Given the look and feel of the first few brief glimpses of Syfy‘s Krypton, fans have been left wondering whether it might take place in the DC Extended Universe, but we’ll go one better: what if the world of Krypton might actually find a way to crossover with either DC’s movies or TV series down the line?
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Per conversations with the producers at San Diego Comic-Con last month, it appears as though much of Krypton will take place in the capital city of Kandor, a place which, famously, ended up shrunk down, bottled, and preserved in the comics.
In the original, Silver Age version of Kandor’s mythology, the city was miniaturized and stolen by Brainiac several years before the destruction of Krypton. Years later, when Brainiac comes to pull a similar stunt on Earth, Superman stops him and steals Kandor back, placing it in the Fortress of Solitude in the hopes that he can someday find a way to re-enlarge it and free its millions of inhabitants.
Later versions of the mythology are generally variations on that same theme. Brainiac is not always directly tied to Kandor, but almost always.
On Krypton, meanwhile, we have a story that involves a number of familiar elements:
- Kandor (where much of the show will take place)
- Brainiac (the series’ primary antagonist, who hopes to kill Superman by preventing Jor-El’s birth)
- Time travel
- Contemporary Earth superheroes (at least Hawkwoman and Adam Strange).
It does not seem like a stretch to suppose that, if the series lasts more than one season, the city could eventually come to be miniaturized and stolen. If that happens, there is nothing to say that a version of Krypton might not be sitting in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude even now in the Krypton timeline.
That is where things can get weird: if the Bottle City of Kandor is there, then logically events that take place in Kandor might reverberate beyond the city walls and potentially draw the attention of modern-day characters. It would be plausible for Seg-El (Superman’s grandfather, and the main character on Krypton) to somehow send a literal “message in a bottle” to his grandson and effect change, add to the guest stars, or maybe even cross over with other properties down the line.
Kandor, in particular, seems an odd choice to use for a Brainiac story if you aren’t eventually going to end up with the Bottle City, after all.
Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, KRYPTON follows Superman’s grandfather (Cameron Cuffe, The Halcyon) — whose House of El was ostracized and shamed — as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos. Based on DC characters, KRYPTON is from Warner Horizon Scripted Television and is executive produced by David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight trilogy) through his Phantom Four banner. Damian Kindler (Sleepy Hollow) will serve as executive producer and showrunner.
In addition to Cuffe, KRYPTON stars Georgina Campbell (Broadchurch), Elliot Cowan (Da Vinci’s Demons), Ann Ogbomo (World War Z), Rasmus Hardiker (Your Highness), Wallis Day (Will), Aaron Pierre (Tennison) with Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones).
The pilot teleplay was written by Goyer and Kindler, from a story by Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) & Goyer, with Colm McCarthy (She Who Brings Gifts, Peaky Blinders) serving as director and co-executive producer. KRYPTON is based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, published by DC.