I'm kind of surprised the show has lasted this long, as I was never a fan of Smallville and always thought it was boring whenever I did manage to catch an episode. Well, people apparently like what they like, and so Smallville has been on the air now for nine seasons. When network TV returns once again for its fall season, Smallville will be moving into his tenth season, and based on what star Tom Welling revealed, it will indeed be the last season of the show.

As you can probably tell since we've yet to ever have a review of Smallville on this site, nobody on here really watches the show or likes it all that much. Of course, we know it's still got a very loyal fanbase, which is why it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Smallville will be returning next year for its tenth season.

Smallville joins Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries as other sci-fi/fantasy genre shows returning to The CW next year.

As of late, Smallville has been bringing a lot of DC characters onto the show, such as Doomsday, Green Arrow, the JSA, etc. The latest character to be making the transition from the comics to the television series is Maxwell Lord, who will be played by Gil Bellows. Lord is a unique character, as he was portrayed as a good guy and JL backer for a long time, but then was later revealed to be a villain.

We've seen the pictures of Michael Shanks as Hawkman in the upcoming Justice Society story of Smallville. Doctor Fate and Stargirl also make appearances in the episode, but so far nobody has seen pictures of them...until now! Hop on over to see what they look like. Doctor Fate looks pretty good. I might just have to watch this Smallville episode.

Smallville has been putting in a bunch of DC heroes as of late, which is a trend set to continue when the show introduces the Justice Society. We've known that Hawkman would be in there - and we've seen pics of Shankman as Hawkman too - but now a new preview has been released that shows quick glimpses of characters such as Sandman, Doctor Fate, and even a Green Lantern.

Hawkman is one of the latest DC characters getting the Smallville treatment, and he's being played by none other than Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks. I'm a bit torn on the picture - I'm glad they stuck to the traditional design of the character, but it looks a tad awkward too (maybe it will come across better on film). Besides seeing the first picture of Shanks as Hawkman, there's also an interview for you to read about his work on the show.

Stargate: SG-1's Dr. Daniel Jackson - aka Michael Shanks - is continuing to pop-up in various sci-fi related roles, as he's signed on to appear as Hawkman in this season's Smallville. The DC characters don't often appear in the show exactly as their comic book counterparts, but the idea of Shanks looking anything like Hawkman should be cool.

Smallville has had a number of DC characters in the form of both heroes and villains, but this may be the most unique yet. Allison Scagliotti (the lovely Claudia on Warehouse 13) and David Gallagher were just cast as a pair of twins, who are indeed going to be the Wonder Twins when the new season of Smallville starts.

"Better known by the names Zan and Jayna, in the comics the Wonder Twins can communicate telepathically and take the form of water in any state, be it solid, liquid or gas (him) or the form of any animal (her). Their signature move is to bump fists while declaring "Wonder Twin powers, activate!"

Zod made his presence known in the second Superman film and has seen become a pop culture figure thanks to his famous line. Zod is set to make his presence known in Smallville this year too, when actor Callum Blue takes on the role of the character.

"First of all, he's Major Zod at the moment, so he hasn't grown into General Zod," Blue revealed. "I want to make him a bit more manic. The Terence Stamp version is very cool, calm and collected. There is a level there. I have a certain amount of that, but I think he hasn't grown into it yet, so my take is that he has to calm down a bit, because he wants it right now. It's a bit of a spoiled-brat version of the character. He's very aristocratic, but he hasn't calmed into it yet, so that's a journey I can take with that character. In the first episode, he is the leader of a fascist party, so I have been watching a lot of Hitler, because he is very charismatic, and I want the character to be charismatic. The very interesting thing is that his army turns against him, and he's got to work to get them back on his side. He has to manipulate and kill a couple people to get that to happen. He's not as confident as the character is going to be in the future."

Smallville has always been about Clark Kent growing up into his role as Superman, but he's yet to really wear the famous outfit of the comics. Clark will be getting his first real Superman outfit this year when Smallville returns, but it doesn't look like you might expect...unless you expect Superman to be sporting a black "S" and a completely crimson version of an outfit from The Matrix.

He hasn't been used much, but one of Superman's most popular villains is Zod. Zod has appeared in Smallville before when he took over Lex Luthor (so I've heard), but he's set to appear again during the show's ninth season, being portrayed by English actor Callum Blue. Will Zod whoop Clark's butt? Will Zod team with Metallo?

Brian Austin Green - who fans last saw in the now dead Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - will have a stint in Smallville this next season, playing one of Superman's greatest foes...Metallo. There is no word on how many episodes he'll appear, but "stint" makes it seem it will be more than a one-time appearance.

The CW is proving to be one of the safest homes for genre television this season, as (to my knowledge) the show has just picked up all of its genre shows for at least another season. The only exception is Reaper, which has yet to start its second season, so it's only justifiable that it wasn't among the ones picked up for another season just yet. If you're a Smallville or Supernatural fan, however, you'll be seeing all your favorite characters for at least one more television season.

The magic wielding DC character Zatanna will be appearing in Smallville this season, joining the ranks of other DC guest stars such as Flash, Green Arrow, Cyborg, etc. Zatanna will be played by Canadian actress Serinda Swan. She will make her appearance in the seventh episode of the season entitled "Hex."

It's no surprise that Heroes' Sylar has daddy issues, especially after this week's episode when he learned Papa Petrelli isn't his father. Sylar's real father will be appearing, however, in the guise of actor John Glover (probably most notable to comic/sci-fi fans as the father of Lex Luthor on Smallville). You can click the link to learn a potential little spoiler about him too.