James Gunn promotes Adopt a Shelter Dog Month by revealing four-legged ‘Superman’ co-star Krypto

Writer-director James Gunn helped celebrate October’s Adopt a Shelter Dog Month Tuesday on Instagram by revealing the first shot of Krypto the Superdog, the Man of Steel’s best friend in Gunn’s forthcoming Superman.

To a shot of David Corenswet‘s Supes Earth-gazing while apparently sitting on the moon alongside a scruffy white pooch, Gunn noted, “Krypto was inspired by our dog Ozu, who we adopted shortly after I started writing Superman.”

The filmmaker continued, “Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings, was problematic to say the least. He immediately came in & destroyed our home, our shoes, our furniture – he even ate my laptop. It took a long time before he would even let us touch him.”

Gunn recalled, “I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, how difficult would life be if Ozu had superpowers?’ – and thus Krypto came into the script & changed the shape of the story as Ozu was changing my life.”

Gunn continued, “What better time to debut the not-so-good-good-boy Krypto than #AdoptAShelterDog Month.”

He added, “Btw, Ozu today, is, fairly often, a very good boy.”

Also starring Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Anthony Carrigan, Superman and Krypto hit theaters July 11, 2025.