman-sized understatement.”
Welling will be joining other special Super-guest stars, including Brandon Routh, who will be reprising the Superman role for the first time since he starred in 2006’s Superman Returns (here, he will be playing the Elseworlds version of Superman), and Tyler Hoechlin, who has popped up occasionally to play Kara’s cousin Clark on Supergirl. Batman: The Animated Series voice actor Kevin Conroy will be appearing as “Bruce Wayne from the future.”
Crisis On Infinite Earths will kick off in the US on Sunday, December 8th, continuing with Batwoman on Monday and The Flash on Tuesday. The crossover event will then break (presumably on a massive cliffhanger) for the holiday season, picking back up on Tuesday, January 14th with Arrow, and then a special installment of Legends of Tomorrow on the same night, concluding the crossover and no doubt changing the Arrowverse forever. (Characters from Black Lightning are also slated to appear.)
Sky One has not confirmed air dates for the event yet.
