Smallville’s Phantom Zone story in season 6 fixed the biggest problem with the show’s version of Clark Kent (Tom Welling). A big issue with Clark in Smallville – particularly in his early years – was how he continuously sought to avoid his destiny. It took a long time for Clark to become the hero he was destined to be. In fact, it took a full ten years before he finally reached the end of his journey to becoming Superman.
Smallville season 6 was an interesting chapter in Clark’s life. After Brainiac (James Marsters) resurrected Zod in the body of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), Clark was banished to the Phantom Zone in the season 5 finale. In both DC Comics and in Smallville, the Phantom Zone is a prison dimension for intergalactic criminals. In the season 6 premiere, Clark escaped from the Phantom Zone and unwittingly freed all of its prisoners. As a result, season 6 focused on Clark having to deal with the villains he unleashed on the Earth. The Phantom Zone arc notably introduced Martian Manhunter (Phil Morris) and Bizarro to Smallville's world.
What Smallville did with Clark in season 6 was a much-needed change. Early in the season, Clark was called out by Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) for using his powers to protect his friends, rather than actively looking for people to save. Through Oliver, Smallville openly acknowledged this problem with Clark. The episodes that followed showed a different side of the character, as he became determined to find and defeat all the criminals who escaped from the Negative Zone, or as Clark and Chloe (Allison Mack) called them, “Zoners.” Thanks to satellite images from Queen Industries, Clark was able to spend most of season 6 tracking them down one by one.
Because of the Zoners, Clark’s primary concern through most of season 6 wasn’t Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) or a situation with his personal life. In fact, Clark was almost obsessive in his relentless hunt for the Zoners. That’s the opposite of how Smallville approached its Stones of Power story in season 4. Though ordered by Jor-El to find the three Stones, Clark made little effort to retrieve them until the season 4 finale. The other characters in the story, such as Lex, Lana, Jason (Jensen Ackles), and Lionel (John Glover) devoted more time to finding them than Clark did.
Season 5 handled this issue a bit better by putting him at odds with Brainiac and Lex, but it wasn’t until season 6 that he was fully committed to a cause. Numerous episodes in season 6 involved Clark heading off and investigating an alien presence. His season-long crusade to catch all the Zoners amounted to a positive turning point for Clark, as it showed him really taking the initiative for a change, instead of waiting for a problem to come to him. Clark still had a long way to go before becoming Superman of course, but Smallville season 6 pushed him in the right direction.