SUPERMAN’S BEST FRIEND

DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS Director Jared Stern introduces his four-legged line-up of superheroic critters.

The elevator pitch for DC League Of Super-Pets (yes, it’s based on a real comic) is that we get to meet Superman’s pooch, Krypto, alongside other shelter animals who develop superpowers. “For a lot of people, especially kids, this will be their [gateway to superheroes],” acknowledges director Jared Stern. “We wanted it to be an awesome entry for them, to get them excited about these stories.” Here Stern takes Teasers through his (mostly) four-legged, (occasionally) furry superteam…

KRYPTO Dwayne Johnson

“Anything Superman can do, Krypto can do. But he’s also a dog. So it’s a little bit different with him. If you’re playing fetch, and you try to hide the ball behind your back, he can use his X-ray vision to see that you’re hiding it. And, as a dog, he really loves his owner. We like to say he’s a Kryptonian Retriever. We wanted him to feel like the Dwayne Johnson of dogs, like the Superman of dogs. And so one dog we looked at in particular is the Rhodesian Ridgeback, which were lion-hunting dogs. Superman and Dwayne are both these jacked dudes, but it’s tougher to make a dog looked jacked without it looking weird. There were other elements, too, but that just looked like a badass dog.”

CHIP Diego Luna

“He is afraid of everything, even his own shadow. So he really needs to find some sort of inner confidence. He gets the power of electricity, and at first, he’s scared. Diego often plays, especially in animation, sort of suave, macho characters. It was really fun for him to be playing something very different. And Chip’s also got crazy eyes, which I love, that were based on my dog.”

ACE Kevin Hart

“We wanted him to be a little bit more flawed – and ‘flawed’ in air quotes, because he’s wonderful. So he’s more of a shelter dog. He’s a little bit older. He’s kind of a mutt – a mixed-breed dog. So he’s got a lot of stuff going on. He’s a dog that might be less likely to get adopted – an older dog, one that might seem scary. We were looking at all the different little pieces of Ace from the comics. His colour scheme and stuff like that. And, of course, most importantly, if you’re going to end up being a Bat-Hound, you’ve got to have the ears.”

PB Vanessa Bayer

“So PB is a fanpig. She’s a potbellied pig, who is obsessed with the Justice League. She knows about all their exploits because she reads about them in the Daily Planet pages which line her crate at the shelter. Her No. 1, though, is clearly Wonder Woman. Vanessa Bayer is wonderful because she has that sweetness, but there’s always something just a little bit unhinged and off about her, which makes it perfect. She gets this power where she can make herself any size, but she has trouble controlling it.”

MERTON Natasha Lyonne

“Merton is a 100-and-something-year-old ‘toitle’, which is how you say ‘turtle’ if you’re Natasha Lyonne. She has been getting run over by cars since before there were cars. She got run over by a horse and buggy first. And she’s old, so she can’t see so good. She’s sort of this sarcastic, old lady. She gets the power of super-speed, which is wonderful, but is somewhat difficult when you can’t see where you’re going. It’s like if Mr. Magoo got a Ferrari.”

LULU Kate McKinnon

“She’s a hairless guinea pig, and she fancies herself as an evil supervillain. Ace thinks she’s a few guineas short of a pig. But it turns out that maybe she’s more capable than they think. So don’t judge a guinea pig by its hairlessness. Kate found this sort of haughty superiority to Lulu, which is very fun coming from a tiny, hairless creature. She thinks of herself as a genius, much like, say, Lex Luthor, who should be controlling the world. She thinks she’s Zod, and she’s sure that everyone should kneel before her.”

DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 29 JULY.