Thus far in Supergirl's first season run, Superman has only been seen in the shadows, with producers teasing that the Man of Steel may appear at some point to help out his less famous cousin. We know that the show has been casting a much younger Kal-El for flashback scenes in this first run of episodes. Now, we have word from Smallville's very own Clark Kent about the possibility of Tom Welling returning to reprise the role of Superman. But it only sounds like wishful thinking at the moment.

Tom Welling played the high school aged Clark Kent on The CW's Smallville for ten seasons, holding the longest tenure of any Man of Steel thus far. BuzzFeed has a new interview where Tom Welling looks back at his long run as Kal-El, the last son of Krypton, and discussed the possibility of returning to play the role. Here's what he had to say.

"There's people who would like it... there's people who don't like it, but I will tell you that no one has ever actually asked me to do it. So, I don't know. It would be kind of odd. I don't know who he is at that point. He would obviously be Superman...It's a compliment, I'm very proud of shows like Arrow [and] The Flash. ... They're able to ground these characters so that the viewer can relate on a human level to people who used to be only in two dimensions."

So, no one has approached the actor to appear on Supergirl in perhaps the biggest role DC Comics has to offer. But it's not beyond the far reaches of what may happen in the near future. Supergirl does have Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman's Dean Cain playing Kara Zor-El's adoptive dad. And they've brought back former Supergirl, Helen Slater to play Kara's adoptive step-mom. Even Smallville's own Supergirl, Laura Vandervoort is set to appear as the villain Indigo.

Tom Welling isn't completely opposed to reprising his role as Clark Kent, and he speaks fondly of Smallville. He started playing the role at 24, and since the comic adventure ended its run, he's mostly stayed out of the limelight with the exception of a few small roles here or there. He went onto speak about how his story arc over the course of ten seasons sort of mirrors his own journey in life.

"There was a lot of growing up I needed to do on that show. Fortunately, Clark had no idea what the hell he was doing and I had no idea what the hell I was doing, We kind of grew up together."

It's been said in the past that Supergirl happens in an alternate universe as to the one seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and its upcoming spinoffs. We'll not likely see Henry Cavill reprise his role as Superman on CBS soon. Though it's highly speculated that Kal-El will appear at sometime in the near future, even if it isn't for Supergirl Season 1. It's also possible that Tom Welling will follow other superhero alumni that has appeared on the show, and play a character that is far removed from the Superman persona. The actor is currently in the midst of developing the drama Section 13 for CBS, so it sounds like he already has a home on the network. What do you think? Do you want to see Tom Welling return as Superman? Or should it be someone new?