How Did Clark solve this problem in the original timeline?

[herolee10]

just out of curiosity though...how did Clark fix this problem back in the original timeline where he never met the Legion and was able to save Chloe from Brainiac's infection by using John Jones's crystal?

What did he make a different choice then or something?

[Hopefulsuicide]

Good point :lol:

Really good point actually... now i can't stop thinking about it.

The Legion really never should have left him that ring... it's had a serious effect on things.

[Estro-gen X]

This is why Geoff Johns should write every episode. Do a clever story that contains itself and guarantee the smallville writers will add an unnecessary plothole.

[neoblackdragon]

If Johns wrote every episode this show would be like the comic............wait......

Anyway I would assume Lake would not have came back or Clark dealt with her in a different way.

[Drakaun]

In all fairness, usually when it comes to time travel, if you go back in time and change the smallest thing it has a ripple effect, otherwise known as the butterfly effect. Perhaps in the timeline where the Legion didn't interfere, clark removed brainiac from Chloe just like he did with all the other phantoms, and one in particular I forget his name but Bow Wow played him. When Clark absorbed him into the crystal he was able to power the fortress back up with his essence, perhaps Clark did the same thing to restore the dark fortress and Jor El once again bailed him out of his mistakes saying there would be dire consequences and what not. Or it could be that he powered up the fortress again after brainiac was extracted and went through his training and because of this established his dual identity and finally being Superman and actually intelligent finally, he took down Linda Lake before she could do anything and didn't even have to go back in time because Superman is smart enough to do things right the first time with no do overs...apart from the whole roatating the world backwards which I never really agreed with anyway lol.

It also could be something completely different, much like in the second timeline how Linda Lake asked for Davis and caused him to realize he can control the creature without the drugs by killing her. It could be something just as insignificant. But still, when it comes to time travel you gotta always factor in the butterfly effect, you change one little thing and down the line it drastically alters the path of your current timeline.

[SupermanRox]

You makes some good points! Well said!

[Harrison_Bergeron]

With the LOS present, and a heads up of what was coming, Chloiac was still able to start downloading everyone's memories and such. With Clark acting on his own this would have been allowed to go on much longer. Who is to say that it was not allowed to go on long enough in the original timeline that Linda Lake and everything associated with this epi was negatively affected as well? Plus, Doomsday was released early from his crysaliss(?) when Brainiac was beaten, originally Clark may have had bigger fish to fry dealing with Doomsday.

[smallv17]

just out of curiosity though...how did Clark fix this problem back in the original timeline where he never met the Legion and was able to save Chloe from Brainiac's infection by using John Jones's crystal?

What did he make a different choice then or something?

LOL what's happened to my English, I can't understand the question!!:p

Can somebody explain it to me , please?:\

[Harrison_Bergeron]

LOL what's happened to my English, I can't understand the question!!:p

Can somebody explain it to me , please?:\

Before Clark was given the time travel ring, how did he deal with Linda Lake?

[smallv17]

Before Clark was given the time travel ring, how did he deal with Linda Lake?

Ohh now I get where the plothole is...

Herolee you have a point here..:\

Thanks very much!!!

[herolee10]

yeah, this is a tough one to figure out. Obviously in the Legion's original timeline, Clark was able to figure something out and come up with the persona known as Superman and still maintain his regular life as Clark.

I would like to think that they could have used the Legion's appearance in Clark's life to be the reason why the timeline went different.

That perhaps, Clark would have misunderstand on what the Legion meant about his effect on the world, and that Clark thought that it was Clark and not Superman who made the impact, therefore the Legion's appearance having changed the timeline in itself.

You see, in the original timeline, where Clark never met the Legion, he would have stopped Linda, without having to reveal his identity. However, since in this new timeline, where Clark did meet the Legion and got some info about the things he would do someday, and how he would help humanity accept aliens, perhaps that's what affected his decision.

[xrayvision]

If Johns wrote every episode this show would be like the comic............wait......

Anyway I would assume Lake would not have came back or Clark dealt with her in a different way.

Johns should write most if not every episode. This show is based on a comic book character and if the current writers are doing a disservice to DC's main hero, then they should be fired.

[Kinvalar]

I don't believe there is an original timeline without the visit from the Legion... That's why they never found... was it the baseball Clark hit? I can't remember... They had taken it from the era in the timeline. I think any inconsistencies with how Brainiac was defeated in the history books is entirely to cover-up the visit from the Legion.

[xrayvision]

I don't believe there is an original timeline without the visit from the Legion... That's why they never found... was it the baseball Clark hit? I can't remember... They had taken it from the era in the timeline.

