Despite running for ten long seasons, Smallville‘s depiction of Superman still left some titillating powers on the table that the Tom Welling’s Clark Kent never used. When it comes to Superman’s more well-known powers, like flight, super strength, laser vision, super hearing, arctic breath and invulnerability, Smallville certainly delivered. The series also wasn’t afraid to shy away from some of Superman’s more obscure abilities either, from temporary telekinesis and hypnotism to omnilinguism and total recall.
That being said, Smallville still left many of Superman’s stranger, lesser-used abilities on the table. Many of these odd powers come from the Golden Age of comic books, in which competing volumes would strive to outdo each other with increasingly unbelievable powers introduced and discarded at the drop of a hat. The classic Christopher Reeve Superman films utilized many of these one-off abilities, sometimes using them due to filming constraints more than anything else. Rarely, more modern comics of the 90s and onwards would make smaller attempts to expand Superman’s arsenal, going overlooked by Smallville‘s impressive cable run.
10 Memory-Wiping Kisses
Used by both Christopher Reeve and Golden Age comics
One of the most infamous uses of Superman’s powers is displayed in Superman II, in which Clark Kent channels his powers to give Lois Lane amnesia via a tender kiss. While the movie may have made this power a famous example of Superman’s ability to do whatever the writers need him to do, it actually lifted this ability from a Golden Age comic, Action Comics #306. Regardless of its source, Tom Welling never got the opportunity to try this power out on Kristin Kruek’s Lana Lang.
9 The Solar Flare
Superman could store and release Yellow Radiation with an explosive attack
It’s well-known that the radiation from the Earth’s Yellow Sun is what grants Superman his many powers, but what’s lesser known is his ability to release this energy with a powerful solar flare. Introduced in the comic Superman #38 back in 2015, Clark is able to release Yellow Radiation from his body with a devastating bomb-like attack that temporarily drains him of his powers, dubbed the “solar flare” by Batman. Considering the emphasis Smallville put on Clark’s absorption of solar power and storylines involving him losing his powers, it’s a shame the solar flare was only invented after the series ended in 2011.
8 Turning Back Time
Via pure speed, Superman can escape time itself
Another one of the most infamous examples of Superman’s powers in the Christopher Reeve movies, 1978’s Superman saw Christopher Reeve undo the consequences of his failures by flying faster than the speed of light around the globe, causing the Earth to spin backwards and Superman to travel back through time. Much like Reeve’s memory-erasing kiss, this power was also inspired by DC’s Golden Age, in which Superman returns to a pre-destruction Krypton via similar means. Considering the controversy Superman caused with time travel, it’s no wonder Smallville opted not to incorporate this ability into Clark’s arsenal.
7 Electricity Generation
For a time, Superman’s powers were lightning themed
Superman’s heat vision and cryonic breath are fairly well-known recurring powers in the character’s employ, and Smallville certainly made use of them. But Tom Welling’s Clark never added lightning to his elemental attacks, as Superman did in the 90s’ controversial re-branding of the character that saw his powers taking an electrifying tint under the title of Superman Blue. The Superman Blue storyline wasn’t entirely well-received, so it’s no wonder Smallville opted to stay as far away from electricity powers as possible.
6 Shapeshifting
Superman used to own Martian Manhunter’s gimmick
Another unbelievable application of power to come out of the Golden Age, Superman has demonstrated the ability in the comics to morph his facial features and voice with incredibly precise control of his muscles, essentially allowing him to become a master of disguise. The explanation may have been a little shaky, but it would certainly would have been a sight to see Clark straight-up morph his face to the point of ambiguity in Smallville. This power has sometimes been used to explain how nobody could see through Clark Kent’s meager disguise and recognize him as Superman.
5 Super Ventriloquism
In the comics, Superman acts as his own radio
Super hearing is one of Superman’s more prolific, if less exciting, powers, allowing him to hear even the smallest sounds across vast distances. In this way, Superman can act as a one-way radio, picking up on the tiniest murmurs for help in far-off locations. However, it used to be that Superman could also respond, somehow throwing his voice to exact locations and allowing two-way communication over great distances without the use of technology. While Smallville‘s Clark frequently used super hearing, having the ability to cast his voice like this could’ve come in handy more than a few times.
4 Miniature Clone Creation
One of the strangest superpowers the character has ever used
Of all the one-off abilities to spawn from DC’s Golden Age, the creation of smaller versions of himself had to be one of Superman’s single most bizarre. Even stranger than the image of Superman casting what he describes as a “second-self” out from his palm and into a dangerous Kryptonite meteor shower is the context, in which Superman has been stripped of all his powers save for this extremely specific ability. It’s no wonder this head-scratching gimmick never made its way back into Smallville, or any other Superman story since, for that matter.
3 Phasing Through Objects
Superman has sometimes stolen Flash’s gimmick
Able to effortlessly tank nearly any damage Earthly threats can throw at him, Superman can elect to flat-out ignore physical blows should he need to, as well. Using super speed in a way that’s now more associated with The Flash, Superman vibrates his molecules at an extremely high frequency, allowing him to effortlessly pass through solid matter. While CW’s The Flash got a lot of mileage out of this power, Smallville never granted Clark this particular application of super speed.
2 Sonic Scream
Superman has the potential for acoustic attacks
Sonic attacks are widely regarded as one of Superman’s few weaknesses outside of Kryptonite, taking his advantage of his enhanced hearing and turning it into weakness. But the comics have demonstrated that Kyrptonians have the potential to unleash their own sonic blasts, with Supergirl doing so in the comics and another villain outright stating Superman would be capable of using such a power, as well. While Tom Welling never got to use a scream-based blast, he got plenty of mileage out of a similar attack, the Thunderclap, in which he released a tremendously powerful shockwave via the clap of his hands.
1 The Cellophane ‘S’
This one-off power is unlikely to see use in the modern day
Most of the odd, one-off abilities used by Christopher Reeve’s Superman in the original films had at least some basis in Golden Age comics. However, one of the most outrageous powers the Man of Steel ever used on screen was the infamous cellophane ‘S’ of Superman II, a technique in which Superman removed the symbol from his chest and threw it at a bad guy to (very) temporarily restrain him. Considering Tom Welling only earns his iconic ‘S’ symbol in Smallville‘s finale, it would’ve been an egregious insult to pair it with this unbelievable power.
