History YMMV / Smallville

* OvershadowedByControversy: Allison Mack's involvement in the NXIVM cult, resulting in federal sex trafficking charges in 2018 (she ultimately pleaded down to the lesser charge of racketeering) and subsequent three-year prison sentance in 2021, brought a lot of controversy to the series. It doesn't help that Creator/KristinKreuk is a former member of NXIVM, and although she has made it clear that she had no involvement in the sex trafficking operation, has publicly denounced the organization and that Sarah Edmonson [[note]]a former member of NXIVM who has denounced said group and Allison Mack[[/note]] reassured in her Twitter account that Kristin was not involved in the inner circles of NXIVM, it is very likely that her career will be permanently tarnished as well as Mack's. As a result, many people have either turned on the series or can no longer see Chloe Sullivan as an adorable or well-intentioned girl.

*** Chloe's status as LauncherOfAThousandShips (she's currently the trope pics for live action) became harder to accept after this incident as well.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Very little was done with Pete Ross's hatred of the Luthors for stealing his family's business. The show could have gotten some very interesting conflict from having Clark have to deal with two friends whose families had such bad blood between them. In fact, Pete's family members barely appear on the show.
%%** The plot to make Lana a God-Mode Sue could have been handled so much better, especially since they already did it before in "Wrath". If they played it like a drug addict having a relapse then it would have been just right; a drive to get that back is realistic and would have made for good drama. Instead they had to go the Girl Power route and have Lana sacrifice her safety and comfort to prove she is worthy of the burden of having unlimited power.

** Greg Arkin and Eric Summers are both [[{{Expy}} expies]] of [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], being nerdy teenagers who gain powers but differ in that they become villains instead of heroes. Considering how much ''Smallville'' borrows from Spider-Man, Greg and Eric could be seen as predictive of Peter's personality after gaining the Symbiote in ''Film/SpiderMan3'', right down to [[EvilWearsBlack wearing black after becoming evil]].
** Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley appeared on this show back when it was on the WB. The two would later co-star together on ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', one of the CW's most popular TV series of the 2010s. Somerhalder's character was also a love interest for Lana, which makes the episode where the latter temporarily becomes a vampire particularly hilarious.
** In a Season 1 episode, Creator/AmyAdams had a one-off role as a Meteor Freak with a weight problem about twelve years before she was cast as Lois Lane in ''Film/ManOfSteel''.

** Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} is depicted as a member of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} in this series, as opposed to being a member of the Comicbook/TeenTitans. [[ContinuityReboot Come the]] ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', and he's been made into one of the League's founding members.

** Lois cosplaying as Franchise/WonderWoman in "Warrior". The Comicbook/{{New 52}} era once made Superman and Wonder Woman an OfficialCouple.

** A minor one is the description of the show as "a Superman show without Superman". The joke rose from the dead and mutated after ''{{Series/Gotham}}'' premiered, with a similar theme and style to ''Smallville''.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Lionel crosses this so many times it's a wonder that he has a HeelFaceTurn eventually. Let's see:
*** Cutting off Adam's serum (which he needs to live) for failing to gain Lana's trust. Lionel is fully aware that Adam's death will be long and painful, [[AndIMustScream but still leaves him alone to die strapped to a chair in a dark laboratory.]] This is after Lionel had him brought back from the dead in the first place, making this act of cruelty completely meaningless.
*** Attempting to assassinate both Chloe ''and'' Lex at the end of Season 3.
** ComicBook/LexLuthor has several moments of varying severity. It depends on when and how you deem someone irredeemably evil.
*** In "Subterranean", casually walking by a series of prison cells holding meteor freaks in his secret lab, codenamed 33.1.
*** In "Freak", has his people abducting Chloe to said secret lab then experiment on and painfully humiliate her. He then swears to Lana upon his unborn child's soul that he has nothing to do with it, before watching a video of Chloe stripped half-naked and strapped to the experiment table. As she struggles, he delivers this line with a hint of PsychoticSmirk:
---->'''Lex''': Regarding our most recent subject...keep a close eye on her.
*** This is especially notable for being directed by Michael Rosenbaum, who always wanted Lex to be evil.
*** TheReveal later in Season Six that he drugged Lana with synthetic hormones to fake a pregnancy and deceive her into marrying him, because he wanted to take her away from Clark forever. In "Promise", ''on the day of that very wedding'', he even murders the doctor who helped with the deception, due to the man getting sick of it and threatening to tell Lana.
*** Killing his "brother", Julian in "Persona".
*** [[SelfMadeOrphan Killing his father]] in the Season Seven episode appropriately named "Descent".
*** The series itself seems to consider this as the point of no return for Lex, as after killing Lionel, Lex also shoves the manifestation of his good side (which had been appearing to him as his younger self and begging him to confess to killing Lionel) into his burning fire place. In other words, there is literally no good left in Lex after killing Lionel.
*** Forcing Clark and Lana into a heartbreaking SadisticChoice that leaves them separated by a bomb's worth of Kryptonite in the Season Eight episode "Requiem".
** Davis crosses this when he kills Jimmy in "Doomsday".
** Major Zod. Either choking Faora, along with his unborn child, to death when she refuses to join him in conquering Earth or [[KillItWithFire burning Tess]] with [[EyeBeams heat vision]]. In the case of the former, even he sees this as the point where he can't go back and condemns himself to the slippery slope.