That's what I'm wondering. There is no original timeline where Clark fixed the problem with John Jones' crystal & where he didn't meet the Legion. This episode happened after he met the Legion, so once he met them, meeting the Legion was part of the original timeline.

I think the proper question would be what would Clark have done had he never met the Legion. Now that's a good question. I guess he would have to retreat to the FOS & find a way to repair it and go back to the past the same way he did in Apocalypse.

[Harrison_Bergeron]

There had to have been a timeline where he used the crystal, otherwise Persuader would not have had a reason to comeback, this aint Terminator.

In the original timeline the crystal stopped Brainiac without affecting Jor-El's mind wipe, this is why Chloe was not mentioned in the history books. The baseball was just lost to time.

[xrayvision]

There had to have been a timeline where he used the crystal, otherwise Persuader would not have had a reason to comeback, this aint Terminator.

In the original timeline the crystal stopped Brainiac without affecting Jor-El's mind wipe, this is why Chloe was not mentioned in the history books. The baseball was just lost to time.

Maybe I'm confused. Was that Persuader's reason for showing up? I thought it was because he wanted to kill Clark & prevent the acceptance of aliens by humans, which happens thanks to Superman. I haven't watched Legion since it aired and the beginning is a little fuzzy. I don't remember there being a scene where MM's crystal ever worked on Brainiac. It worked on phantoms, but was never used against Brainiac or corporeal alien beings (he didn't use it to kill Aldar--he instead left his hand imprint in Aldar's back).

But I understand what you're saying about an original timeline. You could compare it to the way DC did the Crisis of Infinite Earths, but only up to a point. When comparing the pre- & post-Crisis eras, we the readers (outsiders) are aware that the history was completely different before & after. But the characters in the comics had no idea after the Crisis that their entire pasts & history changed. In Smallville it's similar in the fact that the viewers (outsiders) know that there are 2 timelines (one before a change is made & a modified one after). But the thing is, the characters are also aware of how things were before and how they are afterwards. This happened when Kara was sending messages after going back in time to Krypton with Brainiac that Dr. Swann intercepted and wrote in his journals. We saw Clark realize how the journals were changing with each message she sent. If time was written in the same manner it was with the Crisis, then Clark would have no recollection of the changes in Swann's journal and it would appear to him that the messages from Kara were always in the journals. He would also have been oblivious to the changes in history made by Brainiac going back to Krypton. But this is not the case. Everyone noticed the changes as a result of Brainiac's actions--most notably the creation of Doomsday, who did not exist prior to the events of Apocalypse. Jor-El did not send any concrete warning about the Destroyer---Doomsday---until after the timeline was altered. Any warning he may have sent Lionel was based on suspicions of what he expected Brainiac to do.

I really have no idea how Clark would have handled this situation had he never met the Legion. It's possible that he may have died before telling the world his secret had the Legion not shown up as a result of Brainiac having more time to prep Doomsday. Or perhaps he would have lived, but circumstances would change so that the current predicament would not have happened. Or perhaps he wouldn't have decided to tell the world his secret and instead would have taken Linda Lake to the Arctic and frozen her solid. Or perhaps, he would have still told the world & then left for the Arctic to hide & train until people gave up looking for him. But this would mean that many people would have died while Clark was in hiding. And if Lex resurfaced by the time Clark returned, he would spread even more bad PR.

I'm starting to understand why you mentioned Chloe being an unknown to the Legion before they showed up. The events of this episode really explain things. We know that Chloe was killed by Doomsday in the original timeline of Infamous, which is likely why the Legion never heard of her. Now things were altered and Chloe is alive. Whether she lives a full life or dies before becoming famous will tell if people in the 31st century will know who she is or not.

[wafflles87]

Maybe he didn't, and he remained a fugitive for ever.

Maybe all his friends were thrown in jail, and he busted them put and they were fugitives as well.

Maybe the government found out about kryptonite, and killed him.

Who knows? It was another timeline, anything could have happened.

[maddib]

That's what I'm wondering. There is no original timeline where Clark fixed the problem with John Jones' crystal & where he didn't meet the Legion. This episode happened after he met the Legion, so once he met them, meeting the Legion was part of the original timeline.

I think the proper question would be what would Clark have done had he never met the Legion. Now that's a good question. I guess he would have to retreat to the FOS & find a way to repair it and go back to the past the same way he did in Apocalypse.

