Category: Blog

“Language is not merely a set of unrelated sounds, clauses, rules, and meanings; it is a totally coherent system bound to context and behavior.” — Kenneth L. Pike

The web has accents. So should our design systems.

Design Systems as Living Languages

Design systems aren’t component libraries—they’re living languages. Tokens are phonemes, components are words, patterns are phrases, layouts are sentences. The conversations we build with users become the stories our products tell.

But here’s what we’ve forgotten: the more fluently a language is spoken, the more accents it can support without losing meaning. English in Scotland differs from English in Sydney, yet both are unmistakably English. The language adapts to context while preserving core meaning. This couldn’t be more obvious to me, a Brazilian Portuguese speaker, who learned English with an American accent, and lives in Sydney.

Our design systems must work the same way. Rigid adherence to visual rules creates brittle systems that break under contextual pressure. Fluent systems bend without breaking.

Consistency becomes a prison

The promise of design systems was simple: consistent components would accelerate development and unify experiences. But as systems matured and products grew more complex, that promise has become a prison. Teams file “exception” requests by the hundreds. Products launch with workarounds instead of system components. Designers spend more time defending consistency than solving user problems.

Our design systems must learn to speak dialects.

A design dialect is a systematic adaptation of a design system that maintains core principles while developing new patterns for specific contexts. Unlike one-off customizations or brand themes, dialects preserve the system’s essential grammar while expanding its vocabulary to serve different users, environments, or constraints.

When Perfect Consistency Fails

At Booking.com, I learned this lesson the hard way. We A/B-tested everything—color, copy, button shapes, even logo colors. As a professional with a graphic design education and experience building brand style guides, I found this shocking. While everyone fell in love with Airbnb’s pristine design system, Booking grew into a giant without ever considering visual consistency.  

The chaos taught me something profound: consistency isn’t ROI; solved problems are.

At Shopify. Polaris () was our crown jewel—a mature design language perfect for merchants on laptops. As a product team, we were expected to adopt Polaris as-is. Then my fulfillment team hit an “Oh, Ship!” moment, as we faced the challenge of building an app for warehouse pickers using our interface on shared, battered Android scanners in dim aisles, wearing thick gloves, scanning dozens of items per minute, many with limited levels of English understanding.

Task completion with standard Polaris: 0%.

Every component that worked beautifully for merchants failed completely for pickers. White backgrounds created glare. 44px tap targets were invisible to gloved fingers. Sentence-case labels took too long to parse. Multi-step flows confused non-native speakers.

We faced a choice: abandon Polaris entirely, or teach it to speak warehouse.

The Birth of a Dialect

We chose evolution over revolution. Working within Polaris’s core principles—clarity, efficiency, consistency—we developed what we now call a design dialect:

Constraint	Fluent Move	Rationale
Glare & low light	Dark surfaces + light text	Reduce glare on low-DPI screens
Gloves & haste	90px tap targets (~2cm)	Accommodate thick gloves
Multilingual	Single-task screens, plain language	Reduce cognitive load

Result: Task completion jumped from 0% to 100%. Onboarding time dropped from three weeks to one shift.

This wasn’t customization or theming—this was a dialect: a systematic adaptation that maintained Polaris’s core grammar while developing new vocabulary for a specific context. Polaris hadn’t failed; it had learned to speak warehouse.

The Flexibility Framework

At Atlassian, working on the Jira platform—itself a system within the larger Atlassian system—I pushed for formalizing this insight. With dozens of products sharing a design language across different codebases, we needed systematic flexibility so we built directly into our ways of working. The old model—exception requests and special approvals—was failing at scale.

We developed the Flexibility Framework to help designers define how flexible they wanted their components to be:

Tier	Action	Ownership
Consistent	Adopt unchanged	Platform locks design + code
Opinionated	Adapt within bounds	Platform provides smart defaults, products customize
Flexible	Extend freely	Platform defines behavior, products own presentation

During a navigation redesign, we tiered every element. Logo and global search stayed Consistent. Breadcrumbs and contextual actions became Flexible. Product teams could immediately see where innovation was welcome and where consistency mattered.

The Decision Ladder

Flexibility needs boundaries. We created a simple ladder for evaluating when rules should bend:

Good: Ship with existing system components. Fast, consistent, proven.

Better: Stretch a component slightly. Document the change. Contribute improvements back to the system for all to use.

Best: Prototype the ideal experience first. If user testing validates the benefit, update the system to support it.

The key question: “Which option lets users succeed fastest?”

Rules are tools, not relics.

Unity Beats Uniformity

Gmail, Drive, and Maps are unmistakably Google—yet each speaks with its own accent. They achieve unity through shared principles, not cloned components. One extra week of debate over button color costs roughly $30K in engineer time.

Unity is a brand outcome; fluency is a user outcome. When the two clash, side with the user.

