All language subtitles for KRYPTON - S01 E00 - The Making of a Legend (720p - Proper HDTV)

- The thing that I love
about Superman is,

no matter how dark or
cynical the world gets,

he always is hopeful and
heroic and optimistic.

He's a blue sky superhero.

[dramatic music]

- He's a man who
could do anything,

and he's choosing
to fight for us.

- When Superman wins the day,

you feel like you
won the day too.

- I think every major
creator at some point

wants to tell a Superman story.

♪ ♪

- "Krypton" to me is
such a vibrant idea

because there's so little
that's been explored.

- To be a part of
something that's just got

such a massive legacy to it,

it's very surreal.

♪ ♪

- Hi, I'm Cameron Cuffe from
the new show "Krypton,"

and right now, I'm in Belfast,
standing on our version

of the Fortress of Solitude.

It's the 80th
anniversary of Superman

and the origin of Krypton,

and as an actor and fan,

I couldn't be more excited to
be part of this next chapter.

♪ ♪

- One of the things
that I wanted to do

with "Man of Steel"
was to emphasize

the fact that Superman
was an alien,

and so I fought very hard
to have an opening segment

take place on Krypton

and to depict it as a
truly alien world.

So while I was working
on that film,

I thought a lot about

how we could take
things further,

and I approached Geoff Johns.

- It really started
with a conversation

when David came to me and said,

"Hey, I think I have an idea

about a story on Krypton,"

how the House of El

became this symbol

of hope and optimism.

- It's about this
character, Seg,

who's the grandfather
of Superman,

and it would take place
about 200 years before.

Superman comes to Earth.

- Superman came from a
very sophisticated world.

They were very advanced,
but at the same time,

beyond this sort of
veneer of harmony,

there was corruption.

There was Machiavellian

politics going on.

I think it's something
that speaks to us

in our world today.

- I think that's the
big draw to "Krypton,"

to dive deeply into
what Krypton is.

What was it like before
Superman, as a baby,

left that world and the
world was destroyed?

[melancholy piano music]

- The Krypton of our show

is a planet that is
late in its life cycle,

and resources are so limited

that there are only a
certain amount of people

that the government
seems to care about.

- The society's
divided by class.

It's a theocracy.

There's an authoritarian,
religious ruler.

- Rao's blessings are
bountiful but not unlimited.

Only his wrath is.

- Seg is a son of
the House of El,

which has had its
once proud legacy

stripped from them

when Seg's grandfather, Val-El,

commits heresy by saying

that there is
something out there

other than Kryptonians.

- For rebelling against
the lawful authority

of the Holy Sovereignty
of His Eminence,

you are hereby
sentenced to death!

- When we pick up our story,

the House of El has
been maligned.

The Superman symbol
is a mark of shame.

- Your family will be stripped
of all rights and privileges!

You are now to be
considered rankless!

- He grows up rankless in
the rankless district,

which is this crevasse at
the bottom of the city

where people are just
sort of piled in

on top of each other.

It's a dog-eat-dog world.

- Move along.
- Hey!

His mind's not right anymore.

Seg's a good kid, who's
very angry at the world.

[grunting]

♪ ♪

- We didn't want to start Seg
as the finished package.

You know, we didn't want
him to be Superman.

We didn't want him
to have all of those

core values in place
right from the start.

We wanted that to
be the journey,

and we wanted that
to be a progression.

- What the hell were
you thinking, Seg?

- Are you gonna
uncuff me or what?

- I like you this way.

- Even though "Krypton's"
very much a story

about the House of El
and the El lineage,

it's also a story about
the House of Zod

and the Zod lineage.

- Lyta, you are my daughter,
and you are a Zod,

and Zods are not traitors.

- Lyta Zod, she's part
of the Military guild.

She has this
relationship with Seg,

which is not allowed.

She shouldn't be going
near a rankless.

So much in our lives
we can't control.

But we still get to
define ourselves.

Seg is someone that
she can speak to.

They're really in
love, and they have

this really passionate
relationship,

but they know that
it's never gonna last

because they're both bound
to different people.

He's bound to Nyssa.

- Nyssa here is yet to
be paired with someone.

As my youngest daughter,
you'll be binding with her.

- She's the woman
that Seg is bound to.

They don't call it marriage,
they call it a binding.

He takes an immediate
disliking to Nyssa,

and she to him.

- If my father binds you
to us, he is taming you.

Proving that even a dreaded
El can be co-opted

and brought into the fold.

Nyssa-Vex is a junior magistrate

of the Lawmaker's guild.

I think a lot of
Nyssa's relationships

are built on an agenda,

and Nyssa sees Seg
as a commodity.

Have your secrets, Seg.

