Why Lex Luthor Won't Appear In Crisis On Infinite Earths DC Crossover Event

Michael Rosenbaum reveals why he wont be joining Smallville stars Tom Welling and Erica Durance.

by Andrew Pollard
Michael Rosenbaum Smallville
The WB

After the recent confirmation that Smallville stars Tom Welling and Erica Durance will be reprising their roles of Superman and Lois Lane, respectively, for this December’s ginormous Arrowverse crossover event – Crisis on Infinite Earths – many fans have been hoping that Michael Rosenbaum will once again pick up his Smallville role of Lex Luthor.

Unfortunately, Rosenbaum himself has moved to completely quash those hopes.

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To be fair to the actor, you can completely understand his point on this one – even though it would’ve been all kinds of fantastic to see what Rosenbaum’s Luthor has been up to in the years since Smallville came to a close back in 2011.

Crisis on Infinite Earths will air across five episodes of The CW’s shared Arrowverse of shows later this year, kicking off with Supergirl on December 8th, before then playing out across Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, and finishing off with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on December 14th.

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Given the comic book arc that Crisis on Infinite Earths is loosely based upon, it’s expected that this all-encompassing event will essentially streamline a whole bunch of DC TV series into one shared world.

When all is said and done, Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Smallville, and who know what other shows could well exist in one merged timeline.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.