Crisis on Infinite Earths proved that Smallville’s Clark (Tom Welling) never did learn the most important lesson from his journey to becoming the Man of Steel. The Superman prequel series spent ten seasons turning Clark Kent from a small-town high school freshman with super powers to a Daily Planet reporter who moonlights as a superhero.
The Smallville series finale ended with Clark finally fulfilling his destiny. Years later, the 2019-2020 Arrrowverse crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, incorporated Smallville into its multiverse and featured cameos from Clark and Lois (Erica Durance) to wrap up their story. When Iris West (Candice Patton), along with the Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) of Earth-38, visited Smallville’s Earth, they found Clark living a quiet life on the Kent Farm. Apparently, Clark gave up his Kryptonian abilities so that he could get married and start a family with Lois. This disgusted Earth-38’s Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer), who couldn’t understand how Clark could just walk away from being Superman.
Clark’s decision to get rid of his abilities means that despite everything that happened in Smallville, he still failed to grasp the importance of his biggest lesson, which was that he truly needs his powers. In the season 5 premiere, Clark made a fatal mistake when he broke a deal with Jor-El (voiced by Terence Stamp). Jor-El punished Clark by stripping him of his powers. Instead of asking for them to be restored, Clark was ecstatic that he could finally have a normal, romantic relationship with Lana (Kristin Kreuk). The problem, though, is that though Clark didn’t want his abilities, he couldn’t give up on being a hero either. Clark wasn’t able to survive two full episodes without getting shot in the chest. Clark died on the operating table, forcing Jor-El to intervene and resurrect him. Jor-El told him that bringing Clark back to life would mean that someone else would have to die in his place. This person was supposed to be Lana, but in the end, it was Jonathan Kent (John Schneider).
Jonathan’s death was ultimately the result of Clark’s own desire to be normal, which was something that he had longed for since the series premiere. Over the course of the series, he had a few chances to experience what that was like. Having someone’s life exchanged for his since simply because he was powerless proved to be one of Clark’s greatest mistakes in Smallville. He admitted to Chloe (Allison Mack) that he never should have given up his powers. In a season 8 episode, it was revealed that there was still a part of Clark who still wanted that for himself when Zatanna (Serinda Swan) granted his secret wish to be normal. By the end of the episode, Clark regained his abilities by realizing that he actually did want his powers. At this point, Clark came to understand that his abilities were a part of him.
Clark went through a lot in Smallville, and eventually outgrew his greatest wish from season 1 as he developed a sense of responsibility to the world, due in part to encouragement that he received from Oliver (Justin Hartley), his parents, Lana, Chloe, and Jor-El — but based on the events in Crisis On Infinite Earths, sometime after season 10, Clark took a step backward by returning to his old mindset.