I most certainly have mine.

- Seg early on in the story
receives a call to action,

and this call reminds
him of the great legacy

of his house, of the
acts of courage

and selflessness that
are so incredible

that they resound
through history,

but here's the kicker:

They also resound in the future.

[grunts]

- Don't even think about it.

- This stranger shows up,

"says," I'm from the future.

"I'm from a planet called Earth.

"My name is Adam Strange,

and I need your help
to save Krypton."

- Someone from the future has
come to destroy Krypton.

- Why would they do that?

- Because where I'm from,
your grandson becomes

the greatest hero
in the universe.

- No one on Krypton,
including Seg,

has any awareness of Superman
or even Earth at this point,

so Adam is the audience's proxy.

- Once this cape is
gone, our time's up.

Superman will have been
wiped from existence.

- Because he is a time traveler,

he shows that the show
is not just a prequel.

It's a story that is indelibly
linked to the present,

so the events that
happen in our show

could change Krypton's
ultimate fate.

[boy yells]

- This thing that's coming,

it moves... from
planet to planet,

conquering civilizations.

Its true name is Brainiac.

- Superman was created
out of nothing.

There were no superheroes.

- Superman has been through
everything you can think of.

- There's a reason why
Superman still persists.

- So, here we are in
the Genesis Chamber,

and the cool thing about
the Genesis Chamber

is that it's actually
a relatively new part

of the lore
introduced in 2014's.

"Man of Steel."

And the amazing thing
to me as a fan

is that even though
this franchise

has been going on for 80 years,

the world of Krypton is so rich

that there's really no
end to the creative

and storytelling possibilities.

- There's a lot of characters
that have been introduced

from 1938 to now,

and a lot of them
have been forgotten,

but there's a reason why
Superman still persists.

- Superman was created
out of nothing.

There were no superheroes.

There was just Jerry
Siegel and Joe Shuster

in Cleveland, Ohio,

creating an alien character
called Superman.

- In 1938,

in short, the world
had never been

a scarier or more unjust place.

And at that time, the
world's first superhero

appeared on bookshelves.

I don't think it's a coincidence

that this guy became popular.

♪ ♪

- He's always that shining
beacon of goodness and courage.

- Truth, justice, and
the American way...

I mean, these are,
like, spiritual ideas.

These are ideas you can
build a religion around.

- Here we have an alien
among us in Superman

who represents the highest
and best qualities

of what we like to
think of as humanity.

- Why has Superman
endured for so long?

It's because those
themes are undying,

and so is he.

- Superman has been through
just about everything

you can think of...
52 universes,

evil versions of himself,
bizarro versions of himself.

He died, very famously.

- Superman kind of
is so well known

and so well documented...
In animation,

in film, in television,

in comics.

- First connection I had
to Superman growing up

was the day I read my
first "Superman" comic.

It kind of taught you

you could do almost
anything you wanted.

If he could, why couldn't I?

- My very first connection was
the Max and Dave Fleischer.

"Superman" cartoons

that I saw when I was
very, very young.

- They were done on a
really elaborate scale

for cartoons.

They were very realistic
and very cinematic.

- I am and always will be a fan

of the original TV series,
"Adventures of Superman,"

with George Reeves,
'cause that's what

I grew up with as a kid.

- Your aim is bad, Luigi.

- The first Superman movie
with Christopher Reeve

really embraced the
Superman I grew up with.

- I read the script,
and quite honestly,

it was missing the humanity,

its sense of reality.

I decided to do it if
they'd let me do a rewrite,

and the reason I would do
it was to protect Superman.

- It played a huge part
in my imaginative life.

I actually have a scar
on my chin right here.

I jumped off the
couch with a cape

that said "Superkid" on it,

and I fell on my face.

- For me, I grew up in the time
of the great "Animated Series."

- I'm a huge "Animated
Series" fan.

I really like the Bruce
Timm designs of Superman.

Those angular characters
are, I think, very unique.

- One of the things that
we decided to do early on

both to humanize
Superman and also

to kind of make the stories

a little bit more interesting

is we did make him a little
bit more vulnerable.

- I love the "Smallville"
version of Superman.

I think Tom Welling
did a really good job

portraying Superman's innocence

and the tension in him.

- I think every major
creator at some point

wants to tackle and
tell a Superman story.

- It's an American fable.
It's American history.

Everybody wants to
take a crack at it.

- As a Superman fan,

there's no greater feeling

than getting the
chance to contribute

something, anything,
to the legacy

of the character.

- You know you're standing
on the shoulders of giants

that preceded you, so there is

pressure to get it right
and to tell a great story.

- Once you open the comics,

you realize how deep
the storytelling is,

how much of it is based on

the connections between people.

