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Krypton <span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>  Krypton is a fictional planet and home to ancestors of Superman, a DC Comics character. There have been many changes and revisions over the decades to the way Krypton is presented, and the kind of world comic book creators envision it to be. Krypton society is always shown to be one much older than anything we have on Earth. Some tellings have specified that they have reached the year 10,000 on their calendar. This manifests itself in either a race of super-scientific geniuses living in a futuristic paradise with wonders like the Jewel Mountain, the Rainbow Canyon, and the Scarlet Jungle, like in the Silver Age of Comics, or a cold sterile world where passion and human interraction is on the wane, as John Byrne described it in his 1986 re-telling of the Superman legend in the mini-series Man of Steel (1986) at the outset of the Modern Age of Comics. Krypton was also depicted as something in between the two extremes in the maxi-series Superman: Birthright (2003) by Mark Waid, Leinil F Yu and Gerry Alanguilan. Even more recently, Krypton has been looking more like it did in Superman: The Movie (1978). This is no doubt influenced by the release of the new movie Superman Returns (2006) and the collaboration of Richard Donner with comic book writer Geoff Johns on several issues of Action Comics. Richard Donner was the director of the 1978 movie. In all versions of the Krypton story, these things, however, remain the same. Krypton is a planet with futuristic technology. The planet's government seems to be run by something called "The Council of Science" or "The Science Council". Jor-El is a scientist with great influence on the council, in some versions he's a member, in others he's the president of the council. Thanks to Jor-El's scientific innovation, the council punishes criminals that might ordinarily be sentenced to death by sentencing them to a place called the Phantom Zone, a dimension where time stands still, and the inhabitants become intangible ghosts that can no longer participate in any real life. This was considered by Jor-El and the council to be more humane than capital punishment. Jor-El loses his standing with the Science Council when he insists that Krypton is doomed to destruction, and his theory is condemned as erroneous and dangerous. Unfortunately, Jor-El is proved correct. Krypton is destroyed in some cataclysmic event and pieces of it become radioactive meteoroids; some of which fall to Earth as kryptonite meteors. Of course, Jor-El and Lara rocket their infant son to Earth just before Krypton is destroyed. Kal-El, the last son of Krypton, grows up to be Superman. In every version of the story since the 1950s, Krypton circles a red sun, and has much stronger gravity than Earth. The adaptation to these two factors are part of what gives Kryptonians (such as Superman and Supergirl) their powers on Earth or similar environments. The red sun also evokes the age of the civilization, since it is a much later stage than a yellow sun in the cycle of a star's life. As of the Modern Age of Comics, Krypton has a controversial history with cloning. Years before Jor-El's time, clones of people were grown just so Kryptonians could have replacement parts. This was no longer practiced in Jor-El's time.
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