** [[https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Rob_LaBelle Dr. Walden]] would also be ''slightly'' better off heralding [[{{Film/Watchmen}} a different 'superman']].

* VindicatedByHistory: While Lana is still a BaseBreakingCharacter, not having to struggle through years of her DoomedByCanon relationship with Clark means that it's easier for people to empathize with her problems and appreciate her character's WeirdnessMagnet status. It doesn't hurt that a fair amount of the problems with her character can be attributed to the post-high school and pre-Metropolis SeasonalRot. It also helps that [[LastGirlWins Lois]] canonically winning the ShippingWar over Clark and Chloe going on to create a FanPreferredCouple with Oliver means that she no longer has to deal with DieForOurShip feelings. Not to mention, the amount of soaperising on some of the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' shows means that she looks less wangst-y in contrast.

** Cat Grant in Season 10, while rather over-the-top, still has understandable reasons for not trusting vigilantes who hide in the shadows and exert an enormous amount of power. And yet, she gets treated as a lunatic because of her stance, and gets repeatedly humiliated.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Oh Smallville, Smallville let us count the ways.
** Clark staring at Lana through his telescope! The pilot script in particular is clearly trying to build sympathy and humanize him through his teenage pinning.
** For one, it soaks in anxiety over civil liberties and human rights issue of the day. Unlawful detention, Torture, Fisa Courts, Patroit Act. All referenced in subtext or via direction mention at least once. Noteable as both the show and characters will periodically attempt to rationalize the moral implications into something their more comfortable with.
** It's not as obvious, as the early seasons were in a small town. But when there's a high rise on screen the one thing you know it won't do is be hit with something large or collapse. It. Was. Too. Soon.
** The fact no one uses the word "gaslighting" despite their being several classic examples throughout the show.
** Lois casually dropping the R word when she's calling something Clark said dumb. The script clearly wants us to like her and its honestly a little jarring.

** The fact no one uses the word "gas lighting" despite their being several clasic examples throughout the show.

** Greg Arkin and Eric Summers are both [[{{Expy}} expies]] of [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], being nerdy teenagers who gain powers but differ in that they become villains instead of heroes. Considering how heavily ''Smallville'' borrows from Spider-Man, Greg and Eric could be seen as predictive of Peter's personality after gaining the Symbiote in ''Film/SpiderMan3'', right down to [[EvilWearsBlack wearing black after becoming evil]].
** Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley appeared on this show back when it was on the WB. The two would later co-star together on ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', one of the CW's most popular TV series of the 2010s. Somerhalder was also a love interest for Lana, which makes the episode where the latter temporarily becomes a vampire particularly hilarious.

* FanPreferredCouple: The fandom was pretty much civil war over who Clark should ship with. It can't really be argued which Clark pairing was the most dominant overall, as [[BrokenBase the base]] was ''highly'' fractured over the issue of who to pair Clark with (Lana vs. Chloe vs. Lois vs. Alicia, and even some Clark/Tess supporters). At best, it can be argued which ships may have been dominant at different times in the show's history:

* FanonDiscontinuity: There are those who act as if the events of ''Pariah'' never happened, which is helped by the fact how the events of it are never directly referred to again (not even by Chloe telling Clark how she found out his secret).

** In "Kinetic", Clark tries to console Whitney by telling him that he'll "probably go farther than anyone else in this town." Next season, Whitney gets blown up by a landmine. The episode has another moment when Whitney tells Clark that "no matter what you do, your father is always going to be there". Flash forward to Season 5…
** In Season 1's "Crush", Lex meets his childhood nanny, who says that he was like her own child. The heartwarming moment is diminished much later in Season 10, when it's revealed that she did have a child of her own- [[BrokenBird Tess]], who ended up in an OrphanageOfFear on [[MagnificentBastard Lionel's]] say-so.

