Smallville is still fondly remembered as an entertaining superhero series and there’s a good reason for that. It’s a detailed origin story tale for not just Clark Kent and his Justice League counterparts but also for the friends, family, and adversaries of the burgeoning heroes. On the show, the younger version of Victor Stone (aka Cyborg) is portrayed as a rising football star with endoskeletal cybernetic augmentations.
Since Victor Stone is a supporting character that pushed the larger Clark Kent/Superman narrative on the critically acclaimed CW series, his story arcs were limited. However, there is a wealth of additional information about the popular DC character that the audience may have missed in their initial viewing of the show.
His Age
A tweet by a member of Smallville‘s writing team, Bryan Q. Millar, states that Victor Stone is a year younger than Clark Kent. This makes him 23-years-old by the events of Season 11’s “Haunted.”
This is presumably an attempt by the writers to make the show more comic accurate since, in the comic books, most of the heroes, especially those in the Justice League, are of a similar age. Bruce Wayne is always the older of the group and it’s for this reason that he’s the designated leader. The “similar age” scenario is linked to the fact that most of the Justice League members were introduced months or only a few years apart during the Golden Age of Comic Books.
First Meeting With Clark
During Victor’s first-ever meeting with Clark, he throws him forcefully against a wall. This is similar to Clark’s first meeting with all other Justice League members—Bart Allen (The Flash), Arthur Curry (Aquaman), and Oliver Queen (Arrow)—who all attack before reasoning with him.
The “hostility before friendship” trope is common across DC media. Most of the strangest friendships in Justice League comics also started with fights and misunderstandings. And out of all the hero versus hero fights in Smallville, Victor’s battle with Clark is the most short-lived largely because he is the most reserved. As soon as he punches Clark, he regrets it and the two quickly become buddies.
A Different Heroic Journey
In the comics, Victor starts by joining the Teen Titans, who welcome him to the team after realizing he is depressed and insecure about his robotic appearance. In the New 52 relaunch, he helps establish the Justice League. In Smallville, Victor joins the Justice League directly without ever becoming involved with the Titans.
While the comics and animated DC productions have constantly used Victor as a member of the Titans, live-action productions have avoided this. In the DCEU, Victor is also ushered into the Justice League without becoming a Titan first. And in the critically-acclaimed Titans TV series, Victor is missing entirely.
Pop Culture Link
Lex Luthor once mentions that all the work done on Victor’s body amounts to $6 million. This is a reference to the ’70s series The Six Million Dollar Man, where the main character, Col. Steve Austin, is also a Cyborg. The background music that plays when Dr. Kreig is working on Victor for the implant is also the same one that plays when Col. Steve Austin uses his bionic arm.
There is the probability that the character of Victor Stone was inspired by Lee Majors’ iconic hero. This is more likely considering the fact that Victor was first introduced in 1980 in DC Comics Presents #26 by writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator George Pérez. Since The Six Million Dollar Man aired from 1973 to 1978, the show could have influenced the creators when they started to think of possible Teen Titans members.
The Technology Used To Make Him
When Daily Planet journalist John Corben gets injured, Major Zod and his Kandorian army steal and use LuthorCorp technology to recreate his body parts with cybernetics. They also replace his heart with a green meteor rock. He then becomes a cyborg like Victor. It’s stated that this is the same technology that was used by Dr. Alistair Kreig to create Victor.
This highlights yet another major difference between the show and other DC media. In the DCEU for example, it’s S.T.A.R. Labs head Silas who helps turn Victor into a Cyborg using the Mother Box. Despite being created using different technology, the TV Victor still has all of Cyborg’s best powers from the DCEU such as superhuman strength and speed.
His Physical Appearance
On the show, Victor has no metallic suit with red-eye, making it hard for anyone to notice that he is a cyborg. Instead, his robotic parts are internal, with his exoskeleton being exactly similar to other versions of the cyborg. This becomes evident when Clark uses his X-Ray vision to scan Victor’s body during their first fight.
Victor’s appearance mirrors that of the other younger Justice League members on the show. Even though the clothes they wear have similar colors to their future costumes, none of the heroes wear the full superhero gear that they are known for. This is also a departure from the comics where Victor had his costume from the start of his superhero career.
Similar Love Life With Clark
There are parallels between Victor and Clark’s love lives on the show. For both, their abilities appear to get in the way of their relationships. Victor is afraid of telling his girlfriend Katherine what happened to his body. Clark, on the other hand, doesn’t want his girlfriend Lana Lang to discover that he is an alien from Krypton.
While several characters struggle with work/love balance on the show though, their difficulties are mostly as a result of the parties involved not being romantic enough. For Clark and Victor, it is more about compatibility as their partners don’t accept them for who they are. Clark eventually goes on to date Lois while Victor also informs Clark in season 6 that Katherine left him because she couldn’t handle his true cybernetic nature.
He Could Be The First Justice League Member Clark Met
In Smallville’s continuity, Bart Allen (The Flash) is the first Justice League member that Clark meets. This happens after Bart saves Jonathan Kent from being hit by a bus then steals his wallet. However, soon after meeting Victor Stone, Clark claims that he knew him when he started playing football years earlier.
Clark’s confession that he knew Victor from his past time as a pigskin player could as well be one of the continuity errors in Smallville since, upon his first meeting with Bart, it’s heavily implied that he had never met any other Justice League member. If he had indeed met Victor in his football days, he possibly was unaware that he had any special abilities.
The Actress Portraying Victor’s Girlfriend Has Another Role On The Show
Christie Laing, who portrays Victor’s girlfriend Katherine, is also the same actress that portrays Smallville Crows cheerleader Mindy in the season 3 episode “Truth.” Mindy is said to be a student who has the ability to force the truth out of anyone. Instead of using the ability to do good, she begins broadcasting people’s personal information for material gain.
Interestingly, the honor of portraying different characters on the show doesn’t fall on Laing alone. Tom Welling portrays both Clark Kent and the younger version of Clark’s father Jor-El. Kristin Kreuk, who portrays Lana Lang, also portrays Louise McCallum and Margaret Isobel Thoreaux. There is also Lucas Grabeel, who portrays teenage versions of Lex Luthor and Connor Kent.
The Code To Victor’s Cage
In Victor’s first scene in the season 5 episode “Cyborg,” he is inside a cage at LuthorCorp where he is being experimented on. Dr. Hong appears, apologizes to him, and gives him an injection before he escapes. The buttons he presses for Victor’s cage to open are 2, 4, and 6, hence revealing the code as 246.
This isn’t the first time a LuthorCorp is being made visible to viewers. A secret vault where Lex Luthor stored different types of kryptonite could be opened with the simple code 234. The simple codes might appear odd for a villain who puts so much effort into scheming and keeps most of his plans a secret.
