DC League of Super-Pets might be the new hotness when it comes to superheroic animal sidekicks, but pets are no stranger to the DC Comics continuities.
The stars of League of Super-Pets, Krypto, and Ace have been around since 1955, and nearly every old-school DC Golden and Silver age hero had their own animal sidekick for at least a little while, with director Jared Stern recently revealing why certain pets didn’t make the leap to the big screen.
“It’s very tricky to animate an octopus,” Stern told Comicbook, obliquely referring to Topo, Aquaman’s pet octopus sidekick that aided him throughout the silver age. “Ultimately you’re always having to make choices throughout production and so that was one that we couldn’t quite make work with everything else.” (Topo fans can take heart in the fact that he had his own cameo in 2018’s Aquaman movie).
There are plenty of pets to choose from, in addition to Krypto, for example, the Superman Family includes Supergirl’s cat, Streaky, Horse Comet, and even Beppo the Supermonkey. But Stern wanted the movie to be inclusive of pets outside the circle of Metropolis’ resident champion.
“We love the original Legion of Super Pets like Comet and Beppo but they’re Superman-centric. And we wanted to get into potential pets for the whole Justice League. And our origin story delves into rescue pets who need a home so we leaned into DC animals who’d make sense at a Metropolis shelter (sorry, Jumpa!) and just maybe match up with our Justice League.”
Jumpa is (of course) Wonder Woman’s pet kangaroo. Perhaps with the initial groundwork laid out, other super-pets will get their shot at a big screen debut. If DC League of Super-Pets turns into a franchise, maybe we’ll get to see Topo, Beppo, and Jumpa, or even more obscure pets like Batgirl’s cat Misty, or Beast boy’s pet Iguana, Guacamole in the future.
DC League of Super-Pets hits theaters today.