1. Smallville Acknowledges That "Other" Superman Show
In terms of loyalty to fans, there's probably not a more respected television show based on a comic book than Smallville. Well, at least if you only count the first few seasons. After that things kind of slowed to a screeching halt. Still, the latter years of this angsty Superman saga did offer a few interesting things, like a few genius cameos that remind fans that, hey, there used to be a much worse soap opera involving Superman on the television. It started with the casting of Dean Cain as Dr. Curtis Knox, an immortal doctor with a working cure for "meteor freaks" who causes a ruckus in Season 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR8hmzApiHM Did anyone really think the creators of Smallville would be ballsy enough to pull Dean Cain away from whichever made-for-TV movie he was making to ask the worst ever Superman to play a major role on the new, much more awesome Superman show? And to double down on the "Please remember how bad other Superman shows have been" thing they also brought in Teri Hatcher, who played Lois Lane in The New Adventures of Superman, to play Lois Lane's mother. I don't know if we can classify this as a "passing of the torch," but it's the greatest "ripping the torch away and lighting eyebrows on fire with it" that's ever been done. Which other passings of the torch were funny, touching or otherwise brilliant? Share any more we missed down in the comments.