James Gunn Bringing Obscure DC Hero To Superman Is The Best Thing

Krypto is the very epitome of Silver Age DC. A Kryptonian dog was sent to Earth ahead of his master, but the poor pooch was knocked off course and didn’t reach Earth until Superman was a teenager. And, of course, because his Kryptonian biology is similar to Kal-El’s, our yellow sun gives Krypto the same powers as Superman, albeit proportional to his smaller size.

This kind of wackiness was all over DC Comics prior to the company’s more serious direction in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Sadly, concepts like Superman having a super-dog have been largely absent from the Man of Steel’s live-action adventures. There was a bit of weirdness in the Richard Donner/Richard Lester Superman movies, such as Supes throwing a giant plastic “S” at his opponents in Superman II and the Superman vs. Clark Kent fight in Superman III, but by and large, the more fantastic elements of Superman’s 86 years as a character have yet to make it onto the big screen.

Luckily, James Gunn has a chance to fix that. One of the biggest hurdles Gunn’s new DCU will face is the looming specter of the Snyderverse and its respective “bros.” Krypto is just the thing that shows everyone that the new DC Cinematic Universe is a different beast than the old one.

What better way to show fans right out of the gate that the dark days of Batman v. Superman are behind them than a flying dog with heat vision? Does it sound corny? Sure. However, one could easily argue that if you don’t want a corny Superman, then you don’t want Superman.

Too often, adult fans have tried to get studios to reinterpret their favorite superheroes in a more “mature” light that better fits their grown-up sensibilities. If you were to ask these fans what age they were when they first fell in love with those same superheroes, however, we guarantee the answer wouldn’t be old enough to drive a car. That doesn’t mean that R-rated gorefests like Logan and The Suicide Squad don’t still rule—they absolutely do—but certain characters just don’t translate well to dark and gritty.

Superman, for instance, should absolutely be lighthearted and kid-friendly. Not made for kids specifically—there is a distinction—just a movie you wouldn’t have to think twice about before bringing your 8-year-old to. It’s not that superpowered pets like Krypto should appeal only to kids, either. Just look at another James Gunn production, Peacemaker.

Peacemaker was an R-rated, raunchy, violent affair, yes, but it was definitely not dark. Not only wasn’t it dark, but it featured a freakin’ superpet named Eagly the Eagle! If Peacemaker can get away with having a pet as a character, Superman can definitely pull off Krypto.

Whether Krypto actually does show up in Superman or not, just the fact that we’re talking about a live-action DC movie featuring something as silly and wholesome as Superman’s super-powered dog says a lot about how far we’ve come from the dark days of the Snyderverse.

Comet the Super-Horse, however, should stay far, far, away from the DCU. A horse with a weird crush on Supergirl is a bit too creepy for us.