Krypton is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly appearing or mentioned in stories starring the superhero Superman as the world from which he came. The planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was named after the chemical element krypton. It was first mentioned in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and made its first appearance in Superman #1 (June 1939). Krypton is destroyed immediately after Superman, as the baby Kal-El, is sent from the planet in a spacecraft by his parents, although the exact details of its destruction have varied over publication history. The planet is portrayed as having been far more technologically advanced than Earth, and having orbited a red sun. Kryptonians were the dominant species on Krypton, and its inhabitants included Kara Zor-El, Krypto, Beppo, Kara Zor-L (in her case, an alternate-universe version designated "Krypton-Two"), and the supervillain General Zod. Krypton appears in several television series such as Adventures of Superman, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Animated Series, Smallville, Supergirl, and Krypton. It also appears in the films Superman (1978) and Man of Steel (2013).
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
History
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.
Krypton in transition 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.
History
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