Governance Without Gates

How do you maintain coherence while enabling dialects? Treat your system like a living vocabulary:

Document every deviation – e.g., dialects/warehouse.md with before/after screenshots and rationale.

Promote shared patterns – when three teams adopt a dialect independently, review it for core inclusion.

Deprecate with context – retire old idioms via flags and migration notes, never a big-bang purge.

A living dictionary scales better than a frozen rulebook.

Start Small: Your First Dialect

Ready to introduce dialects? Start with one broken experience:

This week: Find one user flow where perfect consistency blocks task completion. Could be mobile users struggling with desktop-sized components, or accessibility needs your standard patterns don’t address.

Document the context: What makes standard patterns fail here? Environmental constraints? User capabilities? Task urgency?

Design one systematic change: Focus on behavior over aesthetics. If gloves are the problem, bigger targets aren’t “”breaking the system””—they’re serving the user. Earn the variations and make them intentional.

Test and measure: Does the change improve task completion? Time to productivity? User satisfaction?

Show the savings: If that dialect frees even half a sprint, fluency has paid for itself.

Beyond the Component Library

We’re not managing design systems anymore—we’re cultivating design languages. Languages that grow with their speakers. Languages that develop accents without losing meaning. Languages that serve human needs over aesthetic ideals.

The warehouse workers who went from 0% to 100% task completion didn’t care that our buttons broke the style guide. They cared that the buttons finally worked.

Your users feel the same way. Give your system permission to speak their language.

Picture this: You’re in a meeting room at your tech company, and two people are having what looks like the same conversation about the same design problem. One is talking about whether the team has the right skills to tackle it. The other is diving deep into whether the solution actually solves the user’s problem. Same room, same problem, completely different lenses.

This is the beautiful, sometimes messy reality of having both a Design Manager and a Lead Designer on the same team. And if you’re wondering how to make this work without creating confusion, overlap, or the dreaded “too many cooks” scenario, you’re asking the right question.

The traditional answer has been to draw clean lines on an org chart. The Design Manager handles people, the Lead Designer handles craft. Problem solved, right? Except clean org charts are fantasy. In reality, both roles care deeply about team health, design quality, and shipping great work. 

The magic happens when you embrace the overlap instead of fighting it—when you start thinking of your design org as a design organism.

The Anatomy of a Healthy Design Team

Here’s what I’ve learned from years of being on both sides of this equation: think of your design team as a living organism. The Design Manager tends to the mind (the psychological safety, the career growth, the team dynamics). The Lead Designer tends to the body (the craft skills, the design standards, the hands-on work that ships to users).

But just like mind and body aren’t completely separate systems, so, too, do these roles overlap in important ways. You can’t have a healthy person without both working in harmony. The trick is knowing where those overlaps are and how to navigate them gracefully.

When we look at how healthy teams actually function, three critical systems emerge. Each requires both roles to work together, but with one taking primary responsibility for keeping that system strong.

The Nervous System: People & Psychology

Primary caretaker: Design Manager
Supporting role: Lead Designer

The nervous system is all about signals, feedback, and psychological safety. When this system is healthy, information flows freely, people feel safe to take risks, and the team can adapt quickly to new challenges.

The Design Manager is the primary caretaker here. They’re monitoring the team’s psychological pulse, ensuring feedback loops are healthy, and creating the conditions for people to grow. They’re hosting career conversations, managing workload, and making sure no one burns out.

But the Lead Designer plays a crucial supporting role. They’re providing sensory input about craft development needs, spotting when someone’s design skills are stagnating, and helping identify growth opportunities that the Design Manager might miss.

Design Manager tends to:

• Career conversations and growth planning
• Team psychological safety and dynamics
• Workload management and resource allocation
• Performance reviews and feedback systems
• Creating learning opportunities

Lead Designer supports by:

• Providing craft-specific feedback on team member development
• Identifying design skill gaps and growth opportunities
• Offering design mentorship and guidance
• Signaling when team members are ready for more complex challenges

The Muscular System: Craft & Execution

Primary caretaker: Lead Designer
Supporting role: Design Manager

The muscular system is about strength, coordination, and skill development. When this system is healthy, the team can execute complex design work with precision, maintain consistent quality, and adapt their craft to new challenges.

The Lead Designer is the primary caretaker here. They’re setting design standards, providing craft coaching, and ensuring that shipping work meets the quality bar. They’re the ones who can tell you if a design decision is sound or if we’re solving the right problem.

But the Design Manager plays a crucial supporting role. They’re ensuring the team has the resources and support to do their best craft work, like proper nutrition and recovery time for an athlete.

