There were a bevy of intriguing details littered throughout the new Superman trailer, and one of the key moments can be seen further into the trailer when Superman is seen holding a damaged robot. That robot is in all likelihood the character known in the conics as Kelex, which is a deeper cut as far as DC characters go. What might you surprise you more though is the creation of Kelex and its connection to Hellboy, and it all stems from Mike Mignola.
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If you’re not familiar with Kelex, it’s perfectly understandable. Kelex is mainly a fixture of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, so unless a story heavily involves the Fortress you’re likely not seeing much of Kelex in the series aside from a brief appearance or two.
Kelex was created by the team of John Byrne and Hellboy creator himself Mike Mignola, who is also responsible for characters like Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, Sir Edward Grey Witchfinder, and more. Kelex first appeared in The Man of Steel #1 back in 1986. On Krypton, the House of El had a host of Kryptonian Service Robots in their service, and one of them was known as Kelex. Kelex was assigned to Jor-El and was extremely loyal to the El family and Jor-El, though Kelex was unfortunately destroyed with the rest of Krypton.
Kelex would enter the world of the living once again though thanks to the action s of a Kryptonian relic known as The Eradicator. The Eradicator sought to transform Earth into a new version of Krypton, and that led to the creation of the Fortress of Solitude and a clone of Kelex. This was the original origin story of the Fortress, and while it has changed a few times over the years, Kelex has maintained a consistent presence in these various iterations.
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Kelex has helped Superman numerous times in the years since, and it could very well be that fans will meet Kelex in the new film only to also see him die by movie’s end. That’s the vibe the scene featuring Kelex definitely gives, though this could also mean something is happening regarding the fortress and he has been attacked but is still among the living. Fingers crossed that latter idea is the case.
Over the years fans have seen Kelex pop up from time to time, even making an appearance in the Arrowverse. Kelex showed up in Supergirl’s For The Girl Who Has Everything episode back in 2016, and he received a bit of an upgrade in his Arowwverse iteration. The almost lamp-style head design was still there, as was the shorter stature, but there were more modern details in the torso and arms.
Kelex also showed up briefly in the Snyderverse DCU, and has also appeared in various other comics with alternate versions and even video games. Now fans will get a new version of the robot ally, which seems to blend some of those other designs into one that is sleek and silver.
As for why Superman is holding him, we’ll just have to wait and see, but it doesn’t exactly seem like a hopeful situation. That said, there have been many different versions of the character over the years, and when you are dealing with robots and androids, there’s always a chance they can return in some form down the road. Hopefully that’s the case here as well.
The Superman trailer gave us first looks at a host of other Superman-related characters too, including Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, Metamorpho, and the adorable super-pup Krypto. While we’ve seen various versions of Superman, Lois, and Lex over the years on the big screen, this will be the first time we’ve seen characters like Guy, Terrific, Hawkgirl, and Krypto in film. After seeing Krypto rescue Superman in the trailer, he would presumably take him to the Fortress, and perhaps that is where we will see Kelex make his DC Studios debut too.
Superman soars into theaters on July 11th, 2025.
Are you excited for Kelex making his DC Studios debut? You can talk all things DC Universe with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!
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Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
