Who is Krypto?
There has been a lot of talk about Krypto the last couple of days, and I am not talking about cryptocurrency. Rather, the Superdog that appears in the first teaser trailer for James Gunn’s new Superman movie.
People only familiar with Superman from the movies or television shows might not be familiar with this character.
And yet Krypto has been around for a long time. Since 1955 in fact. Krypto first appeared in Adventure Comics #210, back when Superboy was the main character of that series. Originally meant to appear only once, Krypto became a popular character.
In the comics, Krypto was a dog who lived on… you guessed it, Krypton. In fact Krypto was the family pet of Jor-El, Superman’s (Kal-El) father. Krypto was actually a test subject for the type of rocket that Jor-El was going to send baby Kal-El to Earth in. Unfortunatley, the dog’s rocket got knocked of track and landed later, when Kal-El was a teenager.
Krypto is a dog, but he is a dog with the same superpowers as Superman. He is also very smart and helps out Superboy, and later Superman (on occasion).
Of course Krypto was introduced in an era when dogs like Lassie were very popular. He eventually disappeared from the comics but has returned in recent years as writers seek fresh ideas by tapping into the old ideas.
You might find this video a helpful introduction to Krypto:
