Smallville was never a prequel of any kind to the Donner Superman films. They made lots of nods towards those movies because they respected them and for the fans.
Not only was Clark unwilling to be Superman, and that was the driving force behind him not being Superman according to the producers, but they definitely were thinking of it as a soft prequel to the Donner films, which is why it showed in all those nods, but there not nods to other continuities:
When he [Welling] finally becomes Superman, he will be, to me, stepping into the role and becoming Christopher Reeve, said executive producer Brian Peterson. We really want it to end where a lot of people in the world
where their knowledge of Superman picks up. Our goal was not to create mythology but to fill in a gap of mythology.
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/tv/tom-welling-knows-what-youre-thinking-why-doesnt-he-just-put-on-the-suit/
Everything you're saying about what happened on screen and what the fans thought is legit, but behind the scenes? It was a different story
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So, the Atom isn't gonna shrink?
what's the point of using his character then?!?
Not on Arrow, as the special effects require more budget... which they will have once there's a spin-off show.
I think Atom will shrink but in the new spin-off show.
how are the the special effects for shirking more expensive then flying?
I could be totally wrong about this, but I think one of the reasons why it might be expensive is that they can simply get away with using a cheap CGI model of Atom flying in archived footage of the city that they're using in real life for "Starling City", whereas with shrinking Atom, they have to actually film more of Brandon in front of a Green/Blue Screen while creating the CGI background (or carefully filming) the backdrop that will be used in the background.
I think its simpler: they *intended* to use Blue Beetle, but had to come up with a substitute at the relative last minute when they were told they couldn't use Ted. So, the point of using Ray is "Oh ****, we need another character to be our ersatz Tony Stark. What other science heroes does DC have?"
Exactly. There are three(four-ish) issues, you guys have already hit two:
1) The show was being written for Blue Beetle, but the film division said they had movie plans for Blue Beetle, so the show couldn't use him. Instead, they suggested Ray Palmer, The Atom. The Arrow crew thought that was even better (
Source)
2) Distant and blurry flight is cheaper than shrinking techniques, for all the reasons herolee explained.
3) Arrow is different than The Flash, as a show. Even though they're in the same universe, Arrow is about vigilantes. It's the same reason you don't see Sinestro in a Batman comic. It doesn't matter if the audience can accept the concept of Sinestro, or if it's in the same universe, if you want Batman comics to be good, the stories should be about ninjas and crime and gadgets, even though technically an alien could show up and the story make sense, that doesn't make for a very good
Batman story. Same with Arrow. Right now, however overpowered they may be, Ray Palmer has gadgets, so he fits in.
4?) Because Atom is grounded now, and super powers are cohesive (they have a common origin in the Particle Accelerator), it doesn't really make sense for him to shrink. There's no gadget or technology to make it seem real and not cartoony. It doesn't help his character, it's just a nod to fans that care little for the character if he's not in spandex surfing on phone lines.
For my part, I like The Atom as he's been shown on the show. I think a few more nods to his comic counterpart could be nice. They touched on the idea of shrinking down technology and incorporating OMAC tech, I think that'd be brilliant to expand on. In fact, just him having some nanomachines could go a loooong way towards awesomeness. I look forward to seeing him get to spread his wings a bit more in an expanding show.
