Krypton is the home planet of Superman, one of the most famous DC characters, but the history of Krypton is largely unknown to readers, being one of the great myths of the character.
He planet Krypton is known for its destruction, like the Krakatoa volcano in august 1883as well as being the home world of Kal-Elalso known as Clark Kent. The technical name of the planet was Rao Prime, which orbited a large red star called Rao. The myth of the planet has evolved just like the DC character, but has maintained some of its original elements.
Rao Prime was a very advanced planet and it had a great civilization, which was the cradle of cutting-edge science and technology. In many versions of the seventh or ninth art, the planet is frozen or barrenmade up of large crystals and crystalline structures. the core of the planeton the contrary, according to the most extended versions had great geological pressure which was the cause of this explosion.
With Supermanin DC characters, there are other survivors of the planet such as Krypto, Supergirl, the criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, the citizens of the city of Kandor -reduced by Brainiac– or the general Zod, among others; In addition, the radioactive remains of the planet were scattered throughout the universe, being lethal to Kryptonians and coveted by their enemies: Kryptonite.
La time Kryptonian
Los kryptonians they have one appearance very similar to humansBut they are far superior in physical and mental aspectswhy Krypton had one greater wingspan and greater gravity, making the muscular development and the physical structure according to the planetary circumstances; the intellect, being a more advanced civilization, had also evolved more than on Earth.
Los kryptonians they are possibly related to the planet Daxamwhere its inhabitants acquire powers and abilities similar to those of Superman when exposed to a yellow star. This race has an Achilles heel that is lead, since its contact poisons them, like kryptonite to Superman.
An example of such poisoning is Mon-Ela Daxamite who was poisoned by lead and preserved in the phantom zone until, in the 20th century, Brainiac 5 discovered a cure for him and Mon-El joined the Legion of Super-Heroes.
He governance system of the planet was under the umbrella of a scientific eliteamong whom were the Kal-El’s parentswhich were originally called Jor-L and Loraalthough later late 1940swould be changed to the now canonical Jor-El and Lara.
Krypton in the Golden Age
The first time who appeared in the comics planet Kryptonin Action Comics#1, was at the time of its explosion. The nature of the planet or his history were irrelevant for the superman storiesbecause it was just a point of origin to justify the departure from the planet of Kal-El and his alien nature that allowed him to have powers on Earth.
In the Superman comic strips, Krypton began to appear as a planet very similar to Earth, but older and much more developed. The eons of antiquity justified the great development of the Kryptonian society and, in turn, the geological deterioration of it that caused its destruction.
At first, Superman was unaware of his provenance.but in the number 61 of the first volume of his comic masthead, the hero discover the existence of his home planet and his heritage. Subsequently, they will emerge new survivors of the extinct planet, as is the case of the criminals banished by Jor-El: U-Ban, Kizo and Malato whom the sentence saved them from perishing in the explosion of the planet.
In the first two decades of Superman’s existence, his home planet underwent several alterations, with the aim of giving more depth to the character’s history. Thus, it was explained that Kryptonians would die if they had superpowers on their homeworld, so they only acquired these in places with less gravity.
Later would be added the sun explanationa star younger than Rao. Thus, the rays of the yellow sun with more energy, would give more power to the Kryptonians than the red radiation, since this would be colder due to the longevity of the star and would have less energy.
Changes in the Silver Age
At this time Krypton would begin to have a greater weight in the stories of the alter ego of Clark Kent/Kal-ELbeing the center of the DC characters, so their background and history would undergo more retouching and deeper explanations, which would increase the detail about the history of the planet.
Knowing the danger that hung over Superman’s home planet, the Green Lantern Corps would have the mission to prevent the destruction of KryptonTherefore, the Guardians of the Universe ordered this task to one of their intergalactic agents, Tomar-Rebut the Green Lantern could not carry out the assigned mission on time and the planet perished.
In this comic book age the Kryptonians are depicted as a highly advanced civilization where science is capable of improving the development of society and scientific research and inventions are applicable to the daily life of its inhabitants.
This scientific and technological research is highly admired on the planet, therefore the ruling council rests with the scientists. In the representation of the Kryptonian society the robots are widely used and determine the path forward for young people towards their adult career.
In the Silver age hay various stories that narrate time travel to visit Krypton before its destructionamong them the most famous is ‘Superman returns to Krypton’from 1960, where the hero arrives at his home planet years before its destruction.
In that sixties story, Kal-El has no powers on Krypton. and has the chance to meet their future parents; he in turn, he knows an actress named Lyla Lerrol, with which he will fall in love. In another story, ‘What would have happened if Krypton hadn’t exploded?’ greater emphasis was placed on Kryptonian society.
Unlike in the Golden agein this Superman is fully aware of his alien heritage from his childhood.so you will use your knowledge to honor some of the traditions of your home planet or to carry out scientific research or creation of robots and technology.
The vision of the planet at this time is not of a barren or frozen surface, but that there are numerous and varied ecosystems throughout the planet, which show the life and splendor of the planetwith places like: the scarlet jungle -with numerous wild animals and plants, which even consume metal-, the golden volcanoo the mountains of jewels.
Kryptonian capital kandor
The capital of the planet was Kandoruntil Brainiac stole it and reduced to include it in your collection. In the first confrontation between the android and Superman, he discovers that he is inside a bottle, so he rescued her and preserved on earth until you discover how to return it to its natural size. In the 1970s, a story made it possible to enlarge Kandor and place it in the Planeta Rokyn. Returning to Krypton, the new capital was Kryptonopolis.
In the Argentine age, readers discovered the existence of two moons as satellites of the planet, but one of them was accidentally destroyed for research on space travel by the scientist Jax-Urwho was he first convicted to the phantom zone. This detail also explains why the investigation of stellar travel and the voluntary confinement of the Kryptonian civilization on the planet were abandoned.
Already in the late 1970s, in 1979Many more details about Krypton’s history before its destruction were revealed in the miniseries’World of Krypton‘ (World of Krypton)-in 2021 another new self-titled 6-issue miniseries was published, while providing readers with more information about the life of Jor-El.
Two years later, in 1981a new miniseries titled ‘The Krypton Chronicles’ (the chronicles of krypton), originally published in three comics, provided more information about Superman’s home planet, since Clark Kent had to write an article about his alter ego for an editor fascinated with the TV series Roots. To do this, he and Supergirl went to Candor to document about his family.
The changes about the origin and history of Krypton would not stop here, but from the eighties and, above all, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, new versions would come to light, although this is already another new story…
