# Spawn of the Space Race -- Superpets in the DCU and MCU **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 5, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720 "2025-08-05T13:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/1 "2025-08-05T13:50:25Z")
Now that Krypto the Super Dog has finally appeared in James Gunn’s 2025 **Superman** , we have finally recognized a character older than me in the DC Cinematic Universe. Krypto sort of joins Cosmo the Space Dog from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as fallout from the Space Race. I used to think that Krypto – a dog sent into space by Jor-el to test out the satellite he intended to use to save the infant Kal-el – was pretty clearly modeled on Laika, the dog the Soviet Union sent into orbit as a test of the reactions of living things to spaceflight. (And whose exploits they showed to us as kids. I had a child’s book on space flight that showed her, ensconced in her claustrophobic capsule. They didn’t mention that she died in orbit, and was never meant to return to earth.) But Krypto actually beat Laika into orbit. Krypto appeared in 1955, while Laika went up in 1957. But the Russians had already sent up several dogs into sub-orbital flights for testing in 1951. They also sent up mice. Krypto turned out to be incredibly popular, and went on to a long career in DC comics, only relatively recently breaking out into animated series and movies before a live action/CGI Krypto finally showed up in a “real” movie. Cosmo the Space Dog is a Marvel comics creation that pretty clearly is based on Laika, but who didn’t appear in comics until 2008, and who has thus far been in all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the Holiday Special, as well as the series “What If…” It makes you wonder if other Space Race-inspired super-pets will show up onscreen. The US space program used apes (going back to sub-orbital flights in 1948 through 1952, then 1958-1961 before Ham was shot into orbit in 1961. Beppo the Space Monkey (he’s got a tail, so he’s no ape) stowed away aboard Kal-el’s satellite in a story first told in 1959, so he beat Ham into orbit. The same year gave us a super-powered ape from an American space launch, with Titano the Super-Ape, who started out as a chimpanzee who gets irradiated by meteors and grows to King Kong size, with Kryptonite vision. Titano showed up multiple times later, but they pruned his ears so he ended up looking more like a gorilla than a chimp in subsequent appearances. Marvel gave us Ivan Kragoff, the Red Ghost, and his Super-Apes Mikhlo, Igor, and Peotr in 1963. They got their powers from exposure to Cosmic Rays , as the Fantastic Four did, while en route to the moon. > **[A Brief History of Animals in Space - NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/history/a-brief-history-of-animals-in-space/)** > > Before humans actually went into space, one of the prevailing theories of the perils of space flight was that humans might not be able to survive long periods ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/2 "2025-08-05T14:36:21Z")
FWIW, [![](https://blog.explore.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/animalastronaut2.jpg) ](https://blog.explore.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/animalastronaut2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/3 "2025-08-05T14:38:37Z")
Thanks. SEX GECKOS??! ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/4 "2025-08-05T14:49:21Z")
This is blatant [Juanito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeys_and_apes_in_space#Argentina) erasure! (but it’s true that my man Juan (well, my monkey) did not reach the international definition of space) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/5 "2025-08-05T14:55:52Z")
Super pets? Bah! I want my pets to be regular Joes who earned their astronaut wings by good, old fashioned work ethic! Like Space Cat did! > **[Space Cat Series by Ruthven Todd](https://www.goodreads.com/series/52775-space-cat)** > > Space Cat, Space Cat Visits Venus, Space Cat Meets Mars, and Space Cat and the Kittens ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/6 "2025-08-05T15:01:01Z")
Well, there’s Goose, Captain Marvel’s cat; > **[Goose](https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Goose)** > > Goose is a Flerken and the former pet of Mar-Vell. Following the death of her owner, Goose went with Carol Danvers and Nick Fury into space during their quest to find Mar-Vell's Laboratory. After saving survived Skrull refugees and protecting the... …known as Chewie in the comics, evidently. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/7 "2025-08-05T15:11:15Z")
I like how that graphic helpfully points out that Belka & Strelka were the firth _Earth-born_ animals to return alive from space… ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/8 "2025-08-05T15:14:00Z")
I think there may have been some space-born (and Earth-born, for that matter) fruit flies before that. Popular science often confuses space with orbit and animal with mammal in these events. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/9 "2025-08-11T11:52:15Z")
The graphic novel that the upcoming Supergirl movie is based on features Comet the Superhorse so we may be getting that addition to the Menagerie as well. Streaky the Supercat could not be reached for comment. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/10 "2025-08-11T13:41:49Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The graphic novel that the upcoming Supergirl movie is based on features Comet the Superhorse so we may be getting that addition to the Menagerie as well. Comet is undoubtedly the most bizarre and problematic of the Super Pets, because he’s really a centaur who was transformed into a horse. That’s really taking girls’ attraction to horses to an iffy extreme. Comet was invented by Jerry Seigel, co-creator of Superman, who returned to DC in the 1950s and 1960s to create some of the more interesting elements of DC mythology. I never really cared for Streaky the Super Cat all that much, and don’t recall many episodes in which he appeared. He was another of Jerry Seigel’s creations. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/11 "2025-08-11T15:59:27Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The graphic novel that the upcoming Supergirl movie is based on features Comet the Superhorse so we may be getting that addition to the Menagerie as well. That Streaky was just a Krypto-wannabe. ps: I agree that including Comet’s origin could be… I believe the technical term is “icky”. So I’d go with Comet As Just A Horse. Hey, wait a minute! As we know from the ending of the new Superman movie, Krypto is Drunk Supergirl’s dog. So I say we don’t need Comet. Unless you want the whole [Legion of Super-Pets!](https://www.cosmicteams.com/legion/profiles/legion-of-super-pets.html)Hmm, that’d be right up Gunn’s alley… [![](https://uniwersumdccomics.com.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/legion-of-super-pets-800x445.jpg) ](https://uniwersumdccomics.com.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/legion-of-super-pets-800x445.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spawn-of-the-space-race-superpets-in-the-dcu-and-mcu/1021720/12 "2025-08-11T16:14:01Z")
A spoiler for the Supergirl story I referenced: In the story Comet is indeed a Kryptonian trapped in the form of a horse. Not a centaur just a normal Kryptonian who dies saving Kara.