** In Season 3's "Talisman" Lex tells Lionel that despite all their differences, he will always care about his well-being. Fast forward to "Descent"…

** A lot of stuff regarding Chloe Sullivan became much harder to watch after [[https://www.cbr.com/smallville-star-allison-mack-arrested-in-sex-cult-case/ Allison Mack was suspected of being involved in a sex cult and then arrested]].

** Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley appeared on this show back when it was on the WB. The two would later co-star together on ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', one of the CW's most popular t.v. series of the 2010s. Somerhalder was also a love interest for Lana, which makes the episode where the latter temporarily becomes a vampire particularly hilarious.
** In a Season 1 episode, Creator/AmyAdams had a one-off role as a Meteor Freak with a weight problem…about twelve years before she was cast as Lois Lane in ''Film/ManOfSteel''.

** One of Lois' first scenes with Oliver Queen involved her walking in on him shirtless, sweaty, and exercising - which is practically OncePerEpisode on ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Even more amusingly, his actor Creator/JustinHartley's newest character famously takes the producers of the ShowWithinAShow to task for this sort of thing in ''Series/ThisIsUs''.

** Original showruners Al Gough and Miles Millar's directive: "No flights, no tights." Series writer Creator/JephLoeb--who was also writing for the ''Superman'' and ''Superman/Batman'' comics at the time--did a shout-out to this when he had Superman and Batman visit an alternate universe where superheroes had been banned by Ra's al Ghul (who ruled that world), and when they show up, Ra's's troops fired at them, saying "You know the rules: 'No flights, no tights.'"

* OvershadowedByControversy: Allison Mack's apparent involvement in the NXIVM cult, resulting in federal sex trafficking charges in 2018 (she ultimately pleaded down to the lesser charge of racketeering), brought a lot of controversy to the series. It doesn't help that Creator/KristinKreuk is a former member of NXIVM, and although she has made it clear that she had no involvement in the sex trafficking operation, has publically denounced the organization and that Sarah Edmonson [[note]]a former member of NXIVM who has denounced said group and Allison Mack[[/note]] reassured in her Twitter account that Kristin was not involved in the inner circles of NXIVM, it is very likely that her career will be permanently tarnished as well as Mack's. As a result, many people have either turned on the series or can no longer see Chloe Sullivan as an adorable or well-intentioned girl.

** Creator/MirandaCosgrove is Young!Lana Lang.

** [[https://smallville.fandom.com/wiki/Adrianne_Palicki Lindsay Harrison]] may not be Kara (Supergirl), but she would be Series/{{Wonder Woman|2011Pilot}}!
** "Kids, [[Series/HowIMetYourMother before your aunt Robin]] [[Film/TheAvengers2012 joined S.H.I.E.L.D.]], [[Creator/CobieSmulders she]] was boning a completely different bald man…"

** "[[LoanShark Rick]]'s type, [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob yo]][[Comicbook/GreenArrow ur]] type, political type, twisted type..."

** In "Kinetic," Clark tries to console Whitney by telling him that he'll "probably go farther than anyone else in this town." Next season, Whitney gets blown up by a landmine. The episode has another moment when Whitney tells Clark that "no matter what you do, your father is always going to be there". Flash forward to Season 5...
** In Season 1's "Crush," Lex meets his childhood nanny, who says that he was like her own child. The heartwarming moment is diminished much later in Season 10, when it's revealed that she did have a child of her own- [[BrokenBird Tess]], who ended up in an OrphanageOfFear on [[MagnificentBastard Lionel's]] say-so.

** In "Bound" Lex tells Clark that he has to choose between trusting him and trusting Lionel, because they're enemies. Clark later ends up trusting Lionel, because Lionel actually starts to become a better person...while Lex goes in the opposite direction until he becomes worse than his father ever was.

** In Season 3's "Talisman" Lex tells Lionel that despite all their differences, he will always care about his well-being. Fast forward to "Descent"...

** In "Lazarus", LX-6, the defective Lex clone, is seen to be bald and wear a metallic breathing mask... coincidentally, making them appear identical to how Bane was later depicted in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.
** In Season 8's "Toxic," Chloe makes a crack about Tess being a Luthor wannabe. [[TheReveal Come Season 10's "Abandoned"...]]

