Cats, dogs, and a superpowered guinea pig?
Dwayne Johnson's latest team-up with Kevin Hart looks like a wild addition to the DC
motion picture canon.
You need to watch this before you see "DC League of Super-Pets."
"DC League of Super-Pets" has been in development since at least 2018, when Warner Bros. revealed
that they hired "LEGO Batman" writer Jared Stern to write and direct "League of Super-Pets."
The next year, Sam Levine and Patty Hicks were signed on to work as co-director and producer.
The movie received an initial release date of May 21st, 2021.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
Though the timing may seem appropriate, the chances that "DC League of Super-Pets" was
delayed due to COVID-19 are low.
Warner Bros. decided to delay the film in May 2019.
Unless the people at Warner Bros. are fortune tellers, there was probably some other unrevealed
hiccup that prompted the delay.
That hardly matters, because "League of Super-Pets" now has a release date of July 29th, 2022.
Thanks to the official synopsis of "DC League of Super-Pets" and its trailers, we've learned
a lot about the plot.
It looks like Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, leaving Krypto
and his new friends to rescue them.
Ace will lead the team of shelter pets, who have found new powers thanks to a mysterious
surge from an orange kryptonite gem.
Krypto also loses his super-dog powers, leaving him powerless like his owner.
He is just as susceptible to green kryptonite as Superman, so he'll have to find a way to
fight alongside his new buddies after being reduced to just a normal dog.
His positivity and fearlessness keep his mind strong and will help him lead the new team.
Will they be able to defeat the orange kryptonite-equipped Lulu?
You'll have to see the movie for yourself to find out.
Dwayne Johnson is leading the charge on "DC League of Super-Pets" as Krypto the Super-Dog.
Krypto is the faithful dog of Superman and first appeared in "Adventure Comics" #210
in 1955.
The family dog in the El household, Krypto was used as a test subject to send a rocket
to Earth, as Kal-El's parents needed to make sure they could land a rocket on the planet
with their son aboard.
Unfortunately, Krypto's rocket goes off course, but the ship eventually rights itself when
Kal-El lands on Earth and sends off a signal.
Just like his owner, Krypto has super strength, the power of flight, X-ray vision, and freeze breath.
Unfortunately, he'll be stripped of all these abilities in the movie, leaving him like every
other dog on the street.
This marks the second DC project for Johnson in 2022, who is set to debut as Black Adam
on October 21st.
Johnson wrapped his voiceover role in September 2021 and said the animated film would be incredible.
He's also lovingly nicknamed his character Bark Kent.
The former wrestler's production company, Seven Bucks Production, is also behind the film.
The Dwayne Johnson-Kevin Hart duo is back, as the latter joins "DC League of Super-Pets"
as Ace the Bat-Hound.
Ace is the companion of, you guessed it, Batman.
The crime-fighting pup first appeared in "Batman" #92 in 1955.
Much like Krypto and the other pet sidekicks in the cast, Ace debuted in the original DC
Comics but is mostly known for his time in the animated shorts series "DC Super-Pets!"
In the film, Ace also boasts super-dog strength, which he appears to have acquired when a lab
he's being held in is hit with a surge of energy that comes from orange kryptonite.
"You're super strong."
"I should be a lot more dead right now, right?"
When promoting "DC League of Super-Pets" on his Instagram, Hart said he was excited to
be back on the big screen with his longtime colleague Johnson.
Before the animated film, the actors starred in four films together, "Hobbs & Shaw," "Central
Intelligence," "Jumanji: The Next Level," and "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle".
Johnson revealed in a "DC League of Super-Pets" featurette that one of his favorite things
about the film is Krypto and Ace's relationship, which he says very much mirrors his real-life
friendship with Hart.
"Russian Doll" star Natasha Lyonne stars in "DC League of Super-Pets" as Merton, the speedster turtle.
Merton McSnurtle first appeared in "Funny Stuff" #1 but went by the alias of Terrific Whatzit.
The speedy reptile is the companion of the Earth-508 version of Wally West.
Little Merton dresses like a different Flash, though, inspired by the golden age version
of the character Jay Garrick.
He sports lighting bolts on his boots and helmet, but the "DC League of Super-Pets"
film showcases the turtle in just his shell.
In the comics, Merton is granted superpowers as an experiment to see how someone 100% honest
handles them.
Merton drops his shell when using his powers, making him look like anything but a turtle,
which is why the alias Terrific Whatzit was born.
It doesn't look like Merton will shed his shell based on what we see in the trailers,
but anything is possible.
Lyonne also revealed Merton has vision problems, which can cause serious issues for someone so fast.
