Come Thursday, Oct. 18, "Smallville" offers two CKs for the price of one.

Following in its tradition of having guest stars previously associated with the "Superman" franchise -- including Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder -- The CW's young-Superman series features an appearance by Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent/Superman in the 1990s series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."

In "Cure," Cain plays Dr. Curtis Knox, who has been treating people affected by the same Kryptonite meteor shower that deposited the alien child Kal-El, a k a Clark Kent (Tom Welling), in the Kansas town of Smallville.

Desperate to get rid of her own meteor-caused supernatural abilities, Daily Planet reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) makes an appointment with Knox, unaware that the doctor has ulterior motives.

"I'm evil with a smile," Cain says.

When it's pointed out that Curtis Knox and Clark Kent have the same initials, Cain says, "Isn't that interesting? I don't think it's a coincidence. But it really doesn't manifest in much more than that. I do not wear [Clark Kent-style] glasses. There was some talk of the glasses, and the glasses got nixed."

Cain did have to deal with not being the one who is Clark Kent.

"It was odd having someone else say Clark Kent and someone else being Clark and me not being Clark," he says. "That was a little odd. There was the inevitable, 'OK, everybody freeze. We'll do some super-speeding...' I'm like, 'Wow, that's the first time the super speed is happening, and I'm not doing it.'

"It was interesting being on the other side of the coin."

Calling Welling "cool, fun, a nice guy," Cain says he also enjoyed working with Michael Rosenbaum, Lex Luthor on "Smallville" (John Shea played the same role on "Lois & Clark").

"He's clinically insane," Cain says. "The guy kills me. He's going to have an interesting career. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Rosenbaum. He's a pretty dynamic fellow."

Cain says he didn't go out on the town in Vancouver, Canada (where "Smallville" shoots) with Rosenbaum, but adds, "Michael had a party here in Los Angeles that I was back here for, but I did not make it to that party. I wish I had, because he described it to me afterward, and I wish I had attended. Let me just say that.

"I believe I made a tragic miscalculation."

Cain did a pilot for a one-hour drama called "Protect and Serve," with "Las Vegas" executive producer Gary Scott Thompson, whom he met while doing a recurring role on that NBC drama. It didn't get picked up, and Cain is pondering what, if any, TV drama he might go for next.

"I don't even know what my dream project would be," he says. "I'd like to play a character that is more like me. Tom Selleck, when he played 'Magnum, P.I.,' I suspect that's a lot like Tom Selleck. That [makes it] a lot of fun to go to work every day.

"I don't think Michael Rosenbaum playing Lex Luthor is a lot like Michael Rosenbaum. It's a lot of work. That's the thing that's tough. I'd like to have somebody closer to me."

But, he points out, "One thing I do find crazy, me being an ex-football player, can't seem to get into a football movie."