Krypton

Overview

Krypton is usually portrayed in comics as the home of a fantastically advanced civilization, which is destroyed when the planet explodes. As originally depicted, all the civilizations and races of Krypton were killed in the explosion, with one exception: the baby Kal-El who was placed in an escape rocket by his father, Jor-El, and sent to the planet Earth, where he grew up to become Superman.

In some versions of the story, additional survivors were later discovered, such as Supergirl, her parents (kept alive in the "Survival Zone", a similar parallel "dimension" to the Phantom Zone), the criminal inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, Dev-Em, the residents of the bottled city of Kandor, the real parents of both Superman and Supergirl, and their pets Krypto the Superdog, and Beppo the Super-Monkey. Kandor, the first capital of Krypton, is miniaturized by Brainiac, but is recovered by Superman and housed in the Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping. Soon afterward, Kryptonopolis becomes the second capital of Krypton.

From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, the number of survivors was reduced to Superman himself in the comic book stories (the Eradicator was added in 1989 as a non-sentient device, and shown to be self-aware in 1991), but more recent accounts have restored Supergirl, Krypto, and Kandor and introduced another newly discovered survivor, Karsta Wor-Ul.

Kryptonian civilization's reported level of technological advancement has also varied. Some works, such as Kevin J. Anderson's novel The Last Days of Krypton, describe it as a few centuries ahead of Earth, while others, such as the Superman film series and Man of Steel, describe it as thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years more advanced.

Versions of Krypton

Krypton in the Golden Age of Comic Books

In its first appearance, Krypton was only depicted at the moment of its destruction. Beginning in the Superman comic strip, Krypton was shown to have been a planet similar to Earth, only older by eons and possessed of all the progress that implied. It is suggested that Krypton exploded due mainly to old age and the massive use of electricity Kryptonians used for their technology.

The debut of the Superman newspaper comic strip in 1939 delved into further details about Krypton, introducing the idea that all Kryptonians possessed a level of heightened physical abilities, including superhuman strength and speed. In the early comics' version of Krypton, Superman's parents were named Jor-L and Lora, though their names were changed to the more familiar Jor-El and Lara by the end of the 1940s.

After the introduction of DC's multiverse in the 1960s, this version of Krypton was declared to be the Krypton of the Earth-Two universe; the native dimension of DC's Golden Age characters and its Superman. Power Girl (Kara Zor-El) was introduced as the Earth-Two version of Supergirl in 1976.

Over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, various alterations and additions to the makeup of Krypton were made in the comics. Among them was an explanation of why the natives of Krypton were killed if they had possessed superpowers on their native world. Thus, it was explained by the early 1950s that Kryptonians were powerless on their own planet and would gain superpowers only within a lower gravity environment. This matched contemporary theories that humans would be able to lift greater masses and leap greater distances on the Moon than on Earth due to its lesser gravity. In the early 1960s, it was explained that Kryptonians derived their powers from the light of a yellow sun. Under a red sun such as that of Krypton, Kryptonians have no powers.

Krypton in the Silver Age of Comic Books

By the late 1950s, Krypton played an increasing role in various Superman stories, with greater detail provided about Krypton's makeup. Superman's Kryptonian heritage was a frequent factor in Silver Age Superman comic storylines, as he was fully aware of his origins from an early age. Superman would use this knowledge for such tasks as constructing advanced Kryptonian technology or observing some of Krypton's traditions.

Kryptonians made use of their advanced science to create a world where scientific inventions and research influenced much of daily life. Robots and computers were used for many tasks on Krypton, even for determining what career paths young Kryptonians would take as they grew up. Scientific and technological research were highly valued on Krypton, with the ruling body of Krypton named the Science Council.

Several stories featured characters traveling back in time to visit Krypton before its destruction; one example is the 1960 story "Superman's Return to Krypton", in which Superman is swept back in time to Krypton years before its destruction. Powerless, he spends some time on the planet, where he meets his future parents-to-be and falls in love with Kryptonian actress Lyla Lerrol. A Superman "imaginary story" entitled "What If Krypton Had Not Exploded?" gave more insight into Krypton's society. This era also established that the Guardians of the Universe, the administrators of the Green Lantern Corps, were aware of Krypton's pending destruction and assigned Green Lantern Tomar-Re to avert it, but he was unsuccessful due to being blinded by a solar flare.

