They also showed Lana as a real potential for being a love interest. Part of Batman's charm is also his relationship with Catwoman and Talia and the rest of the women. Also, they showed that if they would expand the Super family with another character, Lana Lang would be a good choice.
Besides, theres tons of relationship with Martha and Jonathan that Smallville fleshed out where no where else have done. The scene with Pa Kent dying was voted as the #1 scene amongst all the medium that Pa Kent died. And you can't deny how powerful that episode was.
Thats because the writers made it. But its all changing with new 52. Well written or not, Earth 1 showed that if they made Superman with inner struggles and what not, following Smallville's formula, it could work. Plus Smallville's comics is actually the top selling digital book in DC. A breakthrough for digital comics, even beating Snyder's Batman in digital sales.
And yet, several millions of fans would disagree with you. Smallville made Superman relevant to teens and women. People are shouting about their favourite female character in DC is Lois Lane. Lex Luthor and Lois are their favourite characters. Without Smallville, Superman would be even more irrelevant in the pop culture and the picture they might think of when they think of Superman was Christopher Reeves in his underwear.
Now millions of teens that watched Smallville think of it as the greatest Superman story.
Superman have always been a household name. He is iconic, everyone knows him. But popularity is a whole different matter. People have been saying that Superman is lame and boring. But Smallville showed them a different side of Superman. That he is just like one of us. They don't have to cater to women, but women are not the sole audience for the show.
So Alas, I'm not really going to convince you that Smallville should rock your world, yes it is partially a little soapy, but you can't deny the impact Smallville has made and how they actually brought lotsa villains to life and introduced them to mainstream audience.
MOS would be great, I am definitely excited for that, but theres only so much a 2 hour movie can do. In time to come, people would remember Superheroes as iconic due to their long running TV series, animations and etc.
I don't see Smallville as a definitive story, Smallville is just showing a different side of Clark Kent, catering to the twihards and teens and even the comic book fans. Its just adding a chapter to Superman's long history of media influences. If you want the classic, theres STAS, Christopher Reeve's Superman. A light hearted take, theres Clark and Lois. A modern take, theres SR, a action pack take, theres MOS, a teen version, theres Smallville, or even all the animations Losh, Justice League and his animated DVD.
Superman is too iconic to be defined by a certain version of his media appearances. But with all these different version, theres different audience for it. You may not like it, but it doesnt mean millions others don't as well. Its just a way of reaching out to different audience. But lets leave our disagreement to Smallville as that. Agree to Disagree..