Also joining the new animated film is "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" actor Diego Luna as Chip.
First appearing in "Green Lantern Vol. 2" #148 in 1982, Ch’p is a member of the Green
Lantern Corps and even trained alongside Hal Jordan.
Luna revealed that his version of Chip is afraid of basically everything, and he has
the annoying tendency to assume that the worst is going to happen in any situation.
Chip is very wary of himself and what he can do and has a hard time with self-confidence.
He can manifest electricity from his tiny little paws and is not fully in control of
his power at the beginning of the film.
It will be up to the rest of the Super-Pets to guide Chip and help him control his powers
and believe in himself.
The last of the Super-Pets is PB, a pig voiced by "Saturday Night Live" alum Vanessa Bayer.
Not every character in "DC League of Super-Pets" is pulled from the comics, and PB is a brand
new character, whose initials we're guessing stand for "pot-bellied."
According to Bayer, PB is obsessed with Wonder Woman and feels a connection to the superhero.
Bayer admires PB for wearing her heart on her sleeve and being extremely positive.
As with some of the other pets, it looks like PB obtains her powers from the explosion at
a lab where she and others are being held in cages.
Her new power allows her to grow to collosal size.
PB can grow as tall as buildings, helping the pets reach new heights, and can even help
give them a launch.
The friendly pig will be another positive force within the team, mirroring a lot of
Krypto's confidence and friendliness.
Much like PB, Lulu is another character who was created just for the new film.
Kate McKinnon plays the villainous Lulu in the upcoming movie and appears to be the story's antagonist.
Lulu is a hairless guinea pig who seems to be some sort of laboratory experiment, evident
in her ear tag, which reads "Lv1U."
Lulu is one powerful rodent who looks to have telekinetic powers.
She wears orange kryptonite around her neck and sports a cape that seems to be taken from
a piece of Superman's costume.
Lulu has a team of guinea pigs at her command, all of whom look like they've been experimented
on as well.
McKinnon says Lulu is a small creature who dreams of being something bigger.
While her motives are unclear at this moment, Lulu seems to take a special interest in Superman
and takes him down with some kryptonite.
The actress is no stranger to voice roles, playing characters in films like "The Angry
Birds Movie," "Ferdinand," and "Finding Dory."
While some of the animals in "DC League of Super-Pets" will deny that they are actually
pets, some still have owners or humans they are loyal to.
Krypto's owner is Superman, who will be voiced by John Krasinski.
"The Office" alum revealed his casting on Twitter, noting that he always wanted to do
a team-up movie with Dwayne Johnson.
In the new film, Superman will be in boatloads of trouble thanks to Lulu, and Krypto will
recruit his new pals to help him rescue the owner he loves so much.
Voicing Ace's human sidekick is Keanu Reeves as Batman.
Reeves joined the Warner Bros. film a year ago, but exactly who he was playing was revealed
much later in the second trailer for the film.
Dascha Polanco of "Orange Is the New Black" fame will also voice the Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz.
While Lulu is the big bad in the film, there will also be a human who's not to be trusted
— Marc Maron will voice Lex Luthor, Superman's long-time nemesis.
Whether Lulu and Lex work together is also currently unknown.
"Well, well, well.
If it isn't the Justice League."
While a lot of actors and their roles in "DC League of Super-Pets" have been revealed to
the world, there are quite a few characters who remain a mystery.
Attached to the film in voice roles are Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz, and Jameela Jamil.
We'll have to wait and see which heroes these actors portray as the release date for the
movies gets closer.
Several trailers have been released for "DC League of Super-Pets," two of which put Krypto
front and center.
The lovable canine is on a quest to save Superman, who has been rendered powerless thanks to Lulu.
As mentioned, all the pets except for Krypto are being held in some type of shelter when
orange kryptonite drops into their room and grants them all very different powers.
This looks like it might be the same gem that Lulu wears around her neck, meaning she might
have been granted those powers at the same time but was able to escape with the kryptonite.
The trailers also introduce a villainous cat whose name has not been disclosed.
This cat can shoot rockets out of its tail and looks to be a worthy adversary to the Super-Pets.
A third special trailer specifically focuses on Batman and Ace and how their partnership
comes to be.
"As a child, my family was taken from me."
"As a puppy, I was taken from my family."
It looks like the two don't know each other before the film and connect on their very
similar pasts.
This third trailer also reveals that we will definitely see the Batmobile in "DC League
of Super-Pets," and there's also mention of Alfred, Robin, Commissioner Gordon, and "whoever
Morgan Freeman played."
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