- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 7, 2016

With news that the CW network will script a recurring role for Superman in this fall’s “Supergirl” series, fans of the network’s early 2000s show “Smallville” are taking to petition sites to urge that Tom Welling — who played a teenage Clark Kent in the series — be cast as the Man of Steel.

A search of popular petition site Change.org shows at least four separate petitions to that effect, one each from the fans in the United States, Brazil, Cyrus and Israel. The most successful one thus far dates back to April, when the action series about the Maiden of Might was still airing on CBS.

Some fans on social media, however, seem less than enthusiastic about the notion of bringing Mr. Welling back for the role.

“Supergirl doesn’t need Superman. He wasn’t much help when he showed up at the end of season one,” complained one commenter on the Facebook page for Nerdist, an entertainment news site.

“Not Tom Welling, not Tom Welling, not Tom Welling, anybody but Tom Welling!” added another.

If Mr. Welling ends up cast for the role, he would join other alumni of Superman-related projects to be featured in the series. The first season of “Supergirl” involved recurring roles for Helen Slater, Laura Vandervoort and Dean Cain. Ms. Slater played Kara Zor-El/Supergirl in a 1984 movie while Ms. Vandervoort played the character in the CW’s “Smallville” series. Mr. Cain played Clark Kent/Superman in the 1990s TV drama “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.

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