Heads up, Supes fans! Tonight at 9 pm/ET, the WB airs "Calling," part one of Smallville's two-part season finale. Besides resisting the urge to mount lovely Lana, Clark (Tom Welling) will explore more of his alien origins. So expect flashy surprises!

Such as? "We will hear the voice of Jor-El," exec producer Al Gough tells TV Guide Online. "And we got an actor who's certainly meaningful to Superman fans. I can't say who... he is from the Superman movies. It was our first [casting] choice, so we're happy about that."

Just so you're not confused, it won't be the original Jor-El. "It is not Marlon Brando," Gough laughs. "That I can definitely tell you. Once you hear the voice, you'll know." (Put on your thinking caps, 'cause we won't spoil it!)

Future Smallville seasons will bring more casting stunts. "We would like to expand the show a little to incorporate some of those other characters from the [DC] comics," he says. "[Exec producer] Miles Millar and I have been talking about Bruce Wayne for two years, and that's something we'd certainly like to see happen in Season Three. We would also like to see Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and potentially Lois Lane — but maybe not her until Season Four."

No doubt some serious dream casting sessions are going on. "We do have somebody in mind that we'd like to approach for Perry White," Gough reveals. "We haven't talked to him yet, though, so I'd prefer not to do it online!"

Youthful passions flare weekly on Smallville (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET), the WB's series about Superman's teen years. Funny thing is, Clark Kent (Tom Welling) is in a love triangle with Lana Lang and Chloe Sullivan, but getting zero play!

"Yes, Clark is a virgin — and will remain so," exec producer Al Gough confirms to TV Guide Online. "The show is about romance, not about sex like Dawson's Creek, where they just hop into bed with each other."

Oh, c'mon now. Though Welling plays a high school sophomore, he certainly looks all of his 26 years! (Something he has in common with the Creek cast.) He may blush like a pro, but it's still a mite tough to buy this grown actor as a virginal teenage boy. Why must he stay so chaste? Who is he, 90210 's Tori Spelling?! Laughs Gough: "Look, in the proud tradition of Grease, do we ever ask on the WB how old these kids are?"

But seriously, folks. "Once you cross that line [of sex], then you forever change the character and the series," Gough says. "It's not something we want to do at this stage of the game. It'll definitely be down the road."

The Smallville honcho says that deflowering Clark Kent means opening quite a Pandora's box. "First of all, there's physical, biological issues," Gough chuckles. "With his superpower, would he crush somebody [during sex]? Can he mate with someone? Not that he couldn't — he obviously looks human. But there's super equipment, so you'd have to be pretty darn careful!

Perhaps you've seen the billboards, the posters, the print ads — a startling vision, indeed, of a barechested young lad, grim and moody, strapped to a wooden brace scarecrow-style (some might say, unsettlingly Matthew Shepard-style) in a cornfield. On his chest is painted a red "S."

Not for sado-masochism, silly. This is Clark Kent we're talking about. And not just any Clark Kent, but a young, handsome, WB version of the angst-filled hunk who will grow up to be Superman.

The WB may have lost Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the high-bidding UPN — and how awesome was Buffy's revelation last week that being brought back from the dead really meant leaving heaven behind for a living hell — but the network hasn't given up on first-rate fantasy with an adolescent kick.

Smallville, contemporary in look but nostalgic in tone, is a terrific revisionist twist on the Superman legend. Like early Dawson's Creek if there were trace elements of Kryptonite in the water, this series envisions Clark (the appealingly earnest Tom Welling) as an awkward farmboy who is only just beginning to come to grips with his otherworldly otherness.

"I'd give anything to be normal," he tells his upstanding dad Jonathan Kent (former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider, who's better than you'd expect). Little does Clark know what dad has been keeping from him in the storm cellar: the ship, the swaddling clothes, all those things that would make him an "X-File" if this were on another network.

With the blessing from D.C. Comics to mix things up, the producers have pledged there will be "no flights and no tights" in this take on Superboy. Clark has a lot of growing up to do before becoming the icon we've come to know so well. In another radical switch, the character of future arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) here befriends Clark in an uneasy bonding of spoiled rich scion and principled, humble hayseed. Both see themselves as misfits and outcasts and as Smallville develops, we can hope for some interesting twists as they head toward their destiny.

This being a WB guilty pleasure, Smallville wouldn't be complete without a moony romance, which accounts for Clark's forlorn infatuation with ingenue-next-door Lana Lang (the luminous Kristin Kreuk). Note for trivia buffs: Annette O'Toole, who joined the show late as Clark's mom Martha, played the Lana role in 1983's Superman III.

