While the producers of ‘Titans’ have specifically pointed at the 1980s run of ‘New Teen Titans’ by Marv Wolfman and George Perez as the major influence on the TV series, it looks like things will get a little muddled when ‘Titans’ returns for its second season.
After the Dick Grayson-focused Season One finale, hopefully you stuck around after the credits. (Oh, we’re doing this for TV shows now?) In a sequence set “Somewhere in Metropolis” viewers witnessed a lab where “Test Subject 13” has gone offline. Though there is no clear straight-ahead shot, a tall, incredibly muscular (and naked!) male figure is seen stalking through the lab, flinging scientists around like rag dolls. He appears to be looking for something… or someone.
Just as he finds what he’s looking for, the camera zoomed in on an identifying tattoo, a barcode in a familiar pentagon shape:
And what is he looking for? If you missed it, here is the post-credits scene:
Yep, it looks as though Season Two of ‘Titans’ will introduce not only Superboy, but Krypto!
While the bulk of ‘Titans’ is drawn from the Wolfman/Perez era, Superboy was part of the team under the pen of ‘Titans’ executive producer Geoff Johns in the 2000s. Superboy, a.k.a. Kon-El and Conner Kent, was introduced in the 1993 storyline ‘Reign of the Supermen’ and was revealed to be a clone/artificial life form grown by secret scientific organization Project Cadmus. It was Johns who later revealed during his run on ‘Teen Titans’ that Kon-El was a hybrid clone– half-Superman’s DNA, half-Lex Luthor’s!
Krypto has been around for much longer, debuting in 1955, as the dog of Superman’s when he was a teen, and acting as the original Superboy. Krypto appeared in nearly every Superboy adventure and even popped up alongside the adult Superman every so often. Later, he became a companion to Kon-El, accompanying him on adventures. Krypto has the same powers as other Kryptonians including super strength, speed, invulnerability and flight and is much smarter and more human-acting than regular dogs.
Krypto appeared alongside the original Superboy in segments of ‘The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure’ starting in 1966. In 2005, he starred in his own Cartoon Network series ‘Krypto the Superdog’, aimed at preschoolers, and even had his own accompanying toy line. He was depicted in live action on an episode of ‘Smallville’ entitled “Krypto.”
A variation on Kon-El, called Alexander Luthor also appeared on an episode of ‘Smallville’, and was portrayed by Lucas Grabeel (left). In animation, Kon-El is one of the main characters on another DC Universe series, ‘Young Justice’. On that animated series, Superboy is accompanied by a large, powerful wolf named “Wolf,” but when he is first discovered, Miss Martian suggests naming him “Krypto,” which Superboy rejects. But Wolf essentially fills the same role as Krypto on the series.
While a second season of ‘Titans’ has been ordered, it has not been revealed when production will begin or when it will become available to stream. No casting has been announced, but most likely the figure of “Superboy” in the post-credits scene is a stuntman/body double, similarly to the way Superman was handled on the first season of ‘Supergirl’. Hopefully, Superboy’s casting will be announced in the next few months. Krypto will presumably be played by a bunch of zeroes and ones.
Are you excited that Superboy and Krypto are coming to ‘Titans’?
