Why Arrow is not Smallville

(Writer’s note: If you haven’t watched either series and are planning to, I spoil the hell out of them here)

Okay, even though I was not a fan of the WB/CW’s Smallville, I hung in there for all ten seasons of the show (drifting out briefly during seasons 8 and 9 but completely returning for 10). Being that it was the story of a young Clark Kent (very very) slowly growing into the role of Superman (which he technically never does in the series) I was intrigued if only because I am a fan of all things comic. When The CW decided it was filling the void left by Smallville with the brand new show Arrow (the story of Green Arrow), I was worried I was going to relive the same tragedy all over again. After several episodes, I am happy to see that is not the case.

The major problem with Smallville is that it is an origin story. The entire series is showing us how Superman became, well, Superman. Now there is plenty of fertile ground for someone to plant a decent story here. In the comics and movies, stories about a young Clark Kent tend to be glossed over. Similar to Jesus we see Clark Kent as a baby and then again as an adult with none of the details of what happened in between. How does one go from being a simple farm boy to being the greatest superhero of all time? What forged his particular set of beliefs and morals? This is an interesting subject.

However, instead of getting deep insights into the character of Superman, the show started out as a super villain of the week style show. The writers, needing something to create inciting incidents, decided that Kryptonite has the ability to give ordinary humans strange and bizarre abilities when they are exposed to it (something never seen in the comic). Also unlike the comics, Kryptonite is freaking everywhere. In the comics Kryptonite is a rare mineral so it is of course easy to expose Superman to it because he is never expecting it to show up. It’s that rare. But in the small Kansas town of Smallville you can find Kryptonite EVERYWHERE. It’s literally all over the place. It's in the soil, in the water, huge deposits of it can be found in mines, everywhere.. So not only does every episode of the first season have a Kryptonite powered super villain but it will also have a scene where Clark’s powers are neutralized due to the excessive amounts of Kryptonite everywhere.

Things don’t get much better as the series progresses. The audience’s interest is mostly maintained over the next several years by a slew of DC Character guest stars. We see practically all of Superman’s rogues’ gallery (many of the Kryptonite powered villains I mentioned in the above paragraph). Many members of the Justice League (except Batman) and Justice Society show up in several episodes. We even get some guest spots from the Legion of Super Heroes (super heroes from the 30^th Century) and an episode with Booster Gold and the Wonder Twins (minus Gleek the monkey, sadly). THE WONDER TWINS!

You know which hero we don’t see throughout the series? Superman. At no point do we ever see Superman. Now that would make sense if this series was about what leads Clark Kent to becoming a hero except by the middle of season five Clark is already zooming around Metropolis saving people’s lives. Essentially he is doing everything he does as Superman, just without calling himself that. He even adorns himself in the S shield (which is not an S but actually the family crest of the House of El, Clark’s Kryptonian last name). Instead, he is referred to as “The Blur” since he moves so fast all anyone sees is a blur of red and blue (again, not Superman’s costume, just the colors that Clark Kent coincidently happens to always wear).

Now while the character of Green Arrow/Oliver Queen was in the series Smallville, when the CW decided to go ahead with Arrow they thankfully did not just make it a spinoff of this series. Arrow has nothing to do with Smallville what so ever.  I think there might have been a mention of Metropolis in one episode but that’s as close as it gets (there was definitely a mention of Bludhaven, Nightwing's hometown). While Smallville was always a balancing act between light and dark, Arrow decides to go full dark. Oliver Queen returns home after surviving harsh conditions on a desert island for nearly five years. It is on this island that Oliver learns to use a bow and arrow in an effort to survive. We also get hints that Oliver had encounters with various criminals and warlords on that island, one of them being Deathstroke the Terminator.

Now there are several areas where the comic book and TV origins differ. One is that rather than being a full grown adult with no one looking over his shoulder the Oliver Queen of Arrow is a young playboy and has a mother and younger sister living with him. Also, rather than just feeling a general sense of morality that inspires him to fight crime, Arrow’s Oliver has a specific agenda and is fulfilling a promise to his father who is seen killing himself in order for Oliver to survive. Also while Green Arrow existed in the DC Universe with a plethora of super heroes so far the show Arrow seems to be comprised entirely of ordinary humans.

There is one very important difference between Smallville and Arrow. Right from the first episode, Oliver Queen is running around in a hood and shooting arrows, acting very much like the vigilante that his character is. There is no ten year build up to get the character into costume. Right from the beginning, Oliver Queen is being a hero, though no one has yet given him his moniker of “Green Arrow”. Smallville was a show that had limitless potential that never quite paid off. Arrow is a show that limits itself slightly but manages to live up to all those limitations.