Tuesday, July 29, 2008

SDCC08: Legionnaires on "Smallville" (update 1)

Update 1 (7/30): Added two more news sources, Ain't It Cool News and TV Guide, at the bottom.

Now who would have guessed that we'd hear a Legion bombshell at the "Smallville" panel? As you've probably heard, Geoff Johns will be writing the 9th episode of "Smallville" this season that guest-stars the Legion. "Smallville" episodes have single word titles; episode 4.09 will be titled "Legion". It made the usual news sites but was also picked up in more mainstream locations.

Basically, Johns knows the show's writers/executive producers/showrunners, that's how he got the job. As Smallville progresses and Clark Kent gets older - he's in his early 20s now - he's been meeting more traditional super-heroes (Green Arrow, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Black Canary, for example) that would have been out of place in the early seasons when he was still finding his powers.

Via CBR:

Johns couldn't say what members of the team would be featured - over its history, the Legion has counted dozens in its membership - but teased, "If you are familiar with the origin story, it's not that hard to figure out."

"I think we're going to be able to stay pretty close to the origin of these characters," said Johns. "They are from 1,000 years in the future and they'll have flight rings and code names and everything else."

Via Newsarama:
"I've known the Smallville writing team – Todd [Slavkin], Darren [Swimmer], Brian [Wayne Peterson] and Kelly [Souders] – for a long time," Johns told Newsarama. "I had an idea for an episode, so we all had lunch. And I pitched them the idea of bringing the Legion of Super-Heroes to Smallville. And we're off and running."

"I can't get into any specifics about the story we're telling because we’re still working on it all. But they're from the 31st Century. And it will be focusing on some obvious characters who first met Clark," Johns said. "It will be written to fit with Smallville, and I think it's going to be a really fun challenge to approach the Legion in a different way. But with me, you know you're going to see Legion rings, and they're going to be as true to the core as possible. It's going to be the Legion of Super-Heroes."

Other sites reporting on the panel included Wizard, TV Squad, and the LA Times.

CBR has a video interview with Johns:


Fan sites and forums discussing the news include Superman Homepage, Geeks of Doom, MovieWeb, ComicBookMovie.com, IGN, io9, Zap2It, Athena Guides, Spoiler TV, Comic Movie Geek, Superheroflix, Kryptonsite, SyFy Portal, and Kryptonsite again.

Update 1
Ain't It Cool News has a brief piece, saying it looks like Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl are all coming to “Smallville.” Of course, since the episode hasn't even been written yet (according to Geoff Johns in the video interview above), that's just speculation.

TV Guide also covered the Smallville panel.

I can't see the Legionnaires asking him to come back to the future with them (like the animated series), and since Clark Kent will remain costume-less, it won't be a straight adaptation of Adventure 247. But with Johns writing it, I do anticipate Garth, Rokk, and Imra in that Time Bubble.

5 comments:

Michael A. said...

Two of the Smallville executive producers are actually friends of mine. I was told that they've been trying to get the Legion on the show for several years (and I have prodded for it EVERY season with a "shouldn't Clark be getting a visit from three teenagers in a time bubble soon?"). DC and Warners have traditionally been very tight with which characters the show can and cannot use (see "why haven't we met young Bruce Wayne yet"). Evidently the Legion was off-limits, but they relaxed when it was Johns writing the episode. I wish they had this much concern for the Legion in the books.

Michael A. (LegionLoverLad)

Jim Drew said...

I wonder if we'll get a basic retelling of Adventure #247, or something closer to the start of the cartoon series. Certainly looking forward to it; haven't watched any Smallville since Netflixing Season 1.

Michael said...

Mike - could you please send me an email? I'm sure you can't guess what I'd like to talk to you about...

Anonymous said...

hey I didn't see this on your blog so thought you might like to know that one of the smallville writers did an interview with Kristen at E! and he said

'Last but not least, Swimmer confirmed an appearance by the Legion of Superheroes (not to be confused with the Justice League, although Swimmer also said they would love to have a storyline for Justice Leaguer Wonder Woman on the show). Regarding the Legion: "It's three superheroes, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad—although we might not use those names—on a mission from Superman in the future, who sends them back to help make things right."'

http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b26247_smallville_whats_in_store_season_eight.html

Its a pity there is no brainiac 5, hes my favourite but I suspected that they might have been afraid to go green or do so much prosthetic work

Michael said...

Thanks, I added that as a new post today.