Smallville lasted for an incomparable 10 seasons and 217 episodes, and it changed massively throughout its run. For its first few seasons, kicking off in 2001, the show was highly episodic, as Tom Welling's teenage Clark Kent fought against one-and-done "meteor freaks" each and every week. By the end of its final season in 2011, however, Smallville had evolved into a much more ambitious enterprise that ended up pitting Clark against some of the most significant supervillains from DC lore.