Paw-some powered pets
The animal sidekicks of superheroes take over this week as we check out at some of the best super-pets ever created.
THE DC League Of Super-pets animated feature film premiered in cinemas last week, and stars well-established super pets like Krypto the Superdog (voiced by none other than Dwayne Johnson), and Ace the Bat-hound (Kevin Hart).
There are some lesser-known ones too, like the super-fast turtle Merton Mcsnurtle (a.k.a the Terrific Whatzit), Chip, a squirrel with electrokinesis powers (based on Ch’p, a member of the Green Lantern Corps in the comics), and also new characters like PB, a size-shifting potbellied pig, and Lulu, an evil hairless guinea pig with telekinetic powers.
But we’ll leave the movie to introduce the new super pets. For now, let’s take a look at the comics to see some of the best super pets out there.
Before we get to that, however, here’s a brief history of the Legion Of Super-pets, which the movie is based upon. The Legion was created by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan and made its first appearance in 1962’s Adventure Comics #293. The original members of the team comprised Krypto, Streaky the Supercat, Beppo the Super-monkey and Comet the Super-horse, while a later iteration had Krypto, Streaky, Titus, Flexi the Plastic-bird, the Bat-cow, and Clay Critter.
Now, since there’s a whole menagerie of animals and even dinosaurs that have become sidekicks to superheroes, we’re going to narrow this list down to only pets that have superpowers, or at least some sort of power. So that rules out the likes of Snoopy, Garfield, Heathcliff, Tintin’s Snowy, Groo’s trusty Rufferto, and sadly, Hawkeye’s lovable Lucky the Pizza Dog.
And no, Dogbert, I know you’re a talking evil corporate canine, but that’s not a superpower.
We’re also trying to focus more on animals that make for more conventional pets, so that also rules out dinosaurs and dragons (sorry, Lockheed, Old Lace and Devil Dinosaur).
Krypto the Superdog
Created by Otto Binder and Curt Swan, Superman’s pet superdog first appeared in 1955, via a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #210. He was originally Kalel’s pet dog on Krypton. Superman’s father Jor-el used Krypto as a test subject for a prototype of the rocket that would eventually send Kal-el to Earth, but it only arrived on Earth after Kal-el had already grown to become a teenage Clark Kent/superboy.
Like his master, the yellow sun also gave Krypto superpowers, and his super sense of smell and hearing is far greater than Superman’s.
Ace the Bathound
You would think Batman’s “pet” would be a bat, but no, it’s actually a German Shepherd named Ace. In the movie, Ace’s superpower is invulnerability, but in the comics, he has no power whatsoever.
Still, he deserves a place in this list because, well, he’s Batman’s dog. (Sorry, Damian, but we draw the line at Bat Cow. The “no powers” thing also means Titus is ruled out.).
Created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff, Ace made his debut in 1955’s Batman #92. While looking for an engraver named John Wilker, who was kidnapped by money counterfeiters, Bruce Wayne runs some ads looking for Ace, Wilker’s dog, which has a distinct star-shaped mark on its forehead. To prevent people from making a connection between Bruce Wayne and Batman, he makes a mask for Ace to hide the mark, and also gives him a collar with a Bat symbol. Wilker later leaves Ace in Bruce Wayne’s care.
Lockjaw
When it comes to super-powered pets in Marvel Comics, its biggest canine star has to be Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ pet giant bulldog, who has an antenna sticking out of his head.
Lockjaw has the very useful power of teleportation, which probably comes in handy whenever Black Bolt or Medusa can’t get a ride on Grab. He can even teleport to different dimensions, and as his name implies, has pretty strong jaws as well. This is one super dog whose bite is definitely worse than his bark.
Lockjaw goes on to be the leader of the Pet Avengers, compsiring Lockheed (Kitty Pryde’s dragon), Redwing (Falcon’s, er, falcon), Ms Lion (Aunt May’s puppy from Spider-man And His Amazing Friends. Don’t ask.), Zabu (the pet Smilodon of Ka-zar), Niels the Cat/ Hairball (Speedball’s cat), and a new frog named Throg (erm, a frog version of Thor).
Bats
A fairly recent addition to Marvel, Bats is not a bat. Rather, he is a basset hound who was adopted by Doctor Strange, and then unfortunately got killed when the Sorcerer Supreme fought Loki.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t around anymore though – he came back to Strange’s side as a floating green ghost with a dry wit.
Sure, it’s not exactly a super power, but hey, he makes for an interesting addition to the Strange’s weird world. He even helped recruit members for a new Midnight Sons team a while ago to save Strange, who was trapped by Mephisto in Las Vegas.
Chewie
Captain Marvel’s pet cat isn’t exactly a cat. It’s actually an alien creature called a Flerken, which uses giant tentacles from its mouth to grab and devour enemies. Oh, and Chewie lays eggs as well.
Carol Danvers named her after Chewbacca (though the movie version called her Goose instead), and like that lovable walking carpet from Star Wars, Chewie is a loyal, if a little scary companion for her sometimes lonely adventures out in the cosmos.
Dex-starr
Since we’re talking about scary cat things, how about an angry cat that channels its rage through a Red Lantern ring and becomes a murderous space cat?
While not technically anyone’s pet now (though you could say the original leader of his Red Lantern Corps, Atrocitus, was his master), he did start off as an Earth housecat named Dexter, that became so overwhelmed with rage that when his owner was murdered that the Red Lantern Corps recruited him!
Streaky the Super Cat
Back to less scary felines, Streaky was Supergirl’s pet cat, which had similar superpowers to Superman and Supergirl.
Introduced in 1960’s Action Comics #261, Streaky gained superpowers after being exposed to X-kryptonite, a unique form of Kryptonite that Supergirl was experimenting on but ended up tossing it out the window, accidentally exposing Streaky to its radiation.
The initial Streaky was a male tabby cat, but in 2006, Streaky was retconned into a female cat and was Kara’s pet cat on Krypton. She was also a part of the Legion of Super-pets (consisting of Krypto, Titus, Flexi the Plastic-bird, the Batcow, and Clay Critter
Redwing
Before he became Captain America, Sam Wilson was the hero named Falcon, who had a trusty bird sidekick named Redwing, a wild falcon trained by Sam. They gained a telephatic connection after an incident with Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube, which also gave Sam a mental link with all birds, allowing him to see through their eyes of other birds and even communicate with them.
Fun fact: The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Redwing is not a bird at all, but a flying drone that Sam can operate remotely.
Comet The Superhorse
A flying horse with iron hooves who is also telepathic and telekinetic, Comet is another member of the original Legion of Super-pets, and another of Supergirl’s animal friends.
Comet’s first appearance was in 1962’s Adventure Comics #293, which also introduced the Legion of Super-pets. Comet was apparently meant to be a ‘super-pet Supergirl will own some day in the future’, but it was later revealed that he was originally a centaur from ancient Greece named Biron Who helped the witch Circe from an evil sorceror who was about to poison her water.
As a reward, she gave him a potion that was supposed to turn him into a full human, but it backfired and he got turned into a horse instead. To compensate for not being able to turn hi back, Circe gave Comet superpowers instead.
At one point, Comet was given the magic ability to turn fully human when a comet passes through the solar system he is in. In a weird turn of events, Supergirl actually ends up falling in love with him!