Exec producer Kelly Souders confirms that the highly anticipated "Absolute Justice" Smallville movie slated to air in early 2010 will mark the return of Phil Morris as Martian Manhunter.

"Smallville"’s upcoming Justice Society-themed two-parter has added another headliner. Exec producer Kelly Souders confirms that the highly anticipated episodes (titled “Society” and slated to airin early 2010) will mark the return of Phil Morris as Martian Manhunter.

Penned by comic book hero Geoff Johns, “Society” marks the arrival of Justice Society members Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Stargirl. The abundance of special guest stars is what prompted Souders and fellow show-runner Brian Peterson to expand the episode into two parts. “To be honest, there were so many characters and so much great story that people would’ve been robbed of some great moments if we kept it to just one hour,” says Sounders. “So now that it’s a two-parter, you won’t miss anything.”

With the ninth season of “Smallville” near the halfway point and the much-anticipated “Justice Society” episode by Geoff Johns set to air early next year, Executive Producer Brian Peterson hinted that the previously seen members of the Justice League will return this season.

“I would say we will see members of the future Justice League who we haven’t seen in a while,” Peterson told TV Guide. "They will appear in [the Justice Society episode] and in the back section of the season. I can’t confirm who you will see, a lot of it is cast dependent. But we do have plans to have a few more members of the future JLA back on the show.”

Peterson also spoke about the direction that the potential 10th season of “Smallville” would take.

“I think our plan right now is a reflection over the 9 years and taking him out of the darkness that we’ve had, with him in the black suit and where he went after Jimmy’s death, and taking him to a place of balancing his Kryptonian side and his human side,” said Peterson. “It would be him learning how to be Clark Kent and the entity that will be known as Superman.”

Additionally, Brian Austin Green is slated to reprise his role as Metallo in the 18th episode of the season according to a report from Entertainment Weekly.

If you’re like me, you may have been asking yourself "Hey what ever happened to that Superman Sequel I’ve been patiently waiting for?" Well the good folks at the WB have been releasing statements about how the studio will NOT pursue a "Superman Returns" sequel anytime soon.

My sentiments exactly, Superman.

The project is currently on hold until the studio resolves all the legal issues with the heirs of the character’s creators. The goal is to settle with the Siegel and Shuster families, and then work out a deal with them to merge all the Superman rights.

Executives at Warners are eager to get a new "Superman" movie off the ground and have been gathering pitches that have been coming in. And even though the studio already lost the rights to Superman’s origins, after the merger, Warner Bros are likely to reboot the franchise, which will once again include the origins that we have seen hundreds of times.

Read more: http://www.worstpreviews.com

Check out the official synopsis and promo trailer:

Samuel starts to see his vision take shape — H.R.G. is greeted by some unexpected visitors and Samuel’s grand plan begins to come to fruition. Meanwhile, Peter struggles to accept the truth and takes extreme measures to get what he wants. Elsewhere, Claire’s journey leads her to an unexpected destination

Here is part of a Q&A with exec producer Brian Peterson about what and who is coming up after the holidays.

OK, so “Society” sounds huge!
It is. We have Michael Shanks playing Hawkman [and] he is perfect. It is one of the most exciting things we have done in the nine years we have been on.

Tell me everything.
We have an enormous [episode]. Geoff Johns is writing the big Justice Society of America episode for us, and when we got into it, we realized that is so much bigger than just one episode. We have basically turned it into a mini-movie. And from the footage that is coming in, it looks as good if not better than any hero movie that has been out in the last two years.

How do you introduce them?
We wanted to make their entrance into the series relevant, so they show up in a time when our fledgling League, that has not named itself or coalesced into anything, is having a few growing pains. So they are coming in to teach all of our heroes a lesson about family and leadership from the mistakes of their own past.

They’re from the future?
They are actually from the past. When we meet them they have been underground and are an older generation of heroes that Clark and Chloe and our generation of heroes didn’t even know existed. They kind of come out of the woodwork and there are a few sparks between our characters and the JSA members at the beginning of the [story].

Will we see Black Canary and all those guys?
I would say we will see members of the future Justice League who we haven’t seen in a while…they will appear in that show and in the back section of the season. I can’t confirm who you will see, a lot of it is cast dependent. But we do have plans to have a few more members of the future JLA back on the show.

Now that the no flights no tights rule has left the building…
God, this is such a tough question. We have discussed Clark’s development and where flying fits into that, you could say that. I think it will happen when the time is right. But I don’t believe that he is in the place where he is ready for that.

And what are you doing with Zod? Because we love Callum.
Callum [Blue] is fantastic. Zod has had plans that will be quickly unveiled…we will see Zod using all of his Kryptonian intuition and manipulation skills to basically achieve his quest of getting powers. He will do anything and use anyone along the way.

And you have plans to bring in the Dark Archer, as well?
We come back in January with a great dark archer episode where we bring back Mia, Oliver’s sidekick and kind of take her to the next level, to basically being Speedy for Oliver. She’ll be in a few episodes.

When you get a 10th season, where would you take Clark?
I think our plan right now is a reflection over the 9 years and taking him out of the darkness that we’ve had, with him in the black suit and where he went after Jimmy’s death, and taking him to a place of balancing his Kryptonian side and his human side—which he’s not doing perfectly this year. [Laughs]. It would be him learning how to be Clark Kent and the entity that will be known as Superman