Look, up in the sky, is it a bird? Is it a plane? If you answered dog then there is a pretty good chance you are correct in Metropolis with Superman’s faithful canine companion joining the ranks of having (mostly his own) feature film with DC League of Super-Pets heading to cinemas this week.
If you aren’t familiar Super-Hero pet tie-ins are a little more grounded in the comics than opportunities for McDonald’s Happy Meals with the history of the DC being filled with hero and animal counterparts. While some lean more towards the human side with characters like Detective Chimp (and actual detective who speaks English, wears a deerstalker hat like Sherlock Holmes and has the respect of Batman) or Ch’p the Green Lantern of sector 1014 who resembles a chipmunk, others are closer to Supergirl’s pet horse Comet who just so happens to have super powers.
Super-pets have had a checked past with their appearance in the prime earth being Hawkman levels of retcons. Superman’s primary pooch Krypto for example originally came from a parallel Krypton where domestic companions were common and subject to the same effects under earth’s yellow sun (in case you wanted a Kryptonian parrot). In another retcon Krypto came from a pocket dimension and even versions where Krypto was the only survivor of a fake Krypton created by Brainiac.
Not to be outdone (except where it comes to super-powers) Batman’s canine Ace the Bathound has shared just as many new introductions to the Batcave, with most being Batman rescuing the pupper. In the most recent introduction Batman actually Ace switched from being a German Sheppard to a Great Dane when he was ‘purchased’ from the pound by Bruce Wayne for Damian aka Robin. Damian actually went on to adopt more animals including Bat-cow where he declared he would now be vegetarian.
That all being said DC League of Super-Pets follows suit in redefining the super-powered pets within the DC Universe. Krypto, voiced by The Rock, is the only super powered animal in Metropolis until a non-green variety Kryptonite asteroid is intercepted by the Justice League after Lex Luthor attempts to bring it to Metropolis. While Lex thinks the new M&M of Kryptonite will give him super powers it actually only gives powers to animals as it finds it’s way into a local animal shelter.
While clearly aimed for a younger audience and a pet centric level of action Super-Pets actually does pretty well with some fairly large set action scope. Jumping from Superman and Krypto hanging out to a city-wide invasion and a de-powered Justice League is probably not the level of world hangs in the balance you would expect (but then again there was that one time the entire Justice League were turned into Chimps….).
While Marvel has outpaced DC when it comes to live action in the MCU, DC have been consistently putting out high quality work in animation and Super-Pets continues to deliver with crisp animation and character designs. Even if some of the Justice League may not suit your personal style it is hard not to want more of a John Krasinski voiced Superman.
So should you go see it? If you have smaller types then this is definitely going to be on your radar however as an DC animated film it strangely is still a more serious movie than the Teen Titans Go films (which if you love too that just means you don’t hate joy). If you are a DC fan, we would definitely put this on your to watch list.
DC League of Super-Pets is in cinemas right now across Australia