** In Season 2's "Heat," the Freak of the Week, Desiree Atkins, is trying to make her escape after setting Lex on fire. She runs for the door, but Clark heats up the doorknob from a distance with his heat vision. Desiree grabs the doorknob and lets out what must be the most unconvincing and fake-sounding shriek ever heard on national TV. Oh and the best part? The whole time she's screaming she's still holding on tightly to the doorknob instead of letting go of it the way one would in real life.

** In Season 4's "Sacred," Clark confronts [[WickedWitch Isobel]] when she's attempting to carry off one of the Kryptonian artifacts she needs to gain cosmic knowledge. An indignant Isobel snaps "Nobody has sacrificed as much as ''I'' have" for the artifacts. It's the amusingly whiny tone of voice she uses that makes it funny.

** The reveal of Pete’s powers in "Hero". Pete sees a speaker about to fall on Kara. It falls, and he reaches, and pulls her back. With stretchy arms. But see, he doesn't know he has the power yet, so why does he just reach his arms instead of ...starting to run, THEN using the arms for that extra bit of stretch?

** "Kids, [[Series/HowIMetYourMother before your aunt Robin]] [[Film/TheAvengers2012 joined S.H.I.E.L.D.]], [[Creator/CobieSmulders she]] was boning a completely different bald man..."

** Creator/SerindaSwan famously played Zatanna on ''Smallville'', and is now Paige on Creator/{{USA Network}}'s ''Series/{{Graceland}}'', along with her co-star Brandon [=McLaren=], who played two small roles on ''Smallville'' (first as a deliveryman in "Covenant" and then the unfortunate victim of Phantom Zone criminal Baern in "Fallout") before being cast on ''Series/{{Graceland}}'' as Jakes. In fact, his role in “Covenant” may very well have been one of his last North American roles before getting the part of Jack Landors, the Red Ranger of ''Series/PowerRangersSPD''

** Even '''Clark''' gets this treatment very often in fanfic, believe it or not. That's right folks: the future ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' often gets made out to be a monster in fanfic, usually in fics that involve Chloe shipping with Lex, Ollie or Davis. These fanfics often bash on Clark for [[FelonyMisdemeanor committing the horrible crime of seeing Chloe as *gasp* just a friend and not a love interest]]. Apparently, Clark deciding that he and Chloe are BetterAsFriends is enough to justify portraying Clark as an idiotic, selfish, and sniveling asshole who genuinely ''wants'' to make Chloe as miserable as possible. Chloe will then rush into the waiting arms of Lex/Davis/etc., who will usually get ''heavy'' DracoInLeatherPants treatment. Naturally, this is the ''farthest'' thing from canon. In the show's actual canon, Clark is a genuinely nice person (and TheCape in fact) who cares deeply about Chloe (as his best friend) and shares a PlatonicLifePartners relationship with her from Season 5 onward... but don't tell that to the shippers.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: "Unsafe" [[note]]An episode about teenage sexual activity. Chloe reveals she lost her virginity at 15 and regrets it and tells Lana not to do it just because she is afraid of losing her boyfriend. The producers even had Allison Mack (who plays Chloe) do a public service announcement before the episode on teenage pregnancy.[[/note]]

* VindicatedByHistory: While Lana is still a BaseBreakingCharacter, not having to struggle through years of her DoomedByCanon relationship with Clark means that it's easier to empathize with her problems and appreciate her character's WeirdnessMagnet status. It doesn't hurt that a fair amount of the problems with her character can be attributed to the post-high school and pre-Metropolis SeasonalRot. It also helps that [[LastGirlWins Lois]] canonically winning the ShippingWar over Clark and Chloe going on to create a FanPreferredCouple with Oliver means that she no longer has to deal with DieForOurShip feelings. Not to mention, the amount of soaperising on some of the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' shows means that she looks less wangst-y in contrast.

* VindicatedByHistory: Ten years on, Lana is nowhere near as hated as she was while ''Smallville'' was airing. While still a BaseBreakingCharacter, not having to struggle through years of the DoomedByCanon relationship between her and Clark means that it's easier to empathize with her problems and appreciate her character's WeirdnessMagnet status. It doesn't hurt that a fair amount of the problems with her character can be attributed to the post-high school and pre-Metropolis SeasonalRot. It also helps that [[LastGirlWins Lois]] canonically winning the ShippingWar over Clark and Chloe going on to create a FanPreferredCouple with Oliver means that she no longer has to deal with DieForOurShip feelings. Not to mention, the amount of soaperising on some of the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' shows means that she looks less wangst-y in contrast. This is ironically the ''reverse'' situation from Chloe Sullivan, who was a super popular BreakoutCharacter during the show's run but ten years later...not as much. See OvershadowedByControversy.

* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize: Season 2's token mystery ep "Suspect" pulls this with the opening credits showing Jason Connery, who's known for either a string of one-shot supporting roles and appearing in B-productions, or being the son of Creator/SeanConnery, depending on who you ask. It was really the recurring character Sherrif Ethan.

** As Music/JohnWilliams is to the entire franchise, Remy Zero's "Save Me" is to ''Smallville''.

** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, debuting in season 5 as "Professor Milton Fine", was the [[RoboticPsychopath ruthless AI]] responsible for triggering Krypton's destruction, and he didn't prove himself any better after arriving on Earth. Viewing humans as little more than animals, Brainiac made repeated efforts to exterminate the human race, first on behalf of General Zod, and then of his own volition, engineering a deadly plague from the planet's most devastating diseases, releasing a computer virus intended to send the human race back to the technological Stone Age, convincing President Luthor to start a nuclear war in a BadFuture that he himself created, and finally kidnapping Doomsday so that he could turn him into a weapon to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy all life in the universe]]. Along the way he infects Martha Kent with a Kryptonian virus; self-repairs by cannibalizing the trace minerals in a succession of victims; murders his "father", Dax-Ur, by draining his mind of all data; leaves Lana in a coma, unable to move, but [[AndIMustScream experiencing constant agony]]; traps [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] in the Phantom Zone; and [[GrandTheftMe bodyjacks]] Chloe, intending to kill her afterwards. [[LackOfEmpathy Incapable of empathy]], and dedicated to the annihilation of all organic life, Brainiac was easily the most vile foe that Clark ever faced.

** "[[Recap/SmallvilleS01E11Hug Hug]]": [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert "Bob" Rickman]] is the CEO of Rickman Industries, and possesses the ability to [[CompellingVoice persuade people]] to do whatever he wants through touch. He uses this ability to build chemical plants which have caused 96 local citizens to be poisoned. He is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] meeting with an agent who wants to prevent him from building one in Smallville, and makes said agent [[PsychicAssistedSuicide jump from his office window]]. Arriving in Smallville, he runs into his old business partner Kyle Tippet, who threatens to expose the truth, due to a year-old agreement that he would leave Smallville alone. Bob uses his ability to force numerous people to make attempts on Kyle's life, including sending Whitney to bludgeon him to death; sending a sheriff to shoot him after he's arrested over the previous attack; and having Lex Luthor trap him and Clark in a car before trying to blow up said car. Completely uncaring about innocent lives, Bob stands above the usual meteor freak.
** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, debuting in season 5 as "Professor Milton Fine", was the [[RoboticPsychopath ruthless AI]] responsible for triggering Krypton's destruction, and he didn't prove himself any better after arriving on Earth. Viewing humans as little more than animals, Brainiac made repeated efforts to exterminate the human race, first on behalf of General Zod, and then of his own volition, engineering a deadly plague from the planet's most devastating diseases, releasing a computer virus intended to send the human race back to the technological Stone Age, convincing President Luthor to start a nuclear war in a BadFuture that he himself created, and finally kidnapping Doomsday so that he could turn him into a weapon to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy all life in the universe]]. Along the way he infects Martha Kent with a Kryptonian virus; self-repairs by cannibalizing the trace minerals in a succession of victims; murders his "father", Dax-Ur, by draining his mind of all data; leaves Lana in a coma, unable to move, but [[AndIMustScream experiencing constant agony]]; traps [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] in the Phantom Zone; and [[GrandTheftMe bodyjacks]] Chloe, intending to kill her afterwards. [[LackOfEmpathy Incapable of empathy]], and dedicated to the annihilation of all organic life, Brainiac was easily the vilest foe that Clark ever faced.

** "[[Recap/SmallvilleS10E01Lazarus Lazarus]]": [[LooksLikeOrlok LX-3]] is a failed clone of Lex Luthor who was so depraved that even the [[Characters/SmallvilleLuthorCorp LuthorCorp]] staff at Cadmus Labs felt the need to incarcerate him. Accidentally freed by Tess Mercer, LX-3 beats her and handcuffs her in place, tries to kill the five-year-old LX-15, then grabs a blowtorch and proceeds to set fire to the lab, slaughtering all the other clones while claiming that "There can only be one Lex Luthor!" Making his way to Metropolis, LX-3 wires the ''Daily Planet'' building to explode, planning to crush hundreds of people in the streets below, then journeys to Smallville where he kidnaps Lois Lane, ties her to a stake, and sets the field around her on fire. Confronting Clark, LX-3 gloats that [[SadisticChoice Clark can save the woman he loves, or the citizens of Metropolis]], but not both, sneering that Clark's pride will be the death of him yet. Almost out of time thanks to CloneDegeneration, LX-3 spends his last moments trying to force Clark into violating his moral code by killing him.