I think the greatest
Superman moment of all time

is five panels in
Grant Morrison's.

"All-Star Superman."

There is a woman on a ledge

who's about to step
off, and a strong voice

behind her says,

"You are so much stronger

than you think you are."

- At heart, they are

really sort of simple stories.

You know, Superman is the
immigrant that comes here

and sees the best in us.

- Different writers
bring their passions,

and, as you go
through the decades,

you see different
social justice issues

being raised.

- A good writer is looking
at everything around him

and looks at society and sees,
"What can you address?"

- We live in a society
now where truth,

justice, and the American way,

these ideas are
actually under siege.

Looking at the world we live in

and Superman's place in it,

you realize that he's exactly

the hero we need right now.

- Boy, do we need Superman.

- The great thing about
the Superman universe

is the breadth of it.

Because Superman is a
science fiction character,

ultimately, the whole
universe is open,

so he's connected to
things across time travel,

the future, past,
through space travel,

as well as to Earth and Krypton.

- Well, I think it's gonna
be really interesting to see

the backstory of
Superman's family.

I mean, we basically
know the story

of Superman's parents
fairly well,

but the idea that there
are family histories

that extend beyond
that I think is one

that's rich for development.

[dramatic music]

- Where we're standing right now

is the DC Comics archive.

Pretty much every single issue

DC Comics published,
it's here in this room.

Hey, guys, opportunity to come
visit I got DC Comics,ible

check out their
archive, and learn more

about the incredible history
of DC Comics, Superman,

and the world of Krypton.

Let's go check it out.

Where we're standing right now

is the doorway to the
DC Comics archive.

It's one of the
most special places

in all of comic history.

Pretty much every single issue

that DC Comics has
published from 1938

to whatever came out last week,

it's here in this room.

- We have the most important
comic book ever made.

It's this one right here.

It's "Action Comics" ♫1.

It's the landmark issue

which creates the
genre of superheroes

by having Superman in it.

It is the birth of the
golden age of comics,

and that's where Krypton starts,

when the rocket ship takes off.

- Everyone that's kind
of touched Superman,

from the radio
play to the movies

to the comic books,

has added to his mythology

and expanded what he can do.

- All superheroes
come from this comic.

So this is the first panel ever.

So as a lifelong fan, holding
onto this comic book

means everything to me.

- He's the kind of character

that, the more you dig into him,

the more you're impressed

that he's doing what he does

and the way he
does what he does.

- Some of my favorite versions
of Krypton really imagine it

as a place that I think
that was like us.

No matter how kind of
wondrous civilization gets,

you realize that they still have

some of the same kind of
deep-rooted conflicts

that we have now.

- It seems to me like
they had, you know,

the idea of Krypton, and
Superman comes from him,

but it wasn't until
a little bit later,

they actually came back to it.

I mean, it's such
a fertile ground

for really rich stories, and
you can't start the story

without all of this.

- And actually, I believe
I have a map of Krypton

in case you get lost.

I don't know what it
looks like on the show,

but the Rainbow Cavern
should be here.

The Volcano of Gold.

- I could tell you right now,

some of these places
feature in the show.

I'm not gonna tell
you which ones.

- That's fantastic.
- You have to watch.

- The great thing about Superman

is that it's got a
mythological basis

that everybody knows,
and, from that,

you can tell a
variety of stories.

- It's fascinating how the
first interpretations

of Superman were a much
more rough-and-tumble hero.

- Yeah.
- And he wasn't necessarily

going after mad scientists.

He was much more street justice.

- Right.
- Which is something

we've brought to our show.

The mythology has
expanded so much,

and for us, as well, it's
a science fiction show,

so it all has to make sense.

- This is "Action
Comics" 236 to 247,

and it's here for a
very important reason.

- Brainiac.
- Brainiac.

- Brainiac is this
thing that comes here

and then captures us and says,

"You're just this
tiny, small thing,

"and you're never going
to be important,

"you're never going to be big,

and so let me bottle you
up and take you away."

- Brainiac's history was
already tied to Krypton

even before Superman
came to Earth.

Famously, Brainiac came
to Krypton in the past

and devastated Kandor.

He stole the entire
city and shrunk it down

into this globe on his ship,

and so it made absolute sense

that he would be our big bad.

- One of my favorite
interpretations of Brainiac

throughout the years is the run
that Geoff and Gary Frank did

with incredible art

and really, in a way,
brought Brainiac

back into Superman continuity
and made him who he is,

this incredible green being.

And it's interesting
to me as well,

the way Brainiac has
always been used as well

is for a way for
Superman to reexamine

what it means to be human.

