Superman’s Use of Krypto Proves James Gunn is the Superhero Movie Auteur of Our Time

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Forget Superman. Forget Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and even Mr. Terrific. The real breakout character of Superman is the one who creates the most trouble for our hero. Every one of Kyrpto’s scenes, whether he’s nipping at Superman’s heels or throwing around Lex Luthor like a chew toy, thrills the movie’s audiences.

It’s easy to see why people love watching a rambunctious good boy frolic around in a cape. But it’s still incredible that James Gunn would give Krypto such a pronounced role in the movie. After all, Krypto may be a longtime part of the Superman mythos, but he’s been rarely used since DC Comics rebooted in the mid-1980s and did away with many Silver Age concepts. Sure, he shows up in the comics from time to time, but Krypto really only gets attention in stuff made for kids, such as the cartoon Krypto the Superdog (2005-2007) and the 2022 movie DC League of Super-Pets.

Which makes sense. Krypto is for kids. And in fact, despite what some folks online will tell you, superheroes are intended first and foremost for kids. Gunn’s use of Krypto in Superman demonstrates that he’s not ashamed of the silly, kid-friendly parts of superheroes and that he can tell sophisticated, compelling stories through that goofy lens.

Long Live the Legion of Super-Pets

By the time that Krypto first appeared in 1955’s Adventure Comics #210, by Otto Binder, Curt Swan, and Sy Barry, Superman had evolved far from the pulpy social justice crusader of the 1930s and had become a more fanciful sci-fi character. The change occurred, in part, because of DC Comics‘ dishonest yet successful copyright suit against Fawcett Comics and their popular character Captain Marvel. The legal battle brought writer Binder over to Superman. Furthermore, the end of World War II meant that superhero comics lost their adult audience, largely consisting of GIs stationed overseas, and now catered almost exclusively to kids.

Although Krypto arrived right before the official start of the Silver Age in 1956’s Showcase Comics #4, the pooch’s debut signals the coming of more outrageous concepts designed to appeal to children, resulting in wonderful animal characters. Soon after Krypto would come Beppo the Super-Monkey and Streaky the Super-Cat. Supergirl would get (and fall in love with, in an infamous story) Comet the Super-Horse, while Batman got Ace the Bathound. The pets would band together in their own team, the Legion of Super-Pets, eventually joined by the Legion of Super-Heroes sidekicks Proty and Whizzy the Super-Cat.

Yes, “Whizzy.” It’s a goofy name. But what about a super-powered cat from the 30th century isn’t goofy? Furthermore, what about superpets can’t evoke the same pathos and joy as a regular animal? Isn’t the same principle at work, that we find these animals beautiful and charming, elements heightened, and not obscured, by the addition of super-powers?

If you’re James Gunn, the answer is clearly, “Yes!”

Super Silly

Midway through Gunn’s Superman, a dejected Clark stands at a window and announces to Lois that he plans to turn himself in. His reason? Because if he gets arrested, then maybe he can find out where Lex took Krypto, who was stolen from the Fortress of Solitude.

“He’s just a dog,” points out an incredulous Lois.

“Yeah, and not a very good one,” Superman concedes. “But he’s all alone and probably scared.”

Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet nail their line deliveries, but that’s not the only reason the moment works. It also works because it shows everything we need to know about Superman as a person, his willingness to put himself in trouble for the sake of saving an animal. Moments like that reoccur throughout Superman, from the care he takes to rescue a squirrel to the sorrow he feels toward the kaiju killed by the Justice Gang.

Krypto isn’t just a hyped up version of the old “save the cat” screenwriting trope, an obvious way to establish a hero’s goodness. Rather he’s Superman’s partner, a proper sidekick who saves the main hero and helps defeat the baddie. Krypto isn’t even the first time Gunn has given a superhero an animal sidekick. By his own admission, Peacemaker‘s best friend is Eagly, the bald eagle who helped him battle the white supremacist minions of the White Dragon. Peacemaker doesn’t have Eagly in The Suicide Squad, but that film does end with a battle against a super animal, the giant starfish Starro the Conqueror. Even though it’s the last major thing that the heroes have to defeat, The Suicide Squad takes a moment to mourn humanity’s treatment of the creature.

Gunn clearly loves to embrace these strange tropes of comics and he never does it with embarrassment. Sure, we sympathize with Superman when Krypto’s bounding all over his broken body, but we’re not laughing at the moment. We’re genuinely delighted at seeing Krypto play and genuinely on Superman’s side when he busts into Lex’s office looking for the dog.

Those feelings underscore the truly remarkable thing about Gunn’s use of Krypto and other Silver Age tropes. Through their silliness, he engages with complex philosophical and political ideas. Through their silliness, he invokes real pathos.

Substance Through the Silver Age

For a second, let’s forget the fact that we’re dealing with super-animals and just describe the themes provided by the super-animals in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Superman. The Suicide Squad is about the U.S. covertly intervening in a smaller nation’s attempts to gain respect by acquiring a weapon of mass destruction. It just so happens that the weapon is Starro the Conqueror. Peacemaker is about a jingoistic lunkhead deprogramming from the toxic masculinity he learned from his father. It just so happens that part of that deprogramming happens when Eagly attacks the minions. Superman features a tech mogul whose own sense of self-importance blinds him from seeing (or caring) about the people he hurts in his pursuit of achievement. That self-importance shatters when Krypto tosses him around.

Each of these examples involve complex heady topics. But unlike other superhero storytellers who confuse darkness for depth, Gunn uses the super-pets as a way to address them. Even a throwaway gag in Superman, in which Lex reveals that he has an army of intelligent monkeys spreading hate on the internet, nods to real-world misinformation campaigns. The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Superman don’t address these themes in spite of having super-animals. Rather it’s through the Silver Age silliness that Gunn finds a way to address them.

It’s that ability to find depth in the most silly aspects of the characters, the ability to turn a shot of Superman sitting with Krypto and staring at the Earth into something sublime, that makes James Gunn the great auteur of the superhero movie genre.

Superman is now playing in theaters worldwide.