** "[[Recap/SmallvilleS01E11Hug Hug]]": [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert "Bob" Rickman]] is the CEO of Rickman Industries, and possesses the ability to [[CompellingVoice persuade people]] to do whatever he wants through touch. He uses this ability to build chemical plants which have caused 96 local citizens to be poisoned. He is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] meeting with an agent who wants to prevent him from building one in Smallville, and makes said agent [[PsychicAssistedSuicide jump from his office window]]. Arriving in Smallville, he runs into his old business partner Kyle Tippet, who threatens to expose the truth, due to a year-old agreement that he would leave Smallville alone. Bob uses his ability to force numerous people to make attempts on Kyle's life, including sending Whitney to bludgeon him to death; sending a sheriff to shoot him after he's arrested over the previous attack; and having Lex Luthor trap him and [[Characters/SmallvilleClarkKent Clark]] in a car before trying to blow up said car. Completely uncaring about innocent lives, Bob stands above the usual meteor freak.

** "[[Recap/SmallvilleS10E01Lazarus Lazarus]]": [[LooksLikeOrlok LX-3]] is a failed clone of [[Characters/SmallvilleLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] who was so depraved that even the [[Characters/SmallvilleLuthorCorp LuthorCorp]] staff at Cadmus Labs felt the need to incarcerate him. Accidentally freed by Tess Mercer, LX-3 beats her and handcuffs her in place, tries to kill the five-year-old LX-15, then grabs a blowtorch and proceeds to set fire to the lab, slaughtering all the other clones while claiming that "There can only be one Lex Luthor!" Making his way to Metropolis, LX-3 wires the ''Daily Planet'' building to explode, planning to crush hundreds of people in the streets below, then journeys to Smallville where he kidnaps Lois Lane, ties her to a stake, and sets the field around her on fire. Confronting Clark, LX-3 gloats that [[SadisticChoice Clark can save the woman he loves, or the citizens of Metropolis]], but not both, sneering that Clark's pride will be the death of him yet. Almost out of time thanks to CloneDegeneration, LX-3 spends his last moments trying to force Clark into violating his moral code by killing him.

* MagnificentBastard: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lionel Luthor]] dominated the show for all seven seasons in which he appeared. Originally created to explain how [[Characters/SmallvilleLexLuthor Lex]] grew up to become a villain himself, Lionel became a power unto himself in the show, and for the first three seasons was a virtually untouchable threat who easily undercut any efforts by Lex or even [[Characters/SmallvilleClarkKent Clark Kent]] himself to act against him. Jailed in Season 4, Lionel proved he was still capable of reaching out to touch anyone, anywhere, whenever he wanted, and after his release from prison and subsequent HeelFaceTurn, remained the show's most potent manipulator. When an alternate version of Lionel was brought to Earth-1, he discovered he truly cared for Lex and made a plan to revive him using body parts of failed clones. Planning to use Tess's heart to finish the process, Lionel kidnaps her and eventually sacrifices his own heart in a deal with Darkseid to bring Lex back to life. In a show filled with mutants, aliens, and meteor freaks, Lionel Luthor was still the most dangerous man around, and no matter who he was sharing space with, always managed to feel like the most powerful person in the room.

** In later seasons Chloe/Oliver--which became canon thanks to popular fan demand--became a hugely popular ship in the later seasons (enduring even when Ollie himself became a base-breaking character later on). It came to the point where the widespread acclaim for this ship actually overwhelmed the canonical Ollie/Dinah ship that had been ship-teased in Season 7. Even the showrunners got on board, making the Chlollie ship happen onscreen thanks to fan demand. *** The ship was so well-regarded that in the GrandFinale they leave it vague as to whether Chloe and Ollie are still together, but make it clear that they at least have a child, thus skirting around DC Comics' restrictions while still being supportive of this new ship. At the very least, it's probably the one ship (other than Jonathan/Martha) that doesn't really get hate. Which in and of itself is a [[BrokenBase pretty big accomplishment]] for any ship in the SV fandom.