- Gary Frank, the artist, and I

really decided to take a run
at making him threatening

in a, I guess, more horrific way

and would go around
to these places

and digitize cultures
and destroy it

and just collect it, and
that version of Brainiac

did heavily influence what
we're doing in the show.

- It's not just gonna
stop at Krypton.

It is coming for everything.

It's known as the
collector of worlds.

- Here we are in one of
our oldest bound issues.

There's "Showcase" ♫17.
Adam Strange.

- Adam Strange was really
the closest thing we had

to a straight science
fiction comic book,

and he transported from
here to his home planet

and had various adventures.

- I come from a
planet called Earth,

a time centuries from now,

and I've come here to warn you.

- The origin of Adam
Strange is almost like

a reversal of the
Superman origin.

Strange came from
Earth and ended up

on a strange planet that
he became the hero of.

- Adam Strange should be
our cue to the audience

that this is more than just
about the Superman mythology.

If you know comic books,

Doomsday's origins
happen on Krypton,

and we'll be wrapping
Doomsday into the story.

There's a item called
the Black Mercy

that shows up in the
pilot, and that's related

to a character named Mongul
that we hope to bring in.

There's a world in the
comics called Thanagar

where Hawkman and
Hawkwoman are from,

and they're going
to be wrapped up

in the story as well.

So Adam Strange is sort
of the gateway to all

the space-related characters
in the DC universe.

♪ ♪

- When you step on set,

you just feel immersed

in this world of mythology.

- The Fortress set
has been the one

that we have agonized
over the most.

R, and as you can see,
the legacy of Krypton

and Superman, it's
literally all around us.

The production has
gone to great lengths

to mine even the
most minute details

from the franchise's
deep history,

and this is to ensure
that the world we create

is not only paying tribute
to what's come before

but is also completely,
uniquely our own.

- This show is just, like, a
really pure form of escapism.

You get to see these really
creative, exciting worlds

that are different
than your own.

- DC have done a fantastic job

of allowing creators and artists

to go their own direction.

And David Goyer,
using the framework

of the DC universe, has crafted

this beautifully
deep society for us.

- Strange to think our ancestors

used to carry children
in their wombs.

- Because it's a
truly alien world

and an alien culture,

the design time
was almost double

that you would normally have

for a show.

- The amazing thing
about all of these sets

is they are epic in scale but
down to the fine detail,

and that was by design
because we are telling

an immersive cinematic story.

- If you're so clever,

how come you're on the
stupid end of this blaster?

- Being on these sets,

you don't even need to try
and get into character.

You just feel immersed in
this world of mythology.

- This fortress, it's
why they killed.

Grandfather, isn't it?

- The Fortress set
has been the one

that we have agonized
over the most.

- Does this really
belong to my grandson?

- Yeah.

- We learn in the
course of the show

that the Fortress of Solitude
actually had its origins

on Krypton and it was Val-El's
secret scientific base.

- Tell me about Brainiac.

Help me find a way to stop him.

I think Superman fans
have been dying to see.

Brainiac done justice on screen

the way he deserves.

And we're doing our
utmost to deliver that.

- Your world is at an end.

[dramatic music]

- There's a lot of expectations.

There's lots of fans.

There's lots of people that are

very passionate about Superman,

and it does feel like it's
a big responsibility.

Val-El was right!

- No!

- We've never actually
seen what the El family

stands for in their own society

in the context of their world.

- It's time you learn the truth.

- And you had to steal
a skimmer for that?

♪ ♪

- To have the freedom

to make an entire TV series

about Krypton

is just really exciting.

You're walking on
untouched soil.

♪ ♪

- I think what people are
interested in knowing

is the background of
Superman's family

and what's in his
DNA that led him

to become the person that he is.

- The amazing thing
about our show

is that we get to take
bits that we like

from the comics,
from the TV shows,

from the movies, and
smash them all together,

as well as adding our own stuff

and moving forward
with a new story.

People genuinely have no idea

what is about to come their way.

♪ ♪

- Welcome to your grandfather's
Fortress of Solitude.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Go on.

Try it.

[distant clanging]

- As a lifelong fan
of this world,

I feel so lucky to be
a part of "Krypton."

To contribute to the
legend of Superman,

it's a humbling and
awesome experience,

and I can't wait to share
what we've come up with.

- My own personal Kryptonite?
Oh, my God.

- I would say my
Kryptonite is heights.

- Red onion.
- Time.

- Deadlines.
- LEGOs.

I have stepped on so many LEGOs.

- I don't have a good answer.

- Haircuts? I don't know
if that makes any sense.

- My Kryptonite is carbs.

- Probably Hostess, I think.
- Injustice.

- I'm probably my own
personal Kryptonite.