It is a good time to be a superheroic animal. DC’s League of Super-Pets animated movie is on the way and has somehow nabbed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the voice of Krypto the Superdog, along with Kevin Hart as Ace the Bat-Hound, plus Keanu Reeves, Kate McKinnon, Diego Luna, and more. But these critters — and maybe others — have long had superhero careers in the pages of DC Comics. It’s time to look at every member of the Legion of Super-Pets — and see how they compare.
9) Comet the Super-Horse
Let’s briefly talk about the original Legion of Super-Pets. When the “Brain-Globes of Rambat” took mental control of a few members of the Legion of Superheroes back in 1962, a group of un-mind-controllable super-pets had to team up to defeat the aliens. This was Krypto, Streaky, Beppo (all of whom you’ll learn about shortly), and, making his comics debut, Supergirl’s pet horse Comet. Comet isn’t from Krypton; in fact, he’s not even a horse.
Comet was a centaur who had accidentally been cursed by a witch to become solely a horse and was given super-strength, super-speed, flight, and immortality as a consolation prize. Later, an alien gave him the power to transform into a human whenever a literal comet was passing by Earth, during which time he took the identity of rodeo trick-rider “Bronco” Bill Star.
As Bill, he actually dated Supergirl, who had no idea of his real identity as her pet horse. This is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard about in old comics, and I’ve been making fun of them for decades. Of all the wild things about Comet, it’s somehow the fact that he joined a rodeo that boggles me the most.
8) Beppo the Super-Monkey
Beppo, on the other hand, is both from Krypton and a monkey, because monkeys evolved there exactly as they had evolved on Earth (as revealed in 1959’s Superboy #76). Also as on Earth, Kryptonians used them as test subjects — like, say, if a scientist was building a rocket to shoot his infant son into space before the planet blew up. Beppo was the lucky test subject who survived the first test trip back, and even more luckily secretly stowed away in baby Kal-El’s ship before it blasted off.
He escaped unnoticed upon arrival, and gained superpowers just like Superman, thanks to Earth’s yellow sun. Eventually, he rediscovered his travel companion as a child and started secretly messing with little Clark and various stuff on the Kent farm while Clark got all the blame, which is quite funny. However, he revealed his more heroic side as a founding member of the Legion of Super-Pets.
7) Flexi the Plastic Bird
Flexi is a much more recent addition to DC’s second Legion of Super-Pets, having first appeared in 2017’s Super Sons Annual #1 (it’s also his sole appearance so far). Although he’s wearing a version of Plastic-Man’s iconic outfit and has the same stretching/transforming powers as his namesake, any other relationship to Plastic-Man is unknown. (Although fans theorised that Flexi is Plastic-Man himself, and he’s just decided to be a bird for a while because he’s bored or something.)
There’s not much to Flexi, but it’s worth noting that this new, in-canon Legion of Super-Pets used to fight crime previously, but broke up after member Clay Critter — an alien without any pet-like characteristics and thus not on this list — died during a mission. They re-teamed after a string of mysterious pet disappearances in Metropolis and are hopefully still going strong.
6) Jumpa the Kangaroo
Bear with me here, because this is…really something. Wonder Woman acquired a pet kangaroo — well, a pet “kanga” — way back in 1942 in Sensation Comics #6, the same issue she first receives her magic lasso. Why are there kangaroos on the Amazonia island of Themyscira? I’m so delighted you asked because here is DC Comics’ official explanation: “On the island of Themyscira, it was originally common for Amazons to use giant kangaroos as pack and transportation animals, rather than horses or donkeys.
These creatures were alien beings known as Kangas. They were brought to Themyscira by a tribe of star-faring Amazons who called themselves the Sky Riders of Nebulosa. When the need arose, they wore special armour and carried Amazon warriors into battle.” By the way, Jumpa has just been reinstated into DC’s canon just this past March, thanks to a flashback in Wonder Woman #770. I am technically cheating by including her in the list, but her origin is too damn weird not to share.
