Michael Rosenbaum is leaving quite a hole when Lex Luthor departs "Smallville" this season, so much so that the producers are bringing in three new villains to try and fill the void.

Already announced are the roles of Doomsday (Sam Witwer from "Battlestar Galactica") and Tess (Cassidy Freeman), however TV Guide reports that the series has now been allowed to bring another DC villain on board. This time, a royal from the planet Almerac named Maxima ... who sets her sights on Clark as her future king.

Reports of the character?s introduction onto the series have been swirling across the Internet for the last few weeks, with rumors indicating that the series may be forced to tweak the character a little and remove all references to her comic book alter ego (either due to creative or legal reasons).

In such an eventuality, the character will adopt the name of Melissa and all connections to the comic mythos will be kept to a minimal.

In previous incarnations of the comics, Maxima has shown a variety of super powers that will rival the Man-of-Steel?s including mind control, super strength and psionic vision. Maxima is set to enter the series during the fourth episode (called "Instinct"), which also includes some long running plot arcs that date back to the second season.

Casting has yet to be announced for the role.

"Smallville" returns to The CW on Sept. 18.

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