Clark, as tradition requires, becomes a total klutz in Lana's presence, falling over his feet at school and dropping his books, which, we hate to admit, include a copy of Nietzsche.

"So what are you, man or superman?" asks the coy Lana. To which he replies, "I haven't figured it out yet."

Thankfully, Smallville isn't usually that cutesy or clumsy. The lavish pilot is a true attention-getter, from the opening flashback to 1989, when a cataclysmic Kryptonite meteor shower brings ruin (but also the arrival of pint-sized Clark) to Smallville to a climactic bout between Clark and a hazing victim who has evolved into a vengeful, Carrie-like adversary.

Before Michael Rosenbaum was handed the role of a twentysomething Lex Luthor on the WB's new Superman saga Smallville (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET), producers issued him a stern ultimatum. "They pretty much said, 'If you want to be Lex, you've got to shave your head,'" the chrome-domed actor tells TV Guide Online. "I tried on a bald cap, but I looked like a conehead. So I said, 'Alright. Let's be a man about it. Let's shave it.'"

Truth be told, Rosenbaum — who previously worked for the WB as a star of the short-lived comedy Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane — would have gotten his bikini line waxed if the plum part called for it. "It took about a week for it to settle in," recalls the 29-year-old New York native of his first days playing one of pop culture's most famous bad guys. "I was on the set and saw a truck that said Luthor Corp., and the license plate on my Porsche said 'Lex Luthor'... I thought 'I'm [expletive] Lex Luthor!' I mean, that's a dream!"

Of course, reality soon set in when the up-and-comer remembered that he'd be portraying a character originated on the big screen by two-time Oscar-winner Gene Hackman. However, that initial panic eventually gave way to a cool confidence. "How do I fill his shoes? I don't," he insists. "I just do my own thing." Luckily, aside from their memberships to the Hair Club for Men, Rosenbaum's Lex and Hackman's Lex share little in common. In addition to the obvious age difference, new Lex won't be as one-note rotten as old Lex (think Anakin Skywalker pre-Darth Vader).

"We're going to follow Lex on his journey to becoming evil," explains the star of the upcoming Animal House-like farce Sorority Boys (due next spring). "But as of now, he's just an ambitious, charismatic, misunderstood guy." And if Rosenbaum has it his way, you'll be able to add "hysterically funny" to that list. After all, given Smallville's dark tone, someone will have to lighten things up — and who better than the show's resident goofball/prankster.

While he's an accomplished stage actor, Tony winner John Glover (Love! Valour! Compassion!) is better known for playing big-screen baddies. Moviegoers often have loved to hate him in cheesy fare like Batman & Robin, Robo Cop 2 and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Currently, he's enjoying a meatier sort of gig on Smallville as Lex's father, shady mogul Lionel Luthor.

The show's prequel-style format — which follows Clark Kent's high-school years — intrigued Glover from the start. "It's when all the Superman characters are being formed," he tells TV Guide. "I think what's so interesting about it is, the viewer knows what they're going to turn into, but we're seeing the roots and the forces that made them what they are."

Naturally, Lionel's dysfunctional upbringing of Lex is partly what'll turn him into Superman's chrome-domed, kryptonite-wielding archenemy. "Of course, but I'm just giving him tests of strength, so it's not really my fault!" Glover grins mischievously. "People find Lionel interesting because Lex is still struggling with goodness. He's trying so hard to be a good person."

While Glover acknowledges some WB series are long on looks and short on acting talent, he says that's not true of Smallville's sexy, young cast, as led by Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. "They're terrific," he enthuses. "We've all been growing. They're so enthusiastic and attentive; they're all real, human actors. I think that's why the show is so popular."

Come February sweeps, the WB's Smallville gives Superman fans not just one Man of Steel, but two. In the Feb. 25 episode, Tom Welling — who plays Clark Kent in his pre-costume days — acts opposite guest star Christopher Reeve!

"I just thought it would be fun," says Reeve, who played Superman in four big-screen outings. "It's a very welcome relief from politics and medical research."

Since he was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback-riding accident, Reeve has spent much of his time working as an advocate for paralysis research. For this special occasion, he's filmed a public service announcement to air just after the Smallville episode. The movie icon says he enjoyed his TV guest spot — his only Supes-related venture since Superman IV was released in 1987.

