Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The last dog of Krypton, the dog of steel, Krypto the Superdog! Who is this ivory defender of Earth and how did he get that little cape? Let’s find out!
During the last days of the planet Krypton, Jor-El of the House of El was trying desperately to find a way to save his son from the fate he and everyone else on Krypton were doomed to end on. Building an experimental rocket and using his son’s pet dog, he would launch the dog into space hoping that if the dog survived, the next rocket could carry his son. The test was a success but an errant meteor shunted the rocket off course and it wouldn’t make it to Earth until much later when the baby Kal-El had been on Earth for many years. Now going by Clark Kent and Superman, Clark would take care of his now super-powered dog.
Having all the powers of Superman but with the mind of a dog, though originally he had a human level of intelligence, Krypto would prove to be a dangerous being since he had no way of knowing his power. Krypto would join not one but two super animal teams, the Legion of Super-Pets and the Space Canine Patrol Agents. He would frequently spend his time in outer space as he had plenty of room to roam around in and would come to back to Earth to help Superman and other heroes.
While living on the Kent farm, Krypto would have a brown smudge added to his back and go by Skip. When he needed to, he’d have the cape pop out of his collar and he’d use his heat vision to burn off the brown smudge.
When on Kent farm, Krypto would masquerade as the dog of Conner Kent, Superboy. Their friendship was rocky at first but eventually the two became close friends. He would often team up with heroes to aide them in finding Superman or any other members of his family. He’d frequently work with Batman, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen to help them when they needed to deal with Superman level threats.
Batman would require Krypto’s help when Poison Ivy had mind controlled Superman so he could find where they had gone by using Krypto’s super sense of smell. When Superboy Prime would come to attack all of existence, Krypto was used to distract him while other heavy hitters prepared to attack him.
The New 52 version of Krypto had him not shot off in an experimental rocket but trapped in the Phantom Zone when Jor-El’s experiment to save his family there almost unleashed its prisoners instead. Krypto would be a ghost-like entity for many years, protecting his master, Superman. It would be many years later that Superman could rescue him from the Phantom Zone and Krypto could gain super powers of his own.
There you have it! Krypto the Superdog is an adorable addition to Superman’s legacy. While he’s never appeared in the live action movies, he has had many appearances on animated features. He even had his own animated series where he worked with many of the other super pets of the DC Universe. He’s even made an appearance on Smallville as an experiment of Lex Luthor’s. Maybe some day we’ll see a live action dog of steel on the big.
Suggested Reading
Adventure Comics #210
Infinite Crisis
Krypto the Superdog
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