In 1980, a three-issue miniseries titled World of Krypton was published, providing a great amount of detail into Krypton's history just before its destruction, along with the life story of Jor-El himself. A three-issue miniseries entitled The Krypton Chronicles, published in 1981, tells of Superman researching his roots when, as Clark Kent, he was assigned to write an article about Superman's family. To do so, he and Supergirl travel to Kandor, where they learn the history of the El family. In 1985, writer Alan Moore gave a darker glimpse into the world of Krypton in his story "For the Man Who Has Everything" (in Superman Annual #11), which takes place in a dream world where Krypton was not destroyed.

Krypton has a vast number of flora and fauna, both wild and domesticated. Some of them look very similar to Earth's animals, due to parallel evolution, e.g., birds, felids, canids, simians, etc., as seen in Krypto and Beppo; while others look very different, due to divergent evolution, e.g., fish/snake/eel-like hybrid creatures called "fish-snakes", goat-like creatures called "Zuurt", bovine-like creatures called "Rondor", rhinoceros/ceratopsian-like creatures called Thought-Beasts, dragon-like creatures called H'Raka, pterodactyl-like creatures called "War-Kites", gigantic, one-horned snake-like creatures called "Drang", and jellyfish-like invertebrate creatures called Shoggoth.

Krypton in the Modern Age of Comic Books

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, which rebooted the history of the DC Universe and retroactively eliminated the existence of the Golden and Silver Age versions of Krypton, writer/artist John Byrne was given the task of recreating the Superman mythos. This rewrite was started in the 1986 Man of Steel miniseries, which addressed Krypton in both its opening and closing chapters.

Krypton itself was the main subject of the late 1980s The World of Krypton miniseries (not to be confused with the 1979 miniseries of the same name). This miniseries was written by Byrne and illustrated by Mike Mignola, and filled in much of Krypton's new history.

The new Krypton was approximately one-and-a-half times larger than Earth and orbited a red sun called Rao fifty light-years from the Solar System. Krypton's primordial era produced some of the most dangerous organisms in the universe. It was for this reason that 250,000 years ago, Krypton was chosen as the place to create Doomsday through forced evolution. Until its destruction, many dangerous animals, including ferrophage moles, still existed on Krypton. Kryptonians had to use their advanced technology to survive.

Over 200,000 years ago, Krypton had developed scientific advancements far beyond those of present-day Earth, and had discovered a way to conquer disease and aging by perfecting cloning; vast banks of clones, kept in stasis, held multiple copies of each living Kryptonian so that replacement parts were always available in the event of injury. All Kryptonians were now effectively immortal, "with all the strength and vigor of youth maintained", and for millennia they enjoyed an idyllic, sensual existence in an Arcadian paradise.

100,000 years later, Kryptonian society was tipping toward decadence and eventually political strife resulted from the debate about the use of clones (three by each Kryptonian; one child, one teen and one adult, perfectly preserved in stasis in large clone banks) to repair any hurt and avoiding death, if they were sentient beings and should have rights to be awakened to live as any other Kryptonian, sparked in addition by the presence of an alien missionary known as the Cleric, who carried "the Eradicator". Eventually this disagreement led to open violent conflict. A woman named Nyra, seeking what she considered a suitable mate for her son, Kan-Z, had one of her younger clones removed from stasis. The clone gained full sentience and was presented to society as a normal woman. When Kan-Z discovered that his fiancée was in fact his mother's clone, he killed the clone, then publicly killed his mother and also attempted his own suicide before being stopped. Kan-Z also publicly broadcast the entirety of his discovered findings as to what his mother had done across the entire planet. This key incident ignited the Clone Wars which lasted for 1,000 years, during which Kryptonian science was turned to warfare and several superweapons were developed and used. Among them was the device known as the Destroyer.

Known locations

Bokos - it was nicknamed the Isle of Thieves.

Lurvan - the largest continent on Krypton.

Argo City - one of the largest cities on Krypton. In many continuities, it is portrayed as having survived Krypton's destruction due to a protective field. Supergirl and her family were from Argo City.

