| “ | You have to learn to push through the pain. If we all sat down every time it hurt, this country never would've been built ... What happened, bad pileup at cheerleading practice? | „ |
| ~ Adam Knight (aka Chad Nash) to Lana Lang. |
Adam Knight, real name Chad Nash, is a major antagonist in the CW superhero drama Smallville. He is a resurrected teenager sent by Lionel Luthor to spy on Clark Kent and Lana Lang.
He was portrayed by Ian Somerhalder, who also played Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries and Charlie Baker in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Chad Nash had lived something of a privileged life, having studied martial arts, computer hacking and learned to play the piano at an expert level. Tragically, Chad Nash died from a rare liver disease but was resurrected, being kept alive by Lionel Luthor and Dr. Lia Teng using the Lazarus Serum. Adam Knight, was resurrected by the serum and LuthorCorp gave him a new identity and background history.
Season 3[]
Lana met Adam Knight at the Smallville Medical Center after being attacked by a horse during one of Lex Luthor's mental breakdowns. Adam pushed Lana to make an extra effort to recover while exercising with her. Adam told Lana his parents died in a fire and that he was receiving treatment for injuries he got while trying to save them. Adam and Lana started to spend time together and then became a couple.
Adam displayed some interesting talents such as knowing karate and computer science during his stay at the Talon in Smallville. Later on, Chloe Sullivan saw Chad inject a mysterious substance into himself and found out that the substance was developed from unusual blood platelets. Lana soon discovered Adam was really Chad Nash, who died from liver disease five months ago.
Chad, however, refused to discuss this and told her that she will regret ever meeting him if any more questions were asked or she told anybody about this. Lana also checked Chad's apartment and found notes that he was sent by Lionel Luthor to spy on her and Clark. Lana tried to evict him, but Chad refused to leave prompting Lana to ask Lex for help. Before Lex could do anything however, Lionel got to him first. Lionel decided to cut Chad's drug supply off as punishment for his failure which made the horrified Dr. Teng start giving him the drugs he needed in secret.
Chad became angry at Dr. Teng when Lionel decided to shut down the lab. Chad killed Teng and all the scientists before escaping. Adam attacked a man named Len Burton and stole his phone and car. Chad went to Smallville to obtain some serum he left in the Talon apartment and suspected that Lana took them. Chad made Chloe reveal where Lana was hiding at the Kent Farm. They went there and Adam attacked Jonathan then forced Lana to come with him to the storage supply after threatening to kill Clark's father Jonathan.
When Chad and Lana arrived at the storage facility, all the serum was gone and Chad tried to kill Lana for lying to him. However, Lana had no knowledge where the serum was. Clark arrived just in time to save Lana from death. After firing the gun, Chad fell to the ground and started to die, warning Clark to watch out for Lionel before passing away. In addition, he saw why Lionel wanted him to spy and learn about Clark, admitting that he was sent to do so before dying.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He was portrayed by Ian Somerhalder who played Damon Salvatore on the CW series The Vampire Diaries alongside Paul Wesley (his brother Stefan Salvatore), who played Lucas Luthor in Season 2's "Prodigal", Sara Canning (Jenna Sommers) who played Kat in Season 8's "Odyssey" and Plastique and Cassidy Freeman (his former friend and love interest Sage), who played principal character Tess Mercer.
- He was originally intended to be the teenage Bruce Wayne (Batman), however the writers decided to switch things up.
- As well as the obvious details of his status as an orphan and his skills in such diverse areas as martial arts and computer hacking, his first name "Adam" is the same as the late actor Adam West, who portrayed Batman in the 1960s television show of the same name, and his last name "Knight" could have been a nod to Batman's nickname, "The Dark Knight".
- The Lazarus Serum which was used to resurrect him may also be a reference to Ra's al Ghul, an enemy of Batman who uses the Lazarus Pit, which can grant a person extended youth.
- The creative team decided to bring the character’s storyline out of the romantic path and into a "thriller Pacific Heights direction". According to Alfred Gough, the character’s storyline degenerated into a science fiction story and when that occurred, they decided they had to wrap it up quickly.
- It was never made clear why Chad changes from an unwilling pawn to a mass murderer. It could be the degenerative effects of the serum affected his mind, or the trauma of being brought back to life, or simply desperation at not wanting to die again.
- Chad Nash appeared in 7 episodes, which tied him in number of appearances with Dr. Harden, Grant Gabriel, Gina, Jeff Hage, and Faora (clone) as the 10th most frequently seen recurring characters in the series after Jor-El, Nancy Adams, Brainiac, Emil Hamilton, Ethan Miller, John Jones, Nell Potter, George, and Helen Bryce. Adam, Dr. Harden, Grant, Gina, Jeff, and Faora are the most frequently seen recurring characters tied with each other in the number of episodes they appeared in.
