"Smallville" has gone dark before; there have been back alley deals, shock deaths, personal betrayals and even an apocalypse.

But recent news that season nine would be "Superman's darkest hour" has sent fans of the long running comic book series into a tizzy before even a single episode has aired. So much so that the show's producers have been forced to back track on their statements and set the record straight.

We mightve misled people a little bit with that, co-show runner Brian Peterson explained. Clark has some very dark decisions to make and he starts the season in a very dark place, but the season itself wont be dark."

In addition to the surprise return of Zod in the eighth season finale, the latest season of the series will introduce a whole cadre of DC comic characters, including Metallo, Roulette, pixie-twins Zan and Jayna plus a whole other generation of Justice Leaguers. Throughout the comic fun will be a closer relationship between the Man-of-Steel and the infamous Lois Lane, with whom Clark developed an unconventional working relationship last year as the Red-Bue-Blur and more episodes featuring Green Arrow.

The goal? Why, to have fun of course.

In fact, Clark and Lois will be back in each others orbits and there will be a lot of the fun that we had last year," Peterson continued. "Even more than we had last year.

"Smallville" returns to The CW on Sept. 25.