5) Ace the Bat-Hound
Much like Batman is only human, Ace is only a dog who Batman enlisted in a search to find his original owner in Batman #92 in 1955. Unfortunately, since Bruce Wayne had posted a bunch of “Is This Your Dog? Call Bruce Wayne!” fliers around Gotham (I’m paraphrasing), he felt he had to put a Bat-cowl on Ace’s head to protect both their identities while they searched for the German Shepherd’s owner, who eventually gave Ace to Bruce Wayne anyway and moved away. Although Ace wasn’t super enough to be in the first League of Super-Pets, he was still able to nab criminals himself and spy on villains — he even rescued Batman and Robin a few times.
He wasn’t part of the second League either, as he’d been erased from continuity, only to be replaced by another dog named Titus (we’ll get there) until 2016, likely because Ace had a new origin that is just a huge bummer you don’t want or need to know; just rest assured Ace is now fine, BFFs with Titus, and completely devoted to Alfred. The reason he makes the list is that we already know he’s going to be in the League of Super-Pets movie.
4) Streaky the Supercat
Unlike Beppo and Comet, Streaky isn’t from Krypton and he’s not a magic centaur with boundary issues. He was just Supergirl’s regular ol’ pet cat during what might be the most wildly irresponsible moment in her career. In 1960’s Action Comics #261, Supergirl was experimenting on a small piece of green kryptonite in hopes of figuring out a way to make it safe for Superman to be around.
When she failed, Supergirl just tossed the hunk of kryptonite out her window for anyone to find. That anyone was Streaky, who gained the traditional set of superpowers after being exposed to its newfound radiation, courtesy of Supergirl. He was another founding member of the original Legion of Super-Pets who disappeared with the other pets but in DC’s variety of continuities after Crisis on Infinite Earths, he’s popped up as Supergirl’s regular pet cat on occasion until returning to full power as part of the new League.
3) Bat-Cow
As you can see, Bat-Cow is a cow with a patch of brown fur over her forehead and eyes which closely resembles Batman’s iconic bat-symbol, almost as if Bat-Cow was wearing her own Bat-cowl. Everything about this is awesome, including the fact that her real origin came from Art Baltazar and Franco’s very kid-friendly Tiny Titans series, only for Grant Morrison to herd Bat-Cow into DC’s main continuity in 2012 in Batman, Inc. Batman and Robin rescued her from a slaughterhouse to test if Professor Pyg had biologically altered her, which he absolutely did — anyone who ate her meat would become mind-controlled. While preventing the cow from being eaten was the original plan, Batman’s son Damian decided to dub her Bat-Cow and keep her in the Bat-Cave because Bat-Cow is awesome. (As previously mentioned.)
2) Krypto the Superdog
The original super-pet. What can be said about Krypto? Far, far too much as virtually every DC continuity has had a different version of the dog. The original debuted in 1955 and, like Beppo, was both Kryptonian and one of Superman’s dad’s test subjects. Alas, his rocket was knocked off course and it arrived on Earth after baby Kal-El had matured into Superboy. (Yes, Supergirl has basically the same origin story.)
The original Krypto had all of Superman’s powers and even had a secret identity as the Kent family’s dog Skip — the Kents had to dye a brown spot on his back so people wouldn’t recognise him. In those other continuities, sometimes Krypto has been a regular dog, sometimes he sacrificed himself to save Superman or Superboy, but he’s always a hero. Currently, he’s an escaped experiment by the Project Cadmus organisation, a clone of the original Post-Crisis Krypto, a normal dog given to other Cadmus experiment Superboy. But the new Krypto has superpowers. See? I said there was too much to say.
1) Titus the Regular Dog
Although Batman had very much owned Ace the Bat-Hound in the Silver Age, when it came time to give the Dark Knight a new canine companion after Flashpoint, it was a Great Dane that Damian named Titus after Titus Andronicus, the Shakespeare play most infamous for its graphic and gratuitous violence. This is weird, but it also makes it even weirder that Bruce gave Titus to Damian because he wanted to teach his son how to empathise with and care for others.
You see, Damian had been raised as a remorseless killer convinced of his own superiority by his mother Talia al Ghul, and Bruce was too emotionally stunted himself to do the job. Luckily, the plan worked and Titus has remained Damian’s emotional support animal, a member of the Bat-family, and a new League member, too.
And yes, five Super-Pets have tied for first place. They’re all the best. Sue me.