"I play a scientist who has given most of his life to advanced astronomy and looking out into the solar system," Reeve previews. "I discover some information that is very relevant to Clark, and I bombard him with e-mail and phone calls to get him to come to New York. Finally, he does, so he's going to learn some things about his character."

When Disney's gender-bending comedy Sorority Boys opens this Friday, Smallville fans everywhere will be flocking to theaters to catch Lex Luthor in drag. However, witnessing the bald baddie's portrayer, Michael Rosenbaum, wearing a dress won't be nearly as shocking as seeing him as a frat boy with — yikes! — hair.

And bad hair at that.

Smallville devotees can rest assured, however, that the '70s-esque shag Rosenbaum sports in the film isn't his real 'do. "That was just a horrible wig," says chrome-domed actor, who keeps his head shaved for his role as Clark Kent's future foe. "I wanted it to be bad because it was a comedy."

Despite the hairdon't, Rosenbaum welcomed the opportunity to get back to his roots in Sorority Boys, which finds the self-proclaimed comic playing one of three fraternity brothers who dress in drag in order to get into a sorority house. "I'm this sinister, dark, ambiguous character on TV, so it was nice to play a role that's the antithesis of that," admits the former star of the short-lived WB comedy Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.

If you happened to bump into actress Allison Mack on the street, chances are, you'd recognize the face. But placing that face would be another thing altogether.

"I always get, 'You have one of those faces,'" the rising star of TV (7th Heaven) and film (Camp Nowhere) tells TV Guide Online. "It's probably because I've just been around the block for a while. [And] I don't look too much like any of the other teen actresses that are out right now."

Well, Mack's profile is about to increase dramatically with her new gig as Clark Kent's buddy Chloe on the WB's Smallville (airing Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET). Last week, the WB's Teen of Steel drama pulled in 8.4 million viewers, giving the WB its highest-rated series bow in its seven-year history.

Incidentally, Mack confesses that she couldn't tell a chunk of kryptonite from an emerald stone when she landed the part. "The only thing I knew about Superman was that my brother liked him [because he] was always flying around the house with a red towel tied to his back," laughs the up-and-comer, who adds that she's nonetheless well-versed on her character's backstory. "She's very spunky and she doesn't take any crap from anybody. She's very witty and quick, and I'm a lot like that in my everyday life."

Tom Welling wants to clear up a widely-held misconception about his role on the WB's highly-touted new fall drama, Smallville: He will not be playing the Man of Steel. "I'm not Superman — I'm Clark Kent, before he was Superman," the up-and-comer tells TV Guide Online. "Not many people know that."

It may seem like a silly distinction, but given Hollywood's knack for pigeonholing small screen superheroes — Adam West, Lynda Carter, Dean Cain — Welling clearly has his long-term career interests at heart. "I actually thought that at the beginning," he says of being branded Superman for life. "But, then I read the script, and there's so much to it that I'm not worried. It's quality stuff."

In fact, based on a short clip shown to advertisers last week, Smallville — which will air Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET after Gilmore Girls — has emerged as one of next season's most buzzed about shows. (An opening meteor shower sequence left the audience of jaded Madison Avenue execs spellbound.) Still, the junior Superman, er, Clark Kent, insists the advance hype isn't weighing on him like a ton of kryptonite.

Nothing Puny About Smallville's Appeal

When Clark Kent is good, he's terrific. But when he's bad, he's unforgettable.

Or so we learned in last month's outstanding "red kryptonite" episode of WB's Smallville (Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET), as Clark (Tom Welling) developed a sinister rebel streak after donning a class ring containing the meteoric rock. The usually polite farm boy turned on his dad (the excellent John Schneider), got in a bar fight and planted a Super smooch on his shocked object of desire, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk).

With a deliciously nasty gleam in his doe eyes, the underrated Welling took obvious relish in shedding Clark's earnestness. Such moments as these have propelled this exceedingly clever revision of the superhero legend to WB's most-watched-series status in its second season.

Smallville is best when turning Clark's growing pains into inspired twists on classic Superman mythology. His heat vision first exhibited itself in hormonally charged bursts of fire during a sex-ed class. "I'm maturing into a fire starter?" fretted Clark, who has been called a "hottie" at least twice this season.

The show is also maturing nicely, revealing unexpected connections between the struggling Kents and the ultrarich Lionel Luthor (John Glover) and his conflicted son, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum). Family matters also embroil Lana, who just learned her real father is alive. And how smart of the writers to let one of Clark's pals (Sam Jones III as Pete) in on his secret.