The problem with the villains (and heroes) of Syfy’s newest hit Krypton
By Shah Shahid
Syfy’s Krypton is a great new series that focuses on the gritty origins of Superman’s home planet of Krypton. However, with the realism of the series in the foreground, the choice of villains in the show creates some issues that undercuts that tone.
The hero of Krypton is Superman’s grandfather, Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) who has to stop a threat from the future that may prevent his grandson, the universe’s greatest hero, from ever being born. This threat comes in the form of Brainiac, (Blake Ritson) an intergalactic super villain who conquers planets, ‘cuz he can. Everyone needs a hobby, I guess.
When Brainiac eventually arrives on the show in the episode before the finale, he’s incredibly formidable and powerful, almost to a fault. And the fault lies in both the choice of villain, and the heroes of Krypton.
Brainiac
Brainiac is shown as having some interesting and incredible powers. He is able to speak through a Messiah, and literally appear out of nowhere; something that wasn’t entirely explained in the show, but I digress.
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The season finale sees him making easy work out of a battalion of Kryptonian military ships, with only a wave of his hand. Like flies in the sky. Brainiac’s messiah is also seen at one point to be floating in the air, engulfed in flames, as he rambles on about ascension. Pretty powerful stuff, both visually and in terms of story significance.
He seems to have a potpourri of ridiculous powers at his disposal. Oh, and teleportation. So it felt like an unfair fight between the almost all-powerful Brainiac, and humans who would likely be kindling to him. Especially given the way he is defeated in the season finale, which honestly did feel like a cop-out.
Kryptonians
Superman’s god-like powers come from being a Kryptonian on Earth, exposed to its yellow sun. With this show being set on the planet Krypton, which isn’t near the yellow sun, its inhabitants have no such powers. So most of the protagonists of the show are completely normal and totally mortal.
So it is incredibly unreal to think that they can ever go up against a being of the calibre of Brainiac, in any reasonable fight, even with tricks and other distractions. Oh and Brainiac can also control minds. So there’s that.
The Exceptions
Season 1 saw Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre) lose his arm, only for it to be replaced with a bionic, cool-guy Cable-type metallic arm. Presumably this arm would also be stronger and more powerful than a typical one. Giving Dev-Em an edge over others in a physical fight. How he uses this super strength, however, remains to be seen, as Dev-Em is last seen aligning himself with Zod (Colin Salmon).
Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) is a famous DC Comics superhero, who has augmentations and suits at his disposal that allow him flight and other technology to fight his foes. This iteration of Strange however, seems to be just a guy trying to do (what he thinks is) the right thing. Besides his connection to strange (no pun intended) beings that play a mysterious part in Krypton, he seems to have no powers whatsoever.
The Doomsday connection
The season 1 finale of Krypton also teased a new threat in season 2, one who is a legendary Superman villain from the comics. The character of Doomsday is a brutal being that knows nothing but destruction, and even famously killed Superman in a comics storyline. An iteration of this character was last seen doing just, that in the feature-length DCEU film, Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. So to match him up as the (possibly) big bad of season 2, seems completely unreasonable given that the heroes themselves have no powers whatsoever, super or otherwise.
I’m hoping that Krypton addresses this uneven power scale between its heroes and villains in season 2. More often than not, superhero stories wither on the branch due to the inclusion of too many high stakes villains and conflicts, the resolution of which is always more underwhelming than the stakes themselves. Season 1 of Krypton definitely falls prey to that with its ending as well.
If Krypton continues to rely on larger than life villains who can literally squash the heroes with one wave of their hand, they need to even the playing field somehow. But in the same breath, if the show becomes one with superheroes at every turn, it will end up betraying the tone and quality of what makes this show so interesting in the first place; its gritty realism and its low-budget special effects, which is only enjoyed in small doses.
Next: Why Krypton can't mess up existing Superman canon
What did you think about the villains in season 1 of Krypton? Let us know in the comments.