** Although he becomes a borderline sociopath in Season 6 and 7, one can't help but feel bad for Lex when looking at the events of the series from his point of view. He forms a strong friendship with Clark (which he hasn't had in a long time), but he is smart enough to figure out that Clark has some sort of secret. Anytime he tries to talk to Clark about this, he either gets chewed-out or Clark just straight-up {{Gaslights}} him. While he should have really just let it go, it's kinda hard to blame the guy for wanting to know the truth, especially when he ''knows'' that Clark is lying about it consistently. Then, after years of dealing with his father's abuse, Clark accepts ''Lionel's'' friendship and fully rejects Lex. Let's face it, you'd feel betrayed too if your supposed best friend did this.

*** Attempting to assassinate both Cloe ''and'' Lex at the end of Season 3.

* VindicatedByHistory: Ten years on, Lana is nowhere near as hated as she was while ''Smallville'' was airing. While still a BaseBreakingCharacter, not having to struggle through years of the DoomedByCanon relationship between her and Clark means that it's easier to empathize with her problems and appreciate her character's WeirdnessMagnet status. It doesn't hurt that a fair amount of the problems with her character can be attributed to the post-high school and pre-Metropolis SeasonalRot. It also helps that [[LastGirlWins Lois]] canonically winning the ShippingWar over Clark and Chloe going on to create a FanPreferredCouple with Oliver means that she no longer has to deal with DieForOurShip feelings. Not to mention, the amount of soaperising on some of the Series/Arrowverse shows means that she looks less wangst-y in contrast. This is ironically the ''reverse'' situation from Chloe Sullivan, who was a super popular BreakoutCharacter during the show's run but ten years later...not as much. See OvershadowedByControversy.

* AbandonShipping: For the first few seasons, fans praised the chemistry between Creator/TomWelling and Creator/KristinKreuk, and Clana became the show's OfficialCouple. Thing is, people already knew who would eventually arrive; when Lois appeared, Lana's popularity began to wane, since it brought a lot of drama for a relationship that then became DoomedByCanon. Lana herself became [[TheScrappy very hated]] within the fandom, eventually leading to her departure in Season 8.

** The AI Jor-El's jerkass tendancies, were explained in ''Abandoned'' as the result of Jor-El not programming in any of his emotions.

** Green Arrow. Some think he's the best character in the show and, particularly in Season 6, many fans loudly praised Ollie for being a more proactive hero than Clark, actually seeking out bad guys rather than waiting for trouble to become visible. In Seasons 8 & 9, many fans also felt that Ollie's plans to deal with Doomsday and Zod were more realistic than Clark's more idealistic plans. Then there is a VocalMinority who see Oliver as a [[JerkassWoobie destructive anti-hero]] who indulges in self-destructive benders whenever he's got a problem. This split is reflective of Clark's own ambivalence toward Ollie's tactics: Super-Fans don't appreciate being told that their hero is ineffectual, but objective viewers may align more closely with Ollie's pragmatism over Clark's platitudes (and indeed, Clark later concedes the point). There's also the added wrinkle of the fans embracing Ollie because he can bend canon in ways Clark can't, at least not with DC watching.

** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, debuting in season 5 as "Professor Milton Fine", was the [[RoboticPsychopath ruthless AI]] responsible for triggering Krypton's destruction, and he didn't prove himself any better after arriving on Earth. Viewing humans as little more than animals, Brainiac made repeated efforts to exterminate the human race, first on behalf of General Zod, and then of his own volition, engineering a deadly plague from the planet's most devastating diseases, releasing a computer virus intended to send the human race back to the technological Stone Age, convincing President Luthor to start a nuclear war in a BadFuture that he himself created, and finally kidnapping Doomsday so that he could turn him into a weapon to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy all life in the universe]]. Along the way he infects Martha Kent with a Kryptonian virus; self-repairs by cannibalizing the trace minerals in a succession of victims; murders his "father", Dax-Ur, by draining his mind of all data; leaves Lana in a coma, unable to move, but [[AndIMustScream experiencing constant agony]]; traps [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] in the Phantom Zone; and [[GrandTheftMe bodyjacks]] Chloe, intending to kill her afterwards. [[LackOfEmpathy Incapable of empathy]], and dedicated to the annihilation of all organic life, Brainiac was easily the most vile foe that Clark ever faced.

* CreatorsPet: For some fans, it felt that Lana was kept on long past her usefulness as obligatory love interest from the early seasons.

