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.