James Gunn’s Krypton Twist in Superman Isn’t as Big as People Think

Filmmaker James Gunn delivered many twists and turns with the DCU Superman movie. The biggest surprise involved a plot twist that painted the society of Krypton and Kal-El’s parents in a sinister light. However, while this twist defied every cinematic portrayal of the Man of Steel’s parents to date, it was well in keeping with the lore of the comics.

The opening scene showed an injured Superman watching a partly-scrambled recording while recovering. The message showed his parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, telling him that they loved him and wanted him to “live out Krypton’s truth.” He presumed this meant using his powers to help people. However, after the recording was unscrambled, it was revealed that they intended for him to take over Earth, ruling it as a tyrant with a collective of wives. Superman rejected this legacy, embracing his humanity and Pa Kent’s observation that what he wanted the message to mean defined him more than what the message truly said.

Superman 2025’s twist isn’t as unexpected as people think

Many attacked Gunn for this twist, feeling it was change for the sake of shock value. However, the ideas of a corrupt Jor-El and a fascist Krypton are nothing new. Indeed, the original 1978 Superman movie depicted Krypton as a world where dissention of any type was forbidden. Jor-El was threatened with banishment to the Phantom Zone for speaking about the planet’s impending destruction. This was the same punishment delivered to General Zod and his followers for orchestrating a violent military coup.

The television series Smallville offered a similarly dim view of Superman’s people and his father. Across 10 seasons, the Jor-El AI which ran the Fortress of Solitude repeatedly manipulated Clark Kent and his family and friends. While this was a computer simulation and not the true Jor-El, it still painted a dark picture of Kal-El’s father that he would plan to treat his son so callously.

Many versions of Krypton have been dystopian in the comics

These adaptations have a firm grounding in the classic Superman comics. Beyond the society of Krypton happily ignoring Jor-El’s warnings of doom, most Kryptonians were portrayed as arrogant and xenophobic. A prime example of this came in the New Krypton arc, where Clark was able to restore she shrunken people of Kandor to normal size, Rather than assimilate into the society of Earth, however, they elected to build a new Krypton. Eventually the two worlds came to war, with Supergirl‘s mother Allura In-Ze leading the battle against Earth.

Later, in the DC Rebirth era, Jor-El was resurrected as the villain Mr. Oz. Transported to Earth before Krypton died, Jor-El witnessed the dark side of humanity first-hand. This convinced him that the people of Earth were not worthy of the protection offered by Superman. Jor-El ultimately kidnapped his grandson, Jonathan Kent, to mold him into a crueler, more Kryptonian hero.