I'm agreeing with you there, the episode happened a long time after the events of Legion, plus Clark said he'd destroyed the Legion ring at the end of the episode which means he had met the Legion and all the work of separating Chloe from Brainiac had taken place. But I do agree with a post a little further up, obviously pre timeline shift, Linda Lake was going to reappear and I guess try and out Clark. But after his little time travel backwards, Clark had the story of how she was going to be jailed all written up. And I wonder if pre timeline shift, he'd have known about her weakness to electricity.

See, thats what happens with messing with time, it frazzles my head :\

[xrayvision]

Maybe he didn't, and he remained a fugitive for ever.

Maybe all his friends were thrown in jail, and he busted them put and they were fugitives as well.

Maybe the government found out about kryptonite, and killed him.

Who knows? It was another timeline, anything could have happened.

Yeah. Maybe the events as the Legion knew them aren't the cannon that we know. They knew about Lana, but perhaps (and hopefully) something will change so that Lana is no longer superpowered.

One thing that someone did mention was how there should be 2 rings & 2 Clarks since Clark went 2 days back but never returned to his present. Therefore he was in the present of the Clark of 2 days ago. So the other Clark should also have a ring, one that is unbroken. Unless Clark went 2 days back and told that Clark of what Linda would do and told him how to solve the problems he will have with her. Therefore the Clark we saw after the ring was placed on was not the present Clark, but the Clark of 2 days ago carrying out a mission that the present Clark gave him.

This is important because there is a difference in the way he went back in this episode vs. Reckoning. In Reckoning, Jor-El pretty much transferred his entire essence & knowledge in the body of the Clark of the morning of the election. In this episode, Clark physically went back like the Legion did. So there would have been 2 Clarks as there were in Apocalypse.

[psycosis]

Time travel is always a tricky subject especially when you’re switching from future, past, and present.
The focus here is to determine when the present is, in the question it asks us to imagine that everything we have seen or yet to see has already happened, which in such a circumstance Linda Lake would be a minor problem since Brainiac would no doubt be fully restored.

And if Linda Lake outed Clark as well, it's possible that every hero would band together to combat the combined threat of Brianiac and a world out to get Clark - this would most likely bring about a scenario we're likely to see in "Injustice", and possibly create a war between two factions of superpowers - such an epic battle would be something akin to Kingdom Come, and once the dust had settled there would be major casualties on every side involved.

Such an historic event could possibly end with a banding together of all superpowers, with Clark as the leader - eventually creating the Legion after many years.

Knowing this, would a Legion go back in time to stop the thing that caused the possible formation of their group? Possibly - if felt it was for the greater good, as they did hint things may have got worse instead of better when talking about galactic threats.

Another theory is that the events we see in Smallville are taking place in the present and the Legion simply comes from a possible future rather than a definite future, perhaps events transpired similar or even exactly as said above.
Once you involve time travel though, reality becomes blurred and it's all about perspective - Clark himself has changed time, and in each time an alternative world were the events continue unchanged play out to their own conclusions.

Since it becomes quite complex to be able to fully imagine it's simpler to have a more basic question of "what would Clark do without the ring?"

Answer, he would have found another way. As reasoned by Chloe he could have gone back to Jor-El for help, even with the fortress in its infected state he could at least try. If that failed then he could show everyone evidence of Linda's crimes, though his outing wouldn't be undone and from that point on he wouldn't be able to hide who he truly is.
Time travel, alternate worlds and such like are prime comic book material, so it’s no wonder we see it used continuously in Smallville and I'm sure there's a Lois & Clark episode that plays on the same idea of a world that knows who Superman is.

P.S. Since we’re talking about time travel, and changing memories, wasn’t there an older episode with Lois, and she saw Clark using his powers but those memories go erased (S04E19 – “Black” I think) and says; “Guess I need to stop calling you smallville” – I thought it was funny she said the exact same thing again in this episode.

----- Added 19 Minutes later -----


One thing that someone did mention was how there should be 2 rings & 2 Clarks since Clark went 2 days back but never returned to his present. Therefore he was in the present of the Clark of 2 days ago. So the other Clark should also have a ring, one that is unbroken. Unless Clark went 2 days back and told that Clark of what Linda would do and told him how to solve the problems he will have with her. Therefore the Clark we saw after the ring was placed on was not the present Clark, but the Clark of 2 days ago carrying out a mission that the present Clark gave him.

This is important because there is a difference in the way he went back in this episode vs. Reckoning. In Reckoning, Jor-El pretty much transferred his entire essence & knowledge in the body of the Clark of the morning of the election. In this episode, Clark physically went back like the Legion did. So there would have been 2 Clarks as there were in Apocalypse.