Lead Designer tends to:

• Definition of design standards and system usage
• Feedback on what design work meets the standard
• Experience direction for the product
• Design decisions and product-wide alignment
• Innovation and craft advancement

Design Manager supports by:

• Ensuring design standards are understood and adopted across the team
• Confirming experience direction is being followed
• Supporting practices and systems that scale without bottlenecking
• Facilitating design alignment across teams
• Providing resources and removing obstacles to great craft work

The Circulatory System: Strategy & Flow

Shared caretakers: Both Design Manager and Lead Designer

The circulatory system is about how information, decisions, and energy flow through the team. When this system is healthy, strategic direction is clear, priorities are aligned, and the team can respond quickly to new opportunities or challenges.

This is where true partnership happens. Both roles are responsible for keeping the circulation strong, but they’re bringing different perspectives to the table.

Lead Designer contributes:

• User needs are met by the product
• Overall product quality and experience
• Strategic design initiatives
• Research-based user needs for each initiative

Design Manager contributes:

• Communication to team and stakeholders
• Stakeholder management and alignment
• Cross-functional team accountability
• Strategic business initiatives

Both collaborate on:

• Co-creation of strategy with leadership
• Team goals and prioritization approach
• Organizational structure decisions
• Success measures and frameworks

Keeping the Organism Healthy

The key to making this partnership sing is understanding that all three systems need to work together. A team with great craft skills but poor psychological safety will burn out. A team with great culture but weak craft execution will ship mediocre work. A team with both but poor strategic circulation will work hard on the wrong things.

Be Explicit About Which System You’re Tending

When you’re in a meeting about a design problem, it helps to acknowledge which system you’re primarily focused on. “I’m thinking about this from a team capacity perspective” (nervous system) or “I’m looking at this through the lens of user needs” (muscular system) gives everyone context for your input.

This isn’t about staying in your lane. It’s about being transparent as to which lens you’re using, so the other person knows how to best add their perspective.

Create Healthy Feedback Loops

The most successful partnerships I’ve seen establish clear feedback loops between the systems:

Nervous system signals to muscular system: “The team is struggling with confidence in their design skills” → Lead Designer provides more craft coaching and clearer standards.

Muscular system signals to nervous system: “The team’s craft skills are advancing faster than their project complexity” → Design Manager finds more challenging growth opportunities.

Both systems signal to circulatory system: “We’re seeing patterns in team health and craft development that suggest we need to adjust our strategic priorities.”

Handle Handoffs Gracefully

The most critical moments in this partnership are when something moves from one system to another. This might be when a design standard (muscular system) needs to be rolled out across the team (nervous system), or when a strategic initiative (circulatory system) needs specific craft execution (muscular system).

Make these transitions explicit. “I’ve defined the new component standards. Can you help me think through how to get the team up to speed?” or “We’ve agreed on this strategic direction. I’m going to focus on the specific user experience approach from here.”

Stay Curious, Not Territorial

The Design Manager who never thinks about craft, or the Lead Designer who never considers team dynamics, is like a doctor who only looks at one body system. Great design leadership requires both people to care about the whole organism, even when they’re not the primary caretaker.

This means asking questions rather than making assumptions. “What do you think about the team’s craft development in this area?” or “How do you see this impacting team morale and workload?” keeps both perspectives active in every decision.

When the Organism Gets Sick

Even with clear roles, this partnership can go sideways. Here are the most common failure modes I’ve seen:

System Isolation

The Design Manager focuses only on the nervous system and ignores craft development. The Lead Designer focuses only on the muscular system and ignores team dynamics. Both people retreat to their comfort zones and stop collaborating.

The symptoms: Team members get mixed messages, work quality suffers, morale drops.

The treatment: Reconnect around shared outcomes. What are you both trying to achieve? Usually it’s great design work that ships on time from a healthy team. Figure out how both systems serve that goal.

Poor Circulation

Strategic direction is unclear, priorities keep shifting, and neither role is taking responsibility for keeping information flowing.

The symptoms: Team members are confused about priorities, work gets duplicated or dropped, deadlines are missed.

The treatment: Explicitly assign responsibility for circulation. Who’s communicating what to whom? How often? What’s the feedback loop?

Autoimmune Response

One person feels threatened by the other’s expertise. The Design Manager thinks the Lead Designer is undermining their authority. The Lead Designer thinks the Design Manager doesn’t understand craft.

The symptoms: Defensive behavior, territorial disputes, team members caught in the middle.

The treatment: Remember that you’re both caretakers of the same organism. When one system fails, the whole team suffers. When both systems are healthy, the team thrives.

The Payoff

Yes, this model requires more communication. Yes, it requires both people to be secure enough to share responsibility for team health. But the payoff is worth it: better decisions, stronger teams, and design work that’s both excellent and sustainable.

When both roles are healthy and working well together, you get the best of both worlds: deep craft expertise and strong people leadership. When one person is out sick, on vacation, or overwhelmed, the other can help maintain the team’s health. When a decision requires both the people perspective and the craft perspective, you’ve got both right there in the room.