Fire Falls - a natural geological location where lava flows down a cliff.

Jewel Mountains - a mountain range on Krypton. This was the location that Jax-Ur traveled back in time to in order to create Jewel Kryptonite.

Kandor - the capital city of Krypton. It was bottled by Brainiac.

Fort Rozz - a military command center in Kandor.

Plane of Wanan - a desolate location outside of Kandor.

Kryptonopolis - the largest city on Krypton and home to Jor-El and Lara. Kal-El was born here.

Urrika - one of two continents found on Krypton.

Erkol - a city-state that had been in a war with Xan City.

Xan City - one of the oldest cities found on Krypton. It was destroyed in a long war with Erkol.

Vathlo Island - an island continent. This location is where the black Kryptonians reside.

Orvai - a lakeside city and the home of Quex-Ul.

In other media

Radio

The first non-comics version of Krypton was presented in the debut storyline of the 1940s Superman radio series. In the radio show, Krypton was part of the Solar System, a Counter-Earth sharing Earth's orbit but on the opposite side of the Sun, hidden from view of the Earth ("Krypton" derives from the Greek word for "hidden"). Some comics of the early 1950s suggested a similar theory, but in general the comics have depicted Krypton as being in a far-away star system.

Television

Krypton appears in the first-aired episode of Adventures of Superman. In this version, Jor-El proposes transporting the entire Kryptonian population to Earth via a fleet of rockets, but his proposal is rejected and the planet begins to break apart sooner than he expected anyway, leaving him only with a small test rocket, in which he and Lara use to launch Kal-El off.

Krypton appears in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. At the end of the third season, it is revealed that a sizable colony survived the planet's destruction. From what was shown of the colony (called New Krypton), the society, despite the advanced technology, had numerous archaic elements, like hereditary rule, arranged marriage for nobles, and trial by combat being legal for nobility. Unlike many incarnations, New Krypton is not isolated from other races; it has starships, including a large vessel that serves as its palace, and Nor hires an assassin from another race to kill Kal-El.

The television series Smallville presents a version of Krypton that mirrors the Superman: The Movie aesthetic but has more ties to Earth. It was a peaceful and advanced planet until civil war broke out, leading to its destruction in 1986 by General Zod and the renegade Zor-El after they used Brainiac to ignite Krypton's unstable core. Numerous Kryptonian artifacts come into play during the show, such as the "Stones of Power" in season 4 (used to contain all information in the known 28 galaxies and become the Crystal of Knowledge to make the Fortress of Solitude), "The Orb" in season 8 (containing the DNA of fallen Kryptonian citizens/soldiers scanned and cloned by Jor-El), and its bible The Book of Rao (used to transport Kryptonians to "Heaven") during season 9. In season 2, more Kryptonian glyphs appear on Earth via the Kawatche Caves as there are prophecies discovered about a "Traveler" planted by Jor-El visiting Smallville.

Krypton is featured in the Arrowverse Supergirl series, with its destruction depicted in the pilot. Kara was sent to Earth to protect her then-infant cousin, Kal-El. Krypton exploded just seconds after her pod took off, sending it into the Phantom Zone. The episode "Hostile Takeover" revealed that the planet was destroyed due to over-mining its core. The third-season episode "Dark Side of the Moon" revealed that Argo City was preserved along with many of the inhabitants on an asteroid formed from Kryptonian debris.

Krypton is the main setting of the titular series of the same name. The main characters are Seg-El, Adam Strange, Kem, Lyta-Zod, Val-El, Nyssa-Vex, Jayna-Zod and Dev-Em. This version of Krypton became unstable after Brainiac steals Kandor in the original timeline, an event that forces Seg to stop with allies like Adam Strange from the future and even the future General Dru-Zod. This version also borrows some elements from the initial post-Crisis depiction, such as the reproduction of Kryptonians through artificial means in Genesis Chamber birthing facility. In the first season, 200 years before the birth of Kal-El, Krypton is ruled by a powerful religious figure known as Voice of Rao and the planet is divided in several guilds. Due to its decadent lifestyle of some Kryptonians, this causes a social inequality and those who are not in the guilds become Rankless. When Seg discovers that Voice of Rao is a puppet controlled by Brainiac, he forms a resistance movement of several friends and allies, including his son from the future, General Zod. After trapping Brainiac and Seg in the Phantom Zone, Zod takes power in Krypton, forcing all Rankless to become Sagitari soldiers and cutting some guilds, such as Religious and Lawmaker. In the second season, Seg returns to Krypton and gathers some of the surviving allies in order to stop Zod's murderous conquest. Zod also sends Sagitari and Doomsday weapon on the moon Wegthor to crush the rebels. After the moon is destroyed, Seg and almost all the rebels return to Krypton. When Seg and Lyta expose Zod's treachery, Zod tries to kill them, but is defeated and Sagitari forces are defeated by the resistance, ending a civil war on Krypton.

