Before Zack Snyder's Man Of Steel, Amy Adams Tried To Kill Clark Kent On Smallville

"Smallville" often cast actors from past "Superman" media in supporting roles. Right off, Annette O'Toole (Lana Lang in "Superman III") was part of the main ensemble as Martha Kent. Once a love interest to Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent, O'Toole was now mother to Tom Welling's Clark. Reeve himself appeared in a handful of episodes as astronomer Dr. Virgil Swann, who helps Clark learn more about where he comes from. Terence Stamp, General Zod himself in "Superman" and "Superman II," swapped roles and voiced Superman's Kryptonian father Jor-El.

Other "Smallville" actors had wider DC universe connections. While Michael Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor on "Smallville," he was also voicing the Flash on "Justice League." John Glover, who played Lex's father Lionel, had previously voiced the Riddler on "Batman: The Animated Series." But I digress.

Yet funnily enough, the show also included a future "Superman" star in its cast. Years before Amy Adams broke out with "Enchanted" and way before she played Lois Lane in "Man of Steel" and its sequels, she had a one episode guest appearance on "Smallville." 

In Season 1 Episode 7 "Craving" (written by Michael Green), Adams played Jodi Melville, an overweight student at Smallville High who's trying to lose weight with a diet of veggie shakes. Unfortunately, the vegetables in the shakes grew in a field filled with Kryptonite. Jodi loses weight way too fast and to replenish herself, her body develops the ability to suck out body fat from live animals and humans. 

"Smallville" was "Superman" by way of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which meant using superpowers as metaphors for the challenges of high school and adolescence. The issues explored through Jodi's metamorphosis are, very clearly, body image and eating disorders.

"Craving" aired in 2001, and social acceptance of plus-sized people has moved forward since then (though not universally, of course). "Craving" has been cited as a "Smallville" episode that's aged especially poorly.

In the early parts of the episode when Jodi is trying to lose weight, her body image issues and goals are shown sympathetically. When she transforms, she's mostly terrified at the idea of hurting people, including when she attacks Clark and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) at the climax.

The one person Jodi intentionally targets is Dustin (Alex Rae), who bullied her then tried to hook up with her once she lost weight. While the premise of this episode might remind you of Stephen King's "Thinner," the better comparison is "Carrie" (especially the novel, where one reason Carrie is bullied is because of her weight). Like "Carrie," "Craving" sympathizes with Jodi but doesn't excuse violent consequences. 

But note her name — Melville. Like Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick," the most famous story about whales and whaling in English literature. "Whale" is a go-to insult for plus-sized people (think "The Whale," a film starring Brendan Fraser as a morbidly obese man and which is truly fatphobic) and one Jodi suffers during the episode. That choice does make it feel like the episode is in on teasing her. While the camera mostly doesn't gawk at Amy Adams in a fatsuit playing Jodi in the early scenes, it does at her transformation (like when her jaw unhinges with some spotty CGI) and the results of her eating disorder. 

Society at large has a long way to go to treat people like Jodi Melville with true sympathy. True in 2001, true now.