Kryptonian

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Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race of the DC Comics universe who hail from the planet Krypton. The most well-known Kryptonian is Superman. "Kryptonian" may also be used as an adjective to refer to anything created by or associated with the planet itself or the culture that existed on it.

Inhabitants of the fictional planet Krypton appear to resemble humans, but their biology is much more complex. According to the DC Comics canon, the cellular structure of Kryptonians allows for solar energy to be absorbed at extremely high levels when exposed to a yellow star like Earth's Sun, giving them vast superhuman powers (such as flight, strength, x-ray vision, super speed, invulnerability, heat vision and superhearing) when on planets such as Earth.

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[edit] Powers and abilities

See also: Powers and abilities of Superman

On their native planet, Kryptonians were not known to possess any superpowers as Krypton revolved around a red star. However, when on planets like Earth which orbit a yellow star, Kryptonians utilize solar energy on the cellular level to achieve abilities unattainable by ordinary human beings. Among other abilities, super-powered Kryptonians possess the following at the peak of their power: super strength, super speed, invulnerability, heat vision, flight, super hearing, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, micro-vision, super breath, and ice breath.

Super-powered Kryptonians are vulnerable to Kryptonite.

[edit] Culture

Kryptonians are a highly technologically advanced people. In most portrayals, their technology is presented as being based on self-grown crystals which can cover the vast majority of their planet's surface. Vast amounts of data and information can be stored on relatively small crystals. The Fortress of Solitude is often portrayed a recreation of Krypton's surface, also serving as a storehouse for all the knowledge obtained by the Kryptonian race.

Each Kryptonian family, or what is called a "House," is often shown as being represented by a pictographic crest or symbol, often worn by the head of the house. The House of El, for example, is represented by a shape similar to the English letter "S". Superman wears this same symbol on his costume, which therefore serves a dual purpose: it displays his Kryptonian heritage as well as functioning as the "S" for Superman.

[edit] Language

For most of Superman's published history, Kryptonian writing was represented by random, alien-looking squiggles. In the 1970s, E. Nelson Bridwell attempted to rationalize these squiggles into a 118-letter alphabet, referring to the language as 'Kryptonese.'

In 2000, DC Comics introduced a transliteration alphabet for the written language, dropping the 'Kryptonese' moniker in favor of the more commonly assumed 'Kryptonian.' All such writing appearing in the comic books is actually just the language of publication (English in the USA & UK, French in France, etc.) written using this transliteration alphabet to replace the native alphabet with a one-to-one correspondence, in a similar fashion to Interlac in Legion of Super-Heroes.

On the television series Smallville, the written Kryptonian language is depicted as having a logographic component, with some symbols representing whole words or even names, though the transliteration alphabet is used as well. In the episode, "Gemini" Kryptonian was spoken aloud for the first time.

[edit] Survivors

[edit] Comics

When Krypton was destroyed in an explosion, it was thought that the entire Kryptonian race was destroyed. This was untrue as the scientist Jor-El managed to send his newborn son, Kal-El, off-planet to Earth right before Krypton's demise. Kal-El grew up on Earth as Clark Kent, and eventually discovered his Kryptonian origins. Superman's cousin Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) also survived Krypton's destruction, as did Kristin Wells, who had been on the run in space at the time of the planet's destruction. Kryptonian survivors of alternate worlds such as Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) and the canine Krypto also reside on Earth. Kryptonians General Zod and Ursa are imprisoned within the Phantom Zone prior to Krypton's destruction, and even go on to have a child, who would later be adopted as Christopher Kent.

In the Silver and Modern Age comics, the Kryptonian city Kandor, was also spared from destruction as it was shrunken by Brainiac. Kryptonian people live there in standard but microscopic, non-superpowered lives. Also, the inhabitants of the planet Daxam are descendants of Kryptonians who long ago ventured into space and settled on another planet, and as such possess similar powers and abilities when on the planet Earth.

[edit] Film

In Superman, teenage Clark discovers who he is in the Fortress of Solitude, where a hologram of Jor-El tells him, "You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton." This remark appears to prove untrue as prisoners of the Phantom Zone, such as General Zod, also survive the destruction of Krypton. It should be noted, however, that Zod and his lieutenants only survived because they were at that time incarcerated within the Phantom Zone and were not in fact on Krypton at the time of its destruction. In Superman Returns, it is implied that Clark is father to the half-Kryptonian child Jason White.

[edit] Television

In Smallville, Clark Kent initially believes himself to be the last survivor of Krypton. His father Jor-El's essence remains sentient in the mysterious Kawatche Caves and Fortress of Solitude, and the disembodied spirit of Zod is similarly sentient albeit trapped in the Phantom Zone. In Season Five, Clark discovers that the Disciples of Zod and Kryptonian artificial intelligence Brainiac arrive on Earth, serving Zod's trapped spirit. In Season Six, Clark discovers his father's assistant Raya was spared by being placed in the Phantom Zone, with her body intact, and for a time resides on Earth after escaping. Season Seven introduces Kara Zor-El, having been sent to Earth at the same time of Clark but trapped in suspended animation since then; later, through schemes put into practice before his death, Clark's uncle Zor-El and mother Lara are resurrected with powers intact for a time.

In Superman: The Animated Series and later Justice League Unlimited, the only survivors of Krypton are Clark, and two Phantom Zone criminals (Dax-Ur and Mala, introduced in "Blasts From the Past", parts 1 and 2). Kara In-Ze, alias Supergirl, is the lone survivor of Argos, a planet knocked out of orbit by Krypton's explosion; however, in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Fearful Symmetry", Doctor Emil Hamilton, who has examined Superman, calls her DNA "Kryptonian", indicating that Argosians are genetically related to Kryptonians. Failed clones of Superman (the mentally handicapped Bizarro and the monstrous Doomsday) and Supergirl (the sociopathic Galatea, patterned on Power Girl) are later created.

In Legion of Superheroes, the citizens of Kandor, Superman and his clone Superman-X, might all be considered surviving Kryptonians.

[edit] See also

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