Greetings shippers welcome back today we have a classic pairing that despite having potential
laid out for decades only exploded thanks to an extremely popular proto cw and eventual
full cw show.
We’re going to be looking at Clex the pairing of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor a pairing that
could extend far beyond smallville but owes most of it’s popularity and the majority
of its fandom content to this series and era.
There’s a lot to explore here as always so let’s get to it, but before we do we
have to thank the lovely people over on patreon as this video was the winner of the monthly
vote.
Thanks so much to all who voted we get such interesting ships pushed to the foreground
that way.
This one is an early digital era fandom classic.
Also if you love comics we started a second channel casually comics where we chat comics
all the time it’s a fun so hop on over if you’re interested now onto Clex.
The characters of Superman and Lex Luthor are quite firmly established in the annals
of pop culture.
Superman hails from the golden age being created in 1938 in action comics #1 in fact he launches
the golden age of heroes.
Lex didn’t follow far behind appearing in action comics #23 in 1940.
And from there their arch enemyship would be established though they would both become
far more fleshed out over time and the details of their history as well as Lex’s overall
characterization would change.
For example the suave business man persona would only take root firmly in the 80s with
Superman’s soft reboot.
Before that he was far more i the mad scientist category.
However since the start these two’s relationship was pivotal to Clark’s character Lex opposed
him but the why would evolve.
Now as mentioned when most think of Clex they think of smallville a teen drama series about
teen clark growing up in smallville which began in 2001 and ended in 2011.
The series would start off with Clark and Lex having a strong friendship that even viewers
with only a passing comic book knowledge knew was doomed it added a tragic aura to the proceedings
that helped galvanize some shippers on top of that was just how the two played the rolls.
Particularly michael rosanbaum as Lex who was compeltely absorbed in Clark, attemtping
to shower him with gifts be in his life any way he could but also still super curious
about what was clearly off about Clark.
While Clark wanted to be his friend thought he was cool and worldly and a little dangerous
but couldn’t get too close.
The series opener would see Clark saving Lex after lex hit him with his car and even that
frame of Lex reaching out to clark a look of pure awe on his face was enough to start
it for some.
You would have moments that piled on each other.
Lex helping Clark do up his tie, Clark wanting to run off to Metropolis with him when under
the influence of red kryptonite.
The standing invitation to Luthor manor.
It all started to add up and this series was also airing just when online fandom was starting
to gain traction and so became one of the hallmark ships of early era fanfiction.
However because of this not all of it has survived.
In 2001 fanfiction.net the first centralized specifically fanfiction hub was new only having
been founded in 1998.
So most fandom activity still took place on forums or individually maintained fansites.
Not all have been maintained over the years as maintaining a domain costs money and as
years go by and resources and in some instances interest wanes some have fallen by the wayside
and not all the fics were archived or moved.
Even later popular blogging sites such as livejournal would see many entries purged
So many fics have been lost but people have saved what they can, and there are still a
fair amount on the now big hubs.
But the number does not do justice to how big this pairing was.
This was also the era of poor photoshop manips as more people having access to more professional
programs was also a newer phenomenon but what these lacked in skill they made up for in
enthusiasm.
Now as this pairing offered many things, aus where the two remained friends, just alternate
tellings where clark told him his secret, also the angst route once their friendship
inevitably dissolved.
Another common element one would find was people incorporating comic book elements into
their works creating a kind of fusion of the two or playing the alternate universe game
both could yield fun results.
However, funnily enough one of things the show was oft said to have been unique for
the friendship in smallville between clark and lex is actually inaccurate.
Clark and LEx had a history of well not quite friendship but almost brief friendliness and
then bitter rivalry with Lex going full supervillain as a teen in the silver age this being the
period from 1956 to 1970.
Roughly.
Here Lex had been in smalllville with clark he was a young mad scientist and clark who
was superboy at the time was partially responsible for him losing his hair and thus a great rivalry
was born.
Smallville actually has a lot of these elements the friendship, growing up in smallville,
the hairloss, it loses the optimism of the silver age but in all honestly keeps much
of the zany.
Smallville at it’s start was part monster of the week part over the top teen drama,
part superhero show so it was an interesting mix.
This series managed to capture an audience primed for fandom in a way the comics and
other works hadn’t.
Clark and Lex had orbited each other for years and things had happened in comics and in other
adaptations that could be read an very shippable but hadn’t been by most people.of course
there were exceptions.
I personally can point out some highly shippable superman tas and justice league dcau shenanigans.
However, different works attract different audiences interested in engaging in different
ways and timing matters as well the internet has allowed fans to connect like never before
which in one of it ‘s positives has allowed fan communities to flourish and spread it
has however also made toxicity more accessible and visible as well as with most things it’s
a double edged sword.
Clex would be an integral part of smallville so much so that when Lex left some people
left with him.
So what was it about these two aside from the performances and the set up of doomed
friendship.
For many the two had chemistry Lex was looking to get clark out of his shell and show him
the world as it were and exposed him to concepts he wouldn’t have otherwise come into contact
with.
Clark was a bit of a sobering presence on lex but one that made him strive to be better
in the great irony that eventually he would bring out the worst in him.
The two had fun together and pulled each other so completely from the lives they were accustomed
that it created something new.
Their worlds seemed like they couldn’t fit together which made some want them to find
a way to make it work all the more.
For others it was the build up of moments and the subtle hints at superman canon that
made it feel almost like an au playing out before their eyes which in a way it was.
Now why did people not ship them Well for some it was the age gap though i the early
2000s vehemence about this was much smaller and also tended to be even smaller in queer
pairings.
What some people couldn’t get past was the amount of hurtful things the two did to each
other the hoops clark jumped through the deceptions he created to keep his secret from lex and
the stalkerish plots and machinations lex would engage in to try to trip clark up.
And for some the plots got too zany there was an early meme about how often lex learned
clark’s secret and then would forget it.
Lex in smallville had chronic amnesia.
Which led to another smallville general complaint one that it was too silly and the viewer couldn’t
connect let alone with a ship or that they would lose the pairing when smallville shifted
focus which it did a little after the halfway point becoming more of an assembling the justice
league show.
Others missed this shipping boat as shipping was still coming to the fore in online culture
while others had other pairings, or just didn’t care for one or both of the players involved.
For many fans now Clex and smallville are a nostalgic memory but the pairing of Lex
and clark isn’t dead far from in fact smallville has helped prime the motor for more to see
the potential for this pairing in other mediums, Connor Kent being biologically lex and clark’s
son huge shippable moment huge that some would have tossed aside but thanks to clex even
if one didn’t ship it on smallville it opened the floodgates of the potential of it for
some.
It’s still a smaller ship in general but you’ll now see more variance in it.
Also there are some great future fics in the clex smallville fandom angsty stuff.
Did you watch smallville or did you miss it?
Are you a clex shipper or do you have other clark pairings.
As always please share your thoughts down below and thanks so much for watching please
don’t forget to like share comment and subscribe.