** After Season 4, Lana Lang entered into this territory due to constantly betraying Clark and his friends and yet being treated as being in the right. In Season 7 Lana's acts were purely motivated to having Clark or punishing Lex. She frames Lex for killing her and kidnaps Lionel without being seen on the wrong for this.
** Interestingly enough this aspect of Lana also extends to whoever she’s in love with at the time. With the exception of Clark no matter how obvious it is she only notices something is wrong with them after she no longer cares about them yet they can do no wrong when she does. For example twice Clark has gone crazy forcing Lex to pull a gun on him to protect himself. Only once did Lana call him out on this.

** A milder version would be Kal (Clark on Red Kryptonite), who is usually not particularly evil but still a real {{Jerkass}} who could easily get violent. Once could even argue that Kal is an invocation of this trope, along with AllGirlsWantBadBoys and EvilIsSexy.

** Tess Mercer (Creator/CassidyFreeman) was one new character from the show's latter years that enjoyed widespread popularity.

** Sheriff Nancy Adams was this trope for a lot of people. Although her first couple appearances portrayed her as an ObstructiveBureaucrat who didn't trust Clark, her toughness and her ability to be completely unintimidated by criminals or the Luthors won her some respect pretty quickly. Then, as she spends more time in Smallville she starts to wise up to the fact there are indeed some weird and paranormal events happening in town, and gradually starts to trust Clark more, even if she still urges him to let the police handle things (this makes perfect sense, since Clark is a minor and Sheriff Adams didn't know about his powers; she honestly thought she was protecting him and his friends). By Season 5, Sheriff Adams had developed a friendly relationship with Clark, and even urged him to consider the possibility of joining law enforcement full-time, a complete turnaround from her initial antagonism towards his vigilantism. Through it all, her toughness and her firm commitment to protecting the peace won her a lot of respect from fans... and her DeadpanSnarker tendencies certainly helped as well.

* FandomHeresy: Try being a ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' fan who doesn't mind the deviations from Franchise/{{Superman}} comic book canon, or expressing the view that you ''liked'' the witches/[[MacGuffin lost artifacts]] storyline from Season 4, or saying that you ''don't'' think that every new plot development is a "retcon". Or, perhaps worst of all, try expressing the opinion, to a certain VocalMinority of the fanbase, that Chloe Sullivan is '''NOT''' the living embodiment of perfection. Also woe be unto you if you like Lana more than Lois or Chloe. That said, years and certain scandals later, saying you weren't a Chloe fan won't get you as much of a chewing out.
* FanonDiscontinuity: There are those act as if the events of ''Pariah'' never happened, which is helped by the fact how the events of it are never directly referred to again (not even by Chloe telling Clark how she found out his secret).
* FauxSymbolism: Many of the numerous allegories of future Lex vs Superman. For example Lionel’s confronting tale in "Memoria" about St. George the Dragon Slayer and the box for his fears within his heart symbolizing how the only way Lex can beat Superman is to stab at his heart (Lois), then you have some powerful re-imagining of the myth indeed.

** One of Lois' first scenes with Oliver Queen involved her walking in on him shirtless, sweaty and exercising - which is practically OncePerEpisode on ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Even more amusingly, his actor Creator/JustinHartley's newest character famously takes the producers of the ShowWithinAShow to task for this sort of thing in ''Series/ThisIsUs''.

** Lois cosplaying as Franchise/WonderWoman in ''Warrior''. The Comicbook/{{New 52}} era once made Superman and Wonder Woman an OfficialCouple.
* JerkassWoobie: Lex, Lionel, and Tess have all qualified on both counts. Must be a Luthor family trait along with being {{Magnificent Bastard}}s. Lex is a perfect example. This version of his character goes out of its way to make his backstory and motives sympathetic while also showing how depraved, cruel, petty and narcissistic Lex can be.

* VindicatedByHistory: Ten years on, Lana is nowhere near as hated as she was while Smallville was airing. While still a BaseBreakingCharacter, not having to struggle through years of the DoomedByCanon relationship between her and Clark means that it's easier to empathise with her problems and appreciate her character's WeirdnessMagnet status. It doesn't hurt that a fair amount of the problems with her character can be attributed to the post-high school and pre-Metropolis SeasonalRot. It also helps that [[LastGirlWins Lois]] canonically winning the ShippingWar over Clark and Chloe going on to create a FanPreferredCouple with Oliver means that she no longer has to deal with DieForOurShip feelings. Not to mention, the amount of soaperising on some of the Series/Arrowverse shows means that she looks less wangst-y in contrast.