Hmmm, good point – though I will point out that the Legion ring is technology from the future so perhaps it also transferred his essence or the Clark of the future simply replaces his past self.
The rules of time travel say, "Same matter cannot exist in the same place and time". What happens when that rule is broken is up for theory and debate.

[Harrison_Bergeron]

Maybe I'm confused. Was that Persuader's reason for showing up? I thought it was because he wanted to kill Clark & prevent the acceptance of aliens by humans, which happens thanks to Superman. I haven't watched Legion since it aired and the beginning is a little fuzzy. I don't remember there being a scene where MM's crystal ever worked on Brainiac. It worked on phantoms, but was never used against Brainiac or corporeal alien beings (he didn't use it to kill Aldar--he instead left his hand imprint in Aldar's back).

The LOS told us that Clark had originally used the crystal to stop Brainiac. When Persuader first showed up he went straight for the crystal, and then went for Clark just because it was convenient. According to the LOS Persuader's intention was to leave Clark defenseless, so Brainiac would kill him. I agree that the crystal shouldn't work on Brainiac, but that's what the LOS said.


I'm starting to understand why you mentioned Chloe being an unknown to the Legion before they showed up. The events of this episode really explain things. We know that Chloe was killed by Doomsday in the original timeline of Infamous, which is likely why the Legion never heard of her. Now things were altered and Chloe is alive. Whether she lives a full life or dies before becoming famous will tell if people in the 31st century will know who she is or not.

I like your idea on Chloe being killed by Doomsday, I still think she wasn't mentioned because she was originally still mind wiped and thus no longer a part of Superman's life, but your idea works well too.

[herolee10]

wait a minute..how could I have forgotten...Doomsday..of course.

is it possible, that in the original timeline, that Davis had completed his transformation completely and then went to attack Clark a bit earlier, before Linda could even confront Clark, therefore, the whole Infamous situation not having taken place?

[Mrs.Bizzaro]

Ok, this is how I think it may have gone:

In the original timeline Clark used the crystal to save Chloe from being infected with brainiac. Later, Lake blackmails Clark and he reveals his secret to Lois. All hell breaks loose and Doomsday kills Chloe. Lake isn't on his to do list anymore and Clark then kills Doomsday and later works out the superman thing. The earth loves him for killing Doomsday and soon accept all aliens.

Time change:
Persudaer comes back in time and destroys the crystal. LOS go back and stop him...etc. They give the ring to Clark.

This changes what happens later to Chloe. Chloe lives cause Clark has the ring. That's the change for the first time travel change. Now Chloe is in the books along with Lana and Lois.

The time travel change for when Clark goes back to keep his secret a secret I think has yet to be seen. I think the Lake death really isn't the big ripple. I think its just a minor one. The big change i think will happen later.

[mfarhaniqbal33]

In all fairness, usually when it comes to time travel, if you go back in time and change the smallest thing it has a ripple effect, otherwise known as the butterfly effect. Perhaps in the timeline where the Legion didn't interfere, clark removed brainiac from Chloe just like he did with all the other phantoms, and one in particular I forget his name but Bow Wow played him. When Clark absorbed him into the crystal he was able to power the fortress back up with his essence, perhaps Clark did the same thing to restore the dark fortress and Jor El once again bailed him out of his mistakes saying there would be dire consequences and what not. Or it could be that he powered up the fortress again after brainiac was extracted and went through his training and because of this established his dual identity and finally being Superman and actually intelligent finally, he took down Linda Lake before she could do anything and didn't even have to go back in time because Superman is smart enough to do things right the first time with no do overs...apart from the whole roatating the world backwards which I never really agreed with anyway lol.

It also could be something completely different, much like in the second timeline how Linda Lake asked for Davis and caused him to realize he can control the creature without the drugs by killing her. It could be something just as insignificant. But still, when it comes to time travel you gotta always factor in the butterfly effect, you change one little thing and down the line it drastically alters the path of your current timeline.

i agree with ya because people when fortress was good and healthy clark could have used the time traveling to go back in time and do things all over again but he didnt...he knows messing with time isnt a good thing...he killed his father unintentionally a figure he loved the most, i dont think he can imagine killing anyone else because of his unawareness from time travel....

[Lilah]

Maybe he wouldn't have to have dealt with Linda at all. When she came back she said she'd been watching him. Chloe said that ever since Lana left, he'd gone on superhero mode. So it sounds like thats what she saw and that's how she found out he was the RBB. So if the Legion never came, Clark would still be battling Braniac and the Lana arc probably wouldn't have happened the way it did. She'd probably still have been there and he wouldn't be playing hero, therefore Linda wouldn't have a story.

