Titans‘ season 1 finale dropped a major bombshell in its post-credits tease as it introduced Superboy into this iteration of the DC universe. While the arrival of the Boy of Steel is getting most of the attention, let’s not overlook the fact that the same scene also introduced another iconic Superman mythos character into the mix: the heroic Kryptonian dog, Krypto.
If you missed the episode, here’s how things play out. The scene in question sees an out-of-focus Conner Kent escaping from Cadmus Labs in Metropolis, making mincemeat of some guards on his way. As part of his escape, he also frees a white dog kept in a cage. As it’s freed, the dog’s eyes glow red, telling us that it’s got laser vision and confirming that this pooch is indeed Titans‘ version of Krypto.
Fans of the comics will know that Superboy’s origins here fit in very well with his backstory in the source material. He’s a half-human, half-Kryptonian clone of Superman who’s created by Cadmus. He’s probably best known from the Young Justice animated series, but Krypto’s character appears to have been changed to make him fit more easily into the more mature world of the show.
Traditionally, Krypto is depicted as Kal-El’s pet from Krypton, therefore he displays the same powers when he’s under Earth’s yellow sun. As he’s locked up in Cadmus on Titans, though, that suggests this Krypto’s an experiment cooked up by the company, presumably by mixing Kryptonian DNA into a regular dog from Earth.
This somewhat recalls how Smallville tackled Krypto. In its fourth season, Clark adopted a super-powered dog that’d been enhanced by the meteor shower that created so many of the metahumans (and animals) in the Kansas town. As such, that show never gave us Krypto’s red cape, and something tells us that Titans isn’t about to, either.
If that sounds like a grumble, it’s not, as it’s great that Titans is bringing Krypto into the fold in any form and we can’t wait to see how Superboy and his Super-Dog are explored in season 2.