Film

In the first feature-length Superman film in 1978, a vastly less idyllic image of Krypton was presented. Whereas in the comics Krypton was colorful and bright, the film depicted the planet with stark bluish-white terrain of jagged frozen plateaus under heavy, dark skies. The planet was threatened by their sun turning into a supernova. Jor-El unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the council of elders to immediately evacuate the planet.

Kryptonians themselves were portrayed as coolly cerebral and morally enlightened, clad in stark white bodysuits emblazoned with each family's house symbol. The architecture featured halls of white crystal under crystalline arches. The crystalline motif was employed not only in the architecture, but in the landscape and technology as well, suggesting that the entire planet had been adapted and altered by Kryptonian influence. In 1948, Krypton was ultimately destroyed when its red sun began to collapse; the planet was pulled into the sun and steadily crushed, then exploded in the ensuing supernova. When Krypton was destroyed, fragments from the planet were launched into space, resulting in the creation of a harmful radioactive substance known as kryptonite.

Jor-El and Lara preserved some part of their "essence" (in the form of virtual copies of themselves) in the starship that took three years to bring their child to Earth. On Clark Kent's eighteenth birthday, a glowing crystal revealed itself in the ship and compelled Clark to take it north. He eventually reached the Arctic, where the crystal constructed the massive crystalline Fortress of Solitude. Inside, an artificially intelligent hologram of Jor-El appeared to him and initiated twelve years of Kryptonian education. These virtual versions of Jor-El and Lara remained as constructs within the Fortress throughout the series.

Superman's symbol was given a Kryptonian origin in the film. Male Kryptonians were shown wearing unique symbols on the chests of their robes, similar to a family crest; Jor-El and Kal-El wore the familiar S-shield, which Lois Lane later assumed to be the letter S from the familiar Latin alphabet, and thus dubs him "Superman".

The 2006 film Superman Returns presents a version of Krypton almost identical to Superman. In the beginning of the film, scientists discover remains of Krypton, and Superman leaves Earth for five years to look for it. His ship is seen leaving the dead planet. The planet is destroyed when the red supergiant Rao becomes a supernova.

Novelizations

The 1978 novel Last Son of Krypton by Elliot S. Maggin contains descriptions of Krypton, mainly referencing the Silver Age version; it describes the planet as a "failed star" with massive surface gravity and hostile conditions, which forced extreme adaptation and rapid evolution in the descendants of humanoid space travelers. This led to an extremely strong, dense, and durable Kryptonian species with unusual physical properties. Maggin describes the rise of a civilization which uses geothermal heat as its primary power source, developing science and technology, but finding it difficult to escape the massive world's gravity. Eventually its internal nuclear reactions led to Krypton's explosion.

Novelist Kevin J. Anderson presents approximately the last Earth year before Krypton's destruction in the 2007 novel The Last Days of Krypton. Jor-El, Lara, Zod, and Zor-El are the primary point-of-view characters. Following Brainiac's abduction of Kandor, Zod attempts to seize power, eventually leading to a civil war. Here Jor-El manages to avert several disasters threatening Krypton before an attempt to destroy the Phantom Zone by several reactionary council members who Zod had previously imprisoned there destabilizes Krypton's core and destroys the planet. In addition to Kal-El's rocket and the forcefield surrounding Argo City, a third avenue for escaping the planet is represented by hordes of engineers who do believe Jor-El's warning and attempt to build several space arks to escape the planet. Ultimately, they are unable to complete the ships fast enough. In the novel, Kryptonopolis is built over the ruins of Xan City.