James Marstersis “definitely” down to reprise his recurring role from the television series,Smallville.Marsters first appeared on theTom Welling-led TV show during the very last scene of the Season 5 opener, titled “Arrival.” After Clark (Welling) traps the evil Kryptonian invaders Aethyr (Alana De La Garza) and Nam-Ek (Leonard Roberts) in the Phantom Zone, Milton Fine, aka Brainiac (Marsters), spills out of their ship and morphs into the fearsome Brain InterActive Construct’s Earthly physical form. And almost 20 years following his initial appearance, Marsters says in a new interview that he’d definitely reprise the role for a sequel series. When asked about possibly returning, Marsters answered in an interview withScreen Rant:
“Oh, yes, definitely. Definitely. I think that Smallville was the most intelligent character version of Superman that I’ve ever seen. Superman is a very difficult character to write because he’s invulnerable. Heroism is when I help somebody, even when I have to sacrifice something to help them.”
Smallville
Marsters continued by saying:
“That’s the definition, and when you have a hero movie, you have the very most exciting part [which] is when the hero has to risk his life to save someone or help someone. And that’s just impossible with Superman. He’s invulnerable. He’s going to be fine unless you pull out Kryptonite. Every Superman movie does that.”
Brainiac: Smallville’s Good, the Evil & the Kryptonite
While starTom Welling is still optimistic about aSmallvilleanimated sequel series,which would feature the voice talents of many of the TV show’s stars, another question must be answered if James Marsters also ends up being slated to return. Would Marsters voice the villainous Brain InterActive Construct (Brainiac), or would he portray the Legion of Super-Heroes’ reprogrammed version of the Kryptonian technology, Brainiac 5? In the Season 10 episode, “Homecoming,” Marsters has become a member of the Legion during his very last appearance on the show — a hero.
If the actor does portray the baddie again, though, it would provide a threat to Superman/Clark Kent (Welling) without having to resort to using the Man of Steel’s Achilles’ heel: Kryptonite. And that’s one of the things Marsters loved aboutSmallville.The actor explained during the same interview:
“There’s Kryptonite somewhere, and he’s got to risk death to do his thing. But with the television series, you may’t pull out Kryptonite every week. It gets redundant so fast. It gets cheesy. They sidestepped all that by not focusing on Clark’s physical vulnerability, which there is almost none of.
It was all about the fact that he was a teenager and he was vulnerable to everything, and they could explore [the] emotional vulnerability for Superman. I just thought, ‘Okay, you’ve solved it. That’s what to do.’ And they were able to go 10 years on that show and not be redundant, not be repetitive. Following that, I would love to do more of that.”
Smallville Star Explains Why He Did Not Reprise His Clark Kent More Often in Arrowverse
Tom Welling only showed up one time in the Arrowverse, and now the fans know exactly why.
WhileSmallville’sanimated sequel series’ status still remains unconfirmed, the Man of Steel will definitely be returning to the Silver Screen in James Gunn’s highly anticipatedSuperman(2025). And Nicholas Hoult will be portraying the villainous Lex Luthor in the upcoming DCU movie, even though Hoult has gone on record proclaiming thatSmallville’sown Michael Rosenbaum is the best Lex ever.And, yes, if the rumors are true, Brainiac will be mixing it up with the Last Son of Krypton in the new film, too.
James Gunn’sSupermanopens onJuly 11, 2025.In the meantime, fans of Kal-El can stream and/or binge-watch all 10 seasons ofSmallvilleonHulu.And be sure to check out James Marsters’ appearance on “the ultimateSmallvillerewatch podcast,”Talk Ville(above). Mr. Marsters joins hosts Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum as the three co-stars revisit the Season 5 episode, “Solitude,” which includes Milton Fine (Marsters) finally revealing his true identity to Clark (Welling).
