New Superman Test Footage Released By James Gunn Gives The Best Look Yet At Krypto The Superdog

When Superman debuts in July, several major DC characters will make their first live-action theatrical appearances. One such hero is Krypto the Superdog, Clark Kent/Superman’s childhood dog who also survived Krypton’s destruction. The human stars of the film include David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Frank Grillo, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, Anthony Carrigan, Skyler Gisondo, and Wendell Pierce. Though the film is not an origin story, it will follow a younger Superman (Corenswet) balancing his relationship with Lois Lane (Brosnahan), the burgeoning enmity between himself and Lex Luthor (Hoult), and trying to be a hero.

In a recent Instagram post, director James Gunn showed off some of the film’s special effects work with a video featuring the superdog. The caption reads: “Krypto isn’t impressed with 4’s petting abilities.Test footage from @framestore. #Superman.” The video itself shows Krypto reluctantly receiving pets from Robot #4 from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

While a real dog named Jolene stood in for Krypto on set, his appearance is primarily created using computer generated effects. The primary reason for this is that Krypto has been redesigned to resemble Gunn’s rescue dog, Ozu, who inspired him to include Krypto in the film in the first place. Recently, Gunn explained how adopting Ozu led him to write Krypto into Superman during an appearance on the DC Studios Showcase podcast:

I adopted this dog. He was raised in a backyard with 60 other dogs, and he was in a hoarding situation. He didn’t know human beings at all.

I went to the rescue place to look at the dogs, and he was just sitting in a, literally, a pile of dogs.

He didn’t want anything to do with me, but I thought he looked funny because of the ear. And so I guess the part of me that likes funny dogs was like, “I want the one with the stupid ear.” […]

And I brought him home. He wouldn’t let my wife, or I touch him. He spent all the time with our other dog, who he just was connected to. And then he proceeded to ruin everything in my house. Like, you know, he destroyed all of my furniture.

Every time there was any sort of thing that was vaguely an animal on TV, he would attack something in the room and tear it apart, like an anger-like attack. A pillow, because there’s a hyena on film. He ate… destroyed my laptop. He just, you know, chewed up my laptop. He chewed up all my shoes. And whenever I walked around the house barefoot, which I am always barefoot in my house, he would bite my feet as hard as he could. And I would have to be like, “Ah!”

You know, or I’d be on the phone with somebody, and I pace while I’m on the phone, and it’s like I can’t scream because I’m on the phone. So I’d have to get up on my kitchen counter and, like, cross my legs so that my dog couldn’t get to them. And then all of a sudden I’d look over, and there he is, you know, flying up and then attacking my feet.

And I couldn’t tell whether it was because he hated me or what. And I’m like, “Oh, what if that dog had superpowers?”

The clip itself can perhaps characterize both Krypto and Robot #4. The latter, voiced by Alan Tudyk, pets Krypto in a stiff, harsh manner owing to his being a robot. Meanwhile, Krypto appears stiff and disinterested, but he doesn’t move away. The Superman trailers have previously characterized his take on Krypto as a naughty dog trying to be good, which could be why he accepts Robot #4’s less-than-stellar petting.

The most impressive element of this Superman test footage is how lifelike Krypto looks. Despite being a CGI recreation of Ozu, he looks believable as an actual dog. This is especially impressive considering how Ozu’s appearance has been adapted to better match Krypto, being color shifted to white and mapped onto Jolene, who is presumably larger. Even with these significant changes, Framestore made Krypto resemble both Ozu and Krypto while not looking uncanny.

As well-done as this footage is, it will be interesting to see how their work holds up in the final film. Krypto will be participating in action scenes, meaning he’ll be fighting, flighting, and possibly exhibiting more powers. Bringing Krypto to life in Superman is no easy task, but if the quality of the test footage is anything to go by, the canine hero will be a sight to behold.