Most importantly, the framework scales. As your team grows, you can apply the same system thinking to new challenges. Need to launch a design system? Lead Designer tends to the muscular system (standards and implementation), Design Manager tends to the nervous system (team adoption and change management), and both tend to circulation (communication and stakeholder alignment).

The Bottom Line

The relationship between a Design Manager and Lead Designer isn’t about dividing territories. It’s about multiplying impact. When both roles understand they’re tending to different aspects of the same healthy organism, magic happens.

The mind and body work together. The team gets both the strategic thinking and the craft excellence they need. And most importantly, the work that ships to users benefits from both perspectives.

So the next time you’re in that meeting room, wondering why two people are talking about the same problem from different angles, remember: you’re watching shared leadership in action. And if it’s working well, both the mind and body of your design team are getting stronger.

Creating a believable fictional world is one of the hardest achievements in storytelling. While some settings feel like obvious fantasy, others are built with such detail, history, and atmosphere that they seem like real places that could exist beyond the screen. Many fans can describe these places almost as easily as actual cities or countries. Here are fifteen fictional locations that feel remarkably real despite existing only in imagination.

The post 15 Fictional Places That Feel Totally Real appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

The internet has a remarkable ability to take a single movie scene and give it an entirely new life. Sometimes, a dramatic reaction, a funny expression, or a perfectly timed line escapes its original context and becomes part of online culture for years. Many of these moments were never intended to become memes, yet they spread across social media, forums, and group chats until they became more famous than the movies themselves. From reaction images to endlessly recycled GIFs, these scenes continue to appear everywhere online. Here are twenty movie moments that successfully made the jump from the big screen to internet immortality.

The post 20 Movie & TV Moments That Became Internet Memes appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

Horror has always relied on familiar tools like jump scares, distorted faces, and predictable moments of tension, but some films and series choose a different path entirely. Instead of leaning on well worn tricks, they build fear through atmosphere, psychology, storytelling structure, or unsettling ideas. The result is horror that feels fresher, smarter, and often more disturbing in unexpected ways. Here are fifteen horror movies and shows that found new ways to scare audiences.

The post Horror Movies & Shows That Scared Us Without the Tropes appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

We don’t want characters in movies to have all the answers; after all, without conflict and mystery, there is no plot. But the problems they face should match their abilities. A character who can fly shouldn’t forget they can just because a chase scene needs them to run.

Well, that’s the feeling we got from these fictional characters and their incredible brains. They are experts in their fields, but don’t manage to foresee outcomes we could’ve told them, all so the show can go on. It’s hard to suspend your disbelief when the actions of the characters are less than believable.

The post 14 Movie Geniuses Who Made Incredibly Dumb Decisions appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

Conspiracy theories have always been part of modern culture, especially in the United States, where politics, media, and history often intersect in complex and controversial ways. Some of these theories persist for decades, evolving with new generations and adapting to new platforms, even when they are repeatedly debunked by evidence and experts. Whether rooted in historical uncertainty or pure speculation, these ideas continue to circulate widely. Here are fifteen American conspiracy theories that people still believe today.

The post 15 American Conspiracy Theories People Keep Believing appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

Movie titles don’t often describe what the movie is about, but transmit a feeling or vibe. In Fast and Furious, the title doesn’t immediately translate to illegal racing, but it does transmit the sense of velocity and wild natured rebels that the movie intends. At least if you take that name literally, it can be about wild cats hunting.

Other movie titles, taken literally, are about things that we wouldn’t really want to watch. This is not just an exercise in silly thinking, but it’s also for us to not judge a movie by its title alone; the rest of the promotional material is there for a reason. These are what the plots of these movies would be, should we take the titles literally.

The post The 15 Most Boring Movie Titles Ever, if Taken Literally appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

It’s likely that nothing will compare to the cultural impact Michael Jackson had on the world, both because of how much of an icon he was, and how the world was back then. But there are still people that are known in enough parts of the world that, should they perish, it would certainly be felt.

These are the cultural icons that we know and love today, and it would be devastating to see them go. All that remains is, in each of their cases, if their legacy will remain spotless as they show it, or if we will find some dirty laundry once the casket is closed.

The post 15 Celebrity Deaths That Could Bring Michael Jackson Level Devastation appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

Among the most tantalizing reveals from Summer Game Fest 2026 was a more in-depth look at the upcoming Alien: Isolation 2. First announced in 2024, the sequel to Creative Assembly’s 2014 survival horror hit looks to escalate the tense gameplay and mounting dread as the game’s new protagonist is stalked by an iconic xenomorph. While […]

The post We Played Alien: Isolation 2 and It’s Utterly Terrifying appeared first on Den of Geek.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

The post Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU appeared first on Den of Geek.