He may be best known as Jack Reacher on the Prime Video series “Reacher,” but Alan Ritchson has had a fascinating career that ranges from a must-watch “American Idol” audition to parts in franchise films like “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Fast X.” But long before he was known as an action hero, Ritchson played a superhero — in fact, he played two, with the first being Aquaman on the hit Superman prequel series “Smallville.”

During the show’s fifth season, Ritchson arrived in Smallville as Arthur “A.C.” Curry, a University of Miami student who aids Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in saving the environment from LuthorCorp in the episode “Aqua.” Ritchson returned to “Smallville” three times, first in the show’s sixth-season spectacular “Justice” (which united various Justice League members), and then in Season 8’s “Odyssey” and Season 10’s “Patriot.” As the first actor to play Aquaman in a live-action capacity, Ritchson set the stage for the hero’s future adaptations and proved once and for all that A.C. didn’t have to be the butt of every fish joke.

But Aquaman isn’t the only DC hero that Ritchson has tackled. In 2018, he returned to the world of superheroes for the DC Universe/HBO Max series “Titans,” where he played Hank Hall, aka Hawk. For three seasons, Hawk and his partner Dove (Minka Kelly) worked alongside the Titans as new threats continued to emerge. Unfortunately, the hero was killed off in the show’s third season. But in a happy twist of fate, Hawk is later seen helping lost souls in the afterlife, having been reunited with the original Dove, his deceased half-brother Don (Elliot Knight). 

One fact about Alan Ritchson you may not know is that, following the success of the “Aqua” episode, “Smallville” creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar developed an Aquaman-centered series for The WB. This came just when The WB and the UPN had merged to form The CW, and so everything was a bit up in the air. Ritchson revealed on former “Smallville” star Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast that he was initially set to reprise his role as A.C., only that never ended up happening. Instead, Gough and Millar decided the best way to do “Aquaman” was not as a direct spin-off, but as a separate entity entirely.

Although Will Toale was initially cast in the title role, Gough and Millar ultimately went with Justin Hartley as their choice for the new Arthur. Despite a stunning pilot, “Aquaman” tragically went nowhere, but Gough and Millar soon cast Hartley as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow for the sixth season of “Smallville,” a role he would stick with through the series’ end. Ironically, this meant that Ritchson’s next three appearances as A.C. on the series were alongside Hartley, the man who replaced him as Aquaman.

“Smallville” wasn’t the last time that Ritchson played the King of Atlantis either. In the 2008 animated film, “Justice League: The New Frontier,” he reprised his role as Aquaman in an uncredited voice cameo, as the Atlantean king returns Superman (Kyle MacLachlan) to the surface. Though he only gets one line, he plays the part with a far more royal cadence than he ever did on “Smallville.”

After years of playing both Aquaman and Hawk, Alan Ritchson isn’t done with the DC Universe yet. Over the years, DC and “Reacher” devotees alike have fan-cast Ritchson as various superheroes, and the actor himself seems to be interested in returning to the realm of super strength and colorful tights. When asked back in 2016 if he was going to play Shazam (the hero previously known as Captain Marvel) in the DC Extended Universe, Ritchson teasingly confirmed the inquiry in an X (formerly Twitter) post. (Of course, Zachary Levi ended up playing the DCEU version of the character.)

In recent years, rumors continue to spread that Ritchson will play Batman in James Gunn’s DC Universe reboot — and the actor himself seems interested. “I would love to play Batman,” he revealed in a 2024 interview with ComicBook.com. “But I am not yet Batman.” In a 2025 interview with Wired, Ritchson was asked once more if he had been cast as Batman in the new DCU, a question he’s reportedly asked often. “Would I play Batman? Yes,” he explained. “You wouldn’t even have to pay me to play Batman.” Despite that, Ritchson reminded fans that Gunn has publicly stated that RItchson would not be playing the Dark Knight in his universe.

It’s clear that Ritchson has a soft spot for DC, so whether he returns for the new live-action franchise or finds his way to a smaller animated role, we’d be lucky to have someone with his enthusiasm for the material.