Okay so clearly we just had some fun with Nic Cage and Superman toys, but why stop with the Tim Burton movie? What if he was Cyborg Superman, or Zombie Superman... and so on. And while we're at it, what about these guys for the big red-and-blue blur? Just throwing it out there: Jon Hamm as Superman seems like a good idea:

But in all seriousness we want to know what you think about the original image, which we ran the other day. Real, or bad Photoshop job?

io9 movie pitch photoshopping by Julia Carusillo.

So it seems like you always play dark roles, like Crashdown, the Secret Apprentice... and now Doomsday. Are you like the Lord of Darkness?

I'm trying to figure that out. Well, you know, yeah. What's funny about that is the Doomsday character, or Darth Vader's apprentice, or a lot of these characters... they're not straight dark characters. They have other dimensions to them. And I think maybe that's why they offer [those roles] to me, I'm not really sure. In The Mist, I was a nice guy. That didn't work out too well for me.

But for example, Doomsday. You will not meet Doomsday, you will meet a guy named Davis Bloome. Who is a paramedic. Really nice guy, really conscientious individual. And the problem is that he's blacking out. He's having these blackouts. He wants to know what's going on with that, and when he learns the truth, it's horrifying to him, and hopefully it'll be horrifying to the audience, because we are trying to take our time with who he is as an individual before any of this stuff goes down. And he's a really good guy. I actually like him very much.

Or Darth Vader's apprentice.

He's a good guy?

I wouldn't say that, because he goes through and... causes some trouble.

He kills everyone he meets.

Not everyone. There's a few survivors. But Darth Vader's apprentice didn't start out that way. He started out as a very innocent young boy who Vader kidnaps, essentially, and then raises as a son. But it should be noted that if Darth Vader had a little good in him, well, who knows what he might have passed on to his adopted son? That's all I can say. These characters, I guess what I'm saying is: are they psychologically complex? Yeah, they actually are. And it's really fun to play.

So you're the final Cylon, right?

(Laughs.) I don't know, am I? I'll have to ask Ron Moore.

The Smallville producers showed a new season eight trailer, which included footage from previous seasons, but also new footage of Green Arrow, Aquaman, Black Canary and new characters Davis Bloome/Doomsday and Tess Mercer. New clips included Clark getting the stuffing beat out of him in Russia, Chloe saying that she's nothing special, while trying to get away from an attacker, and Chloe and Jimmy together. And Metropolis in ruins. Green Arrow shoots Clark, and then we see an S-pendant in Clark's hand. And Doomsday saying: "There's something out there, and whatever it is, it can kill you."

The big announcement at the Smallville panel was that Geoff Johns will write an episode of the show, introducing the Legion Of Superheroes, Clark's buddies from the 30th and 31st centuries. It's a kind of goofier, more futuristic version of the Justice League, where everybody has "flight rings" that allow them to fly, and most characters have one super-power that's spelled out in his/her name, like Matter-Eater Lad or Lightning Lass.

Also, the producers repeated their previous statements that they would keep the "no tights" rule for Clark, but relax the show's old "no flights" rule. They said they wouldn't rule out a cross-over with fellow CW show Supernatural. Tess Mercer won't just be replacing Lex as head of LuthorCorp, she'll also be Clark's boss at the Daily Planet. Chloe will be developing new powers, and other new attributes, this season. Also, it was hinted that the footage of Metropolis strewn with rubble was the result of Doomsday putting the big crazy smackdown on Clark's ass. Picture of Smallville Comic-Con bag from Seat 42F. [Thanks To Smallville Podcast and Wizard Universe]

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello's insider sources spilled about Witwer's casting along with the addition of Cassidy Freeman as Lex Luthor's Supergirl-like spy named Tess. This character oversees all of Lex Luthor's dealings in Lex's absence, is obsessed with the missing bald villain, and will do anything he asks of her.

The addition of Doomsday to Smallville was most likely made in hopes of keeping the tension and suspense that walked out the door with the exit of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang (although both are rumored to make appearances). The debate has been on as to how they would make such a ridiculous character like Doomsday blend in among the real people. Looks like Doomsday will play a bartender at the Ace Of Clubs in Metropolis named David Bloome (my money was on tattoo artist). But by night Bloome becomes a serial killer. It's just a matter of time before he pisses off Clark by trying to kill Chloe, if she's out of the government's pokey. Truly Witwer is the luckiest actor of 2008, he's immortalized in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, manned a raptor on BSG and now could very well get to kill Superman on Smallville.

[Michael Ausiello]