Smallville season 3 secretly created a huge complication for Superman’s Clark Kent disguise. Toward the end of the series, Tom Welling’s character finally came to the conclusion that his superhero activities depended on “Clark Kent” keeping a low profile. To this end, some changes were made to his public persona, including the addition of his iconic glasses.
It was made evident by both the series finale and a trip to the future that after Smallville ends, Clark will share in the adventures of his comic book counterpart and protect Metropolis as Superman, while also masquerading as a mild-mannered Daily Planet reporter. Based on the circumstances of the ending, it would seem that within the offices of the Daily Planet, everyone but Erica Durance’s Lois Lane would be oblivious to the truth as Clark works to maintain his dual roles. Interestingly, though, a key development in a season 3 episode makes this particular aspect of Clark’s post-Smallville future problematic.
Smallville’s Perry White Should Know Superman’s Secret Identity
In Smallville season 3’s “Perry,” Clark received an early introduction to Perry White, the DC character fated to become the Daily Planet editor-in-chief. Due to a solar eclipse interfering with Clark’s powers, Perry had multiple eye-opening experiences where he got to witness Clark using his abilities. Convinced that what he saw was real, Perry jumped off a bridge to force Clark into exposing his powers. But because the solar eclipse had briefly nullified them, Perry had to be saved by Pete and Lana instead, thus prompting Perry to give up this notion and attribute the mistake to his heavy drinking. This allowed Clark to keep his secret, but it’s hard to imagine the episode not becoming relevant again when Perry gets his comic job.
With Clark serving as one of his employees and Superman being in the public eye on a daily basis, the events of the episode should certainly be on Perry’s mind after Smallville’s ending. Having seen Clark walk across power lines, rip a car door off its hinges, and appear directly in front of him, Perry was able to deduce that he was “shockproof,” “incredibly fast,” and “strong.” The latter two abilities are consistent with what the public knows about Superman’s powers, which is all the more reason why it doesn’t make sense that Perry wouldn’t at least harbor a suspicion that Clark and Superman are one and the same. After all, Perry was so sure about Clark that he risked his life to prove his claim.
Perry White Proves The Problem With Superman’s Secret Identity in Smallville
Furthermore, Perry’s appearances in Smallville underscore a much larger issue with Superman’s identity in the series. In the comics, Superman's Clark Kent disguise works because everyone knows him as a bumbling reporter and doesn’t take him seriously enough to believe that someone like him could be the Man of Steel. But too many people in Smallville’s version of the story – Perry White included - knew Clark before he added the glasses to his look and adjusted his public personality in season 10. With that in mind, it shouldn’t be so easy for Clark’s resemblance to Superman to go unnoticed.