I’m not a huge fan – just a casual Kryptonologist – but I must admit I’ve never actually owned Superman’s dog. A dog with superpowers always strikes me as something very wrong. Does he knock over a fire hydrant when he pees? Does the Earth’s rotation reverse every time he chases his tail? Will he chew his master’s red boots?
But now, after seeing Kal-El’s dog in the trailer for James Gunn’s upcoming superman After the reboot, I only have one question about Man of Steel’s Best Friend: The Ghost of the Great Caesar, what took so long to bring him to the big screen?
The character has been around since 1955, when DC first put him into Adventure Comics Issue 210 in what was supposed to be a one-off storyline. However, the plot was so popular that it wasn’t long before Krypton returned again and again, often frolicking in various Superman and Superboy comic books.
The origin story behind Krypto (who was known as “Skip” when he was incognito on his farm in Kent, Kansas) has been revised over decades by generations of comic book writers and is now somewhat murky. But here’s the basics: He was a test subject for one of the prototype rockets that Superman’s father used to transport his toddler son to safety before Krypton exploded. But as so often happens in the Kryptonian mythology, the launch went horribly wrong, the spacecraft went off course, and Krypton bounced around in space for several years before eventually finding his way to Earth, where he and now ten Superman is reunited.
In addition to appearing in numerous comic books – and later a series of Saturday morning cartoons – Krypto has appeared on prime-time television in recent years. He watched a few episodes with ease smallville, titanand superman and lois. He does make his big screen bow once, in 2022’s DC super pet alliancebut that was an animated feature, and oddly enough Dwayne Johnson was chosen to voice him. The strange thing is not that Johnson has a lovely baritone, but that Krypto was given the ability to speak. In the comic books, his thoughts are sometimes illustrated with text bubbles, which is odd, while in the 2005 Cartoon Network animated series kryptonian super doghe gets a translator device, kind of like the one Ed Asner used to chat with his hounds. up. But no, Super Dog can’t talk. He barks like a dog on Earth.
Exactly what powers animals have depends on which DC universe you’re in. But there are some constants. He’s smarter, faster, stronger than the average dog, and can fly – in other words, he can do almost anything his owner does, with just four legs. Like Superman, Krypton wears a red cape when fighting crime, but unlike Superman, he also wears a gold collar and dog tags with a large red “S” on them. His breed is uncertain—in some descriptions, he looks like a Labrador retriever, and sometimes more like a pit bull; in Gunn’s trailer, he seems to have terrier qualities—but his fur always looks more like a pit bull. It is as white as snow. Unless, that is, he disguises himself as Skip, in which case Kent adds Dalmatian-style black dye to his back, sort of like Clark Kent sliding into a pair of nothing Horns of meaning.
Of course, Krypton has one extra ability that goes far beyond his (even Superman’s) other abilities – he’s adorable. Some may even say Excellent Lovely. This is a more important attribute than one might think. One of the reasons why Gunn’s trailer was so popular with fans is this – “Good boy, Krypto! Great boy James Gunn! In desperate need of a transformation. Watch Krypto on the arctic tundra in Gunn’s trailer Running, leaping to the whistle of his fallen master, kicking up a cloud of snow – it’s a moment so sweet and touching that it could even warm Lex Luthor’s heart.
A good boy indeed.
