Dwayne Johnson cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s top action stars a long time ago, and now he’s finally jumping into the superhero movie realm. Over a decade after he was originally lined up to play Black Adam, The Rock is finally shooting the Kahndaqian antihero’s solo movie, but now word’s come in that this won’t be his only DC role. That’s because Johnson has also signed on to voice Krypto the Superdog in an animated movie.
Back in 2018, it was announced that a movie centered on DC Comics’ Super-Pets was in development, which has since been titled DC League of Super Pets. Now Dwayne Johnson has come aboard to voice Krypto, Superman’s trusty canine pal who’s been part of the Man of Steel’s mythos since 1955. Not only that, but Johnson’s production company, Seven Bucks Productions, will also help bring DC League of Super Pets to life.
So far Dwayne Johnson is the only actor who’s been announced for DC League of Super Pets, although the larger voice cast will reportedly be announced in the near future. The original Legion of Super-Pets, which was introduced in 1962, consisted of Krypto, Streaky the Supercat, Beppo the Super-Monkey and Comet the Super-Horse. According to Variety, the movie will involve Krypto teaming up a flying cat to stop crime while Superman is on vacation, so it’s reasonable to assume Streaky will be involved. However, with plenty of other animals in the DC universe tied to popular superheroes, from Ace the Bat-Hound to Green Lantern member Ch’p (an alien resembling a squirrel), there’s no shortage of who could be brought in to fight the forces of evil.
As far as Krypto the Superdog is concerned, this will mark the character’s biggest appearance outside of the comics since he led his own series on Cartoon Network from March 2005 to December 2006. Similar to the upcoming DC League of Super Pets, the Krypto the Superdog show saw its title hero teaming up with other DC animal heroes to fight their sinister counterparts, like Lex Luthor’s iguana Ignatius and Joker’s hyenas Bud and Lou. Krypto has also popped up in projects Smallville, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Titans, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
Behind the scenes, DC League of Super Pets will be directed by Jared Stern and Sam Levine, with Stern also writing the script. Along with Dwayne Johnson, the movie’s producers include fellow Seven Bucks collaborators Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia, while John Requa, Glenn Ficarra and Nicholas Stoller will executive produce. This will be the first theatrically-released animated DC movie since 2018’s Teen Titans Go! To The Movies.
DC League of Super Pets will actually arrive approximately two months ahead of Dwayne Johnson’s debut as Black Adam, who was briefly teased in 2019’s Shazam!. The Black Adam movie will show how the title character gained his powers 5,000 years ago, as well as have him collide with the Justice Society of America, which consists of Hawkman, Atom Smasher, Cyclone and Doctor Fate. Dwayne Johnson is also producing that feature through Seven Bucks, and it’s being directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who previously worked with the actor on Jungle Cruise.
Originally set to come out on this very day (May 21, 2021), DC League of Super Pets is now slated to arrive on May 20, 2022. Those of you curious about what other live-action DC blockbusters are on the way besides Black Adam should look our upcoming DC movies guide.
