It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… Superman’s gramps?
Syfy is developing the one-hour drama series Krypton, about The Man of Steel’s grandfather, the network has announced.
The prequel project — which is executive-produced by David S. Goyer (Constantine, Da Vinci’s Demons, Man of Steel) and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time, FlashForward) — centers on the superhero’s grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton during a time when the House of El was shamed and ostracized.
Goldberg will pen the pilot.
Are you excited for this newest foray into the Superman mythology?
Is this gonna be the same Krypton that was seen in “Man of Steel”?
I hope so.
First is Gotham, then is Krypton… what’s next? Temiscira? Atlantis? So over these prequels.
Actually, those sound pretty cool too.
agreed
Honestly, this sounds really cool. I like the idea. Some people may be sick of prequels but I love the origin stories just because the main character has already been done to death.
I like that premise. It provides the narrative with the background information Waid’s Birthright was sorely lacking in terms of the symbology of the S. I still hate the general idea, but at least Goyer is putting the effort.
This sounds pretty horrible.
I know, lets take Superman, and then do a show without him, and where no one has the powers that make Superman so cool in the first place.
Cool? You misspelled “so overpowered that he becomes boring and everyone prefers Batman over him”.
Sorry Lea, not everybody. Superman has been #1 with my friends and I since we were kids.
This is a valid concern. Overpowered isn’t great, because it negates the danger. It can be done though.
So the Krypton prequel will focus on Superman’s paternal grandfather, Jor-El’s dad. Not some distant ancestor several generations removed, but his inmediate grandparent. This is HUGELY significant for the following reason: his name.
In the Silver Age and Bronze Age of comics this character was called — Jor-El I, which retroactively meant his son had become Jor-El II.
Apparently writers and editors back then were far more concerned with coming up with new colors of Kryptonite and new evil Kryptonian survivors for Superman to punch than they were in giving the characters a name.
This nonsense changed with the release of Byrne’s World of Krypton (the second series to use that name), in which Jor-El I became Seyg-El, a derivation of Siegel, the surname of Superman co-creator, Jerry Siegel.
SOOOO, I for one doubt the prequel TV show will do something as stupid as call the character Jor-El I or Jor-El the first. I would hope they choose to do the smart thing and call him Seyg-El. It’s the right thing to do, and less lame. And it would be in keeping with Goyer’s continued use of Byrne’s reboot as the framework of his take on Superman.
All that said, HOW can Jor-El even have a father when all children on Krypton in Man of Steel were created in a genetic chamber using the matrix? In the Byrne comics two parents had to donate a DNA sample, but I don’t think that’s the case here. I’m curious to see how familial bloodlines work in Goyer’s version of Krypton.
Even with Goyer involved, this is not going to be connected to MoS and the DCCU, so what was done with Krypton in MoS doesn’t matter a whit.
Do you know that for a fact?
Maybe his adoptive father
Not likely.
This was actually really cool to learn about! I second Seyg-El!
:)
I was checking Smallville Wikia and seems like that show never bothered to name him. They only referred to him as Jor-El’s father. This would be the first time he gets a name in other media I think.
Biff-El!
heh
LOL wut
This Show will fail like Gotham.
Gotham’s been a hit. It didn’t fail.
A success, then.
Words like hit and success are strong words. Very strong. It got a full season pick up, but it isn’t a huge hit by any measure. If Fox had any other hits, this show would be in real trouble wrt a second season pick up. It may be in trouble anyway.
Where are people getting their information? A simple Google search using the words Fox, Gotham, and Ratings took me to a TheWrap.com report that says Gotham was a ratings hit for Fox. Just because some people don’t like it it doesn’t mean it wasn’t successful. Same as with Man of Steel. Both of these adaptations have their detractors AND were both successful. Just people they deviate from the comics from the 60’s it doesn’t make them a failure.
Its just the marvel fantards that think their Agents of Shield is a hit despite declining ratings (definitely lower than Gotham) and terrible reviews as of late
Which proves that success is subjective. Agents of SHIELD may be a hit creatively but it doesn’t make it a hit commercially. Many will say the same is true of Gotham and Man of Steel. Creative success and failure for comic book fans tends to be determine by how much a movie or TV adaptations resembles comics from a specific era/decade.
Hope this turns out better than all the other movies Syfy makes.
Shades of “Caprica”? I think it could be pretty cool.
It’s not necessary and I would really prefer Goyer nowhere near anything to do with DC after how Constantine turned out (last straw, that one).
We all know how great “Caprica” went. And I – personally – find “Gotham” to be rather boring.
I’d rather take the original pitch they had for “Smallville”, i.e. about a young pre-Superman Lois Lane than “Krypton”
This part of the premise is interesting, “during a time when the House of El was shamed and ostracized.”
How cool would it be if the reason the House of El is ashamed and ostracized was BECAUSE of the part Kem-L played in the alien cleansing using the Eradicator? That would absolutely have some sort of blowback on the way people perceive the members of the House of El. There’s also the issue of the Clone Wars, which were instigated by Kal’s ancestors. My guess would be that it’ll be up to Kal’s grandfather to turn things around for the family in contrast to all the harm his ancestors caused the planet.
yep! love anything superman related!!
I think it could work if it primarily based on Jor el. I would make his father part of the counsel.I think it would work being 10-15 years before the planet explodes .Dream Jor el: Charlie Hunan using his using regular voice.I would Jor el a csi type scientist/inventure who also in the Krypton army reserve who has know zod sense they were kids.I see BattleStar meets Game of Thrones set on Man of Steels Krypton only more colorful.I would not make him a playboy but would show other romances before Lara, as well as show how he discovered the phantom zone,show how Zod moved up in rank,Zor el, nimel and the rest of the house of El. I would make Lara a librerian that is also a army reserve.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Great idea! Something new and a whole fresh area of the superman epic for prospective writers to dig their teeth into and it’ll be exciting to see how the special effects department bring krypton to life and to our screens! I can’t wait good luck i eagerly await the pilot!
I suppose next we’ll see a series about the young romance of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben and Aunt May