Warning: Spoilers for the Superman & Lois series finale below!
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Superman & Lois has finally wrapped up after an epic four-season run, and one of the Man of Steel’s most loyal friends finally dropped in just in time for the show’s end. Superman & Lois season four has seen Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman challenged more than ever – being killed by Doomsday before being resurrected by the Kent family, only to see his powers gradually begin to diminish due having the human heart of General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) transplanted into him. Additionally Clark Kent finally reveals his identity as Superman to the world, but the biggest twist of all comes at the very end of Superman & Lois, with Superman and Lois Lane passing away and meeting again in the afterlife.
It’s an emotional outcome for Clark and Lois’ journey on Superman & Lois that puts a loving bow onto the show’s run, with Lois passing away of cancer years before Clark succumbs to his now-human heart. However, Superman & Lois‘ montage of the elderly Kal-El’s advanced years also includes a surprise appearance by Superman’s famed canine companion, Krypto, who Clark takes in as the first dog he’s ever had in his life after Lois’ passing.
Speaking to Comic Book, Superman & Lois showrunner Brent Fletcher spoke about the motivation to give Krypto a last minute appearance as the series was finally ending:
“We love Krypto. We had talked about the idea of Krypto a lot, but we were never going to have a superpower dog in the show. It just, it wouldn’t really work tonally with what we were doing. And so when we were building the end montage, it’s such a sad moment when Lois passes, and we’re trying to calibrate how everybody should feel. We wanted to have some joy afterwards. Like, how do you bounce back from such a loss? Well, you find another avenue for joy and if a shaggy dog can’t bring you joy, we don’t know what else can. And we just wanted like, it’s his first dog. He’s like a seven-year-old again in that moment as an old man with that dog. To us, it made us feel happy. And so, it was less about Krypto being an iconic character and more about Krypto just being man’s best friend.”
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Krypto the Superdog has been Superman’s canine sidekick for decades in the comics, but as Fletcher points out, Krypto also needs to be somewhat judiciously adapted depending upon the tone of whatever movie or TV show he’s being brought into. In some, like 2022’s animated movie DC’s League of Super Pets, Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) is portrayed as a fun-loving and whimsical talking dog with the same powers as Superman and a devoted loyalty to the Last Son of Krypton.
In other instances, Krypto has been adapted as more or less as a regular dog, as seen with Clark’s dog Shelby/Krypto on the CW’s first Superman series, Smallville. James Gunn’s Superman will also include Krypto, seemingly in his comic book accurate superpowered form, though Gunn has also clarified that Krypto will not speak in the movie.
In the case of Superman & Lois, Krypto’s role is one of his most heartwarming as a supportive friend to Clark after Lois’ passing as Clark grows old and increasingly human. Admittedly, the tone of Superman & Lois would have made it difficult to incorporate Krypto as a flying, super-powered dog assisting the Man of Steel in his life as a hero, but the series finale also shows that there was always a role for Krypto.
Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman never had a dog before, and Krypto came into his life right when he needed the kind of unconditional love that a dog can give the most. Though Krypto doesn’t bring any Kryptonian superpowers with him for Superman & Lois‘ series finale, he brings the ultimate power of all dogs to bring love and warmth to Clark’s heart as only man’s best friend can.