Krypto
13 years ago - Krypto is born in Suicide Slums in Metropolis.
11 years ago - 2-year-old Krypto is saved from being frozen by Clark Kent & taken to the Fortress of Solitude to heal. The Eradicator rewrites his DNA to make him a Kryptonian creature. After he has changed back, he exhibits some Kryptonian biological traits, and must stay in The Fortress.
10 years ago - 3-year-old Krypto helps Clark Kent battle General Zod in The Fortress when he escapes the Phantom Zone.
7 years ago - 6-year-old Krypto meets Lois Lane.
3 years ago - 10-year-old Krypto goes to live with Connor Kent in Smallville, and befriends Kara Zor-EL.
1 year ago - 12-year-old Krypto helps in the fight against Mageddon.
now - 13-year-old Krypto bonds with Cassie Sandsmark after Connor Kent's death until he returns to them from the future, now able to age.
I'm writing this update after the release of the James Gunn Superman movie, so undoubtedly Krypto is considerably more popular NOW than when I first created this website. Gunn evidentially based his take on Krypto on his own rescue dog Ozu, so much so that they even modeled Ozu's floppy ear. I think Gunn knew a pretty simple fact; that Superman, DC, and comics in general need to come from a place of genuine whimsy, and Krypto is kind of the perfect benchmark for that. If you're so self-serious that you can't appreciate something wonderful like Superman's faithful super dog, then I'm sorry, but you're just not coming at this from the right place.
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Krypto's Comic HistoryKrypto's first appearance was Adventure Comics #210 from 1955. It's a pretty classic Superboy story, in which something of Kryptonian origin crashes to Earth in it's own rocket, meaning it's up to Superboy to deal with the ensuing hijinks. In this case it's a dog who just starts causing chaos everywhere with his superpowers. Superboy finds his rocket, with a note inside that explained that as Krypton was approaching it's destruction the scientists trying to figure out how to build the rockets they intended to save the population had to launch test rockets with test subjects, and that Jor-El, with no time left, had launched a test rocket with his son's beloved puppy inside (which is by far the worst thing Jor-El has done canonically), which means that Krypto was actually Superboy's dog from his Kryptonian childhood.
As the issue goes on, Krypto continues to prove more and more of a 'menace', inadvertently destroying stuff when he was just trying to play or threatening to expose Superboy's secret identity that he can't possibly understand is a problem because he's a dog, you monster. In the end, Krypto actually leaves Earth to roam around the solar system like a big backyard. |
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Krypto went on to make hundreds of appearances across the Silver Age in every possible Superman series. It was just understood that Superboy, and then later Superman, just needed to whistle and his faithful canine companion would swoop in from space and help him out. This changed when the Superman mythology was reset in 1987 after the Crisis. John Byrne wanted to make sure that there were no other Kryptonians on Earth besides Clark, which lead to a lot of very long-winded workarounds. They were also trying to leave behind a lot of the Silver Age whimsy, which really hurt fun characters like Jimmy Olsen. Krypto was now a totally normal dog cared for by Superman supporting cast member. it was later on when that rule was relaxed that Clark and Lois somehow traveled to an artificial copy of Krypton inside the Phantom Zone (I don't fully get that one either) where they had an adventure with his parents that ended with Krypto following them back out again. This is the Krypto that Clark would later pass on to Connor Kent when he was living on the Kent farm and needed a friend.
There is a New 52 take on Krypto as well. This one was also the family dog of the House of El, who had leapt into a phantom zone portal to protect them, only to escape decades later. This version has a neat side effect, suggesting that Krypto has been at Clark's side his whole life. |
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Our Krypto StoryThere is literally nothing we need to do with Krypto's story to improve it. He's a dog. He's the bestest boy. That's it. I love the interpretations of Krypto that suggest he's kind of a menace, and I'm sure there are times when he gets too rambunctious or playful for his own good? None of that means he's a bad dog. He's a GREAT dog. He just needs the right environment and the right type of care, and I love the idea that he and Connor find exactly what they both need in each other. Transposing the comic canon bond between Krypto and young Clark over to Connor is just such a great idea.
We do have one small change to make... and this is probably a nitpick, but it's never really worked for me personally for Krypton to have dogs. I don't know why. Krypton has PEOPLE, so why can't it have dogs? Maybe it's more just the logistics of getting him to Earth? In the Silver Age it seemed like the destruction of Krypton featured dozens of rockets blasting off all at once... and other explanations have never quite sat with me. So we made a small change suggesting that Krypto was actually an EARTH dog that Clark rescued and who was in the Fortress of Solitude when the Eradicator started rewriting everything in there to make it Kryptonian. So Krypto's Kryptonian DNA is a result of that. In the end it doesn't change much at all, he's still the bestest boy. |
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