We don’t know a lot about James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy film except that he is writing it, will probably direct, and the story involves a younger Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet in a lived-in DC Universe. Gunn revealed some of this on social media and also during interviews in the last few months – activity that continues.
Thanks in no small measure to his candor both in the Twittersphere and during appearances on noteworthy podcasts, one more detail concerning the reboot might be confirmed. A faithful ally and companion of Clark’s could be along for the ride to lend a hand – or more so a paw – in crime fighting. Yes, Super-Pet Krypto still has a future to speak of realistically.
Gunn has been keeping Kryptonian’s Best Friend in the discussion which is more than can be said for Henry Cavill and Dwayne Johnson at this point. He started by professing his love for the doggo on Twitter, clarifying that he doesn’t just like the canine character. “No I love Krypto,” he wrote in reply to a query inspired by a post about his rescue dog.
The director also recalled on the Happy Sad Confused podcast he had a desire to make a Superman movie that wasn’t “traditional” – sentiment echoed in the making of The Suicide Squad – which meant Krypto was fair game for a solo adventure. “I wasn’t interested in doing a [traditional] Superman thing,” he said. Thus a standalone movie almost developed.
“A superpowered dog from Krypton, running around a city, destroying it, while Superman tries to track him down and get him – that seemed interesting to me,” Gunn further explained. His colleague at DC Studios Peter Safran might be interested in that as well. The latter seemed to hint there was room for earthbound tropes like pets in the next Superman movie.
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As The Direct noted, Safran mentioned during the DC slate announcement that Legacy will focus in some fashion “on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.” In both respects, there is room for Krypto as the pooch has legs on both the Kryptonian and human sides of the yard. Gunn, loving his furry creatures, probably can’t resist the opportunity.
That said, we know how utilizing Krypto and Super-Pets worked out for Dwayne Johnson but Gunn thinks the odds could be more in his favor. Already considering merchandising, he said on HSC, “[W]e’ll have the Superman film come out, then maybe two years later, we have the Supergirl movie coming out. So, what’s the story in between there?”
He added, “Is there a Krypto game that we can play that comes in between them? Something that’s still set in the world with these characters, but is its own thing. We want to give the prominence to games that they deserve.” With the DCU, games, and cartoons overlapping with movies is the Studios’ stated intent.