Justice League Assembles, But Beyond Smallville?

The next episode of "Smallville" seems primed to bring the Justice League to TV, and this is something fans like myself have not only been predicting but eagerly awaiting. A preview played following last week’s "Smallville" episode, "Subterranean," for the next new hour, kicking off a two-episode extravaganza for the New Year with "Hydro" set to air on The CW on Thursday, January 11th and "Justice" set for the following Thursday, the 18th. The teaser was just the kind of stuff that gets a fan’s pulse racing and taps into the fan dream with one of those things you always wanted to see on the show but never thought you would.

In the return of epic proportions, "Hydro" features Lois delving deep into the question of Green Arrow’s identity. Then, it all leads into the next week with "Justice" where Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) seemingly has assembled an army of mutants, and who better to take them on than the JLA. That’s right, all the members of the team that have appeared in full to date in one episode; The Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and even Cyborg gets to join in to fight the good fight. Martian Manhunter will not be back for these two episodes. And now a quick warning that the following is a spoiler; Kryptonsite.com reports that Martian Manhunter will be back for the episode after "Justice" entitled "Labyrinth."

In "Justice," Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Justin Hartley, and Lee Thompson Young will all be reprising the roles as a few of DC’s most elite superheroes. The combined preview for the first two episodes of 2007 finishes with Bart Allen, Oliver Queen, Clark Kent, Arthur Curry, and Victor Jones marching together, ready for battle. It’s a real rush to see. Just when you thought the show couldn’t top some of its best moments, "Smallville" may outdo itself yet. But, this supercharged imagery brings the inevitable question to mind; are they considering a series? Because for many who have been disappointed by things like the failed "Justice League of America" TV pilot of 1997 and the sunken pilot of "Aquaman" last year, this is just too exciting to contain within the realm of "Smallville."

There aren’t just those who would love to see something like this come to fruition. There are actual rumors floating out there that this really is the "launching pad" some of us feel it might be. For the origin of talk that this is really meant to be a jumping board into a JLA TV show (which it certainly seems primed to be), FilmJunk.com cited Dark Horizons who cited Comics Continuum to no concrete avail. Even FilmJunk is skeptical about the word on the net, but superhero TV seems ripe for another infusion. NBC’s "Heroes" is evidence of this. "Smallville" is in its sixth year, and the superhero/comics craze is still going in theaters, so it only makes sense that it is still trying to break back onto television. From the late 70s to the early 90s, superheroes kept coming to TV (in live action form) with shows from "The Incredible Hulk" to "Wonder Woman" to "Lois & Clark." Then, it was only when "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" brought superheroes roaring back to the big screen that they started to reappear on the small one.

The stage could not be more set for a JLA spin-off and even the viewers know this, but it remains to be seen if there will actually be one to come from this. "Smallville" has certainly brought it closer than ever before and made it better than it’s ever been before.