[herolee10]

Maybe he wouldn't have to have dealt with Linda at all. When she came back she said she'd been watching him. Chloe said that ever since Lana left, he'd gone on superhero mode. So it sounds like thats what she saw and that's how she found out he was the RBB. So if the Legion never came, Clark would still be battling Braniac and the Lana arc probably wouldn't have happened the way it did. She'd probably still have been there and he wouldn't be playing hero, therefore Linda wouldn't have a story.

well Linda already knew that Clark was a alien since Hydro. And the Legion said that in the timeline that they never met Clark, Clark was able to defeat Brainiac once and for all by using the MM's crystal.

[Lilah]

Exactly, but Clark would have had to find Chloe first. Before the Legion showed up he didn't even think about checking in with Jor-El for help. And Linda knew he was an alien, but not the RBB in Hydro, because the RBB didn't exist.

[xrayvision]

Maybe he wouldn't have to have dealt with Linda at all. When she came back she said she'd been watching him. Chloe said that ever since Lana left, he'd gone on superhero mode. So it sounds like thats what she saw and that's how she found out he was the RBB. So if the Legion never came, Clark would still be battling Braniac and the Lana arc probably wouldn't have happened the way it did. She'd probably still have been there and he wouldn't be playing hero, therefore Linda wouldn't have a story.

Well, Linda would have known he was an alien even if she didn't know he was the RBB. So she would have probably exposed him anyway, since an alien living amongst humans is definitely a big story, whether she knew he was the RBB or not.

I think had the Legion and Persuader not shown up, Clark would have beaten Brainiac using the crystal, as the Legion said and following this, the events would have turned out as they did in Infamous, with the exception of Clark going back in time. So Clark would have come out with his secret & Chloe would have been killed by Doomsday. From here, I think one of 3 things would have happened:

1. Since Doomsday found out about Clark's whereabouts much sooner, their battle would have taken place much sooner than it will now. Clark would have found out about Chloe's voicemail & rushed off to the Fortress to repair it one way or another. Doomsday would start trashing Metropolis & follow Clark to the FOS. Clark would have beaten Doomsday enough to send him to the Phantom Zone, and the humans would have heralded Clark as their hero & champion. Clark would then have stayed as himself, not becoming Superman, since he didn't need to hide his identity.

2. Since Doomsday found out about Clark's whereabouts much sooner, their battle would have taken place much sooner than it will now. Clark would have found out about Chloe's voicemail & rushed off to the Fortress to repair it one way or another. Doomsday would start trashing Metropolis & follow Clark to the FOS. Clark would have beaten Doomsday enough to send him to the Phantom Zone, but die in a simultaneous exchange that would knocks Doomsday in a Phantom Zone portal & knock Clark to the ground. Clark's body would be flown back to Metropolis for a funeral and Martian Manhunter would then take him to be revived, most likely with the Eradicator (however they would introduce it). Clark would then come back to life & go back in time using the Fortress to prevent Linda Lake from writing the story & would have made sure to tell his past self what to do to beat Doomsday, which he could have done by kidnapping him in his Davis form and sending him to the Phantom Zone before transforming into Doomsday. He would then revert to being the Red Blue Blur and eventually Superman.

3. Since Doomsday found out about Clark's whereabouts much sooner, their battle would have taken place much sooner than it will now. Clark would have found out about Chloe's voicemail & rushed off to the Fortress to repair it one way or another. Doomsday would start trashing Metropolis & follow Clark to the FOS. Clark would have beaten Doomsday enough to send him to the Phantom Zone, but die in a simultaneous exchange that would knocks Doomsday in a Phantom Zone portal & knock Clark to the ground. Clark's body would be flown back to Metropolis for a funeral and Martian Manhunter would then take him to be revived, most likely with the Eradicator (however they would introduce it). Clark would then come back to life & leave his Clark Kent persona to be declared dead. He would become Superman and live his life as only Superman.

[Pixeler]

Well think it in another way. I don't think Clark or in that matter any natural kryptons have any genetic memory since they have sent him to earth and choose a family to teach him good.


He is an alien from another planet, their tech. is high. If he wants to be the SUPERMAN we know, he has to make mistakes to learn from his mistakes and also which way is correct. He has to experience all the feelings and make mistakes about many subjects to know the best way.

The story made good, he always found a way to make things right one way or another and also made really bad mistakes which he couldn't reverse them. His memory always intact to remember his mistakes and what really happened. Do not forget this is early years of Superman, we are just watching how he became the superman as we know of.