Every Kryptonian Survivor in DC Comics (Besides Superman)

For years, one of the most important parts of Superman’s lore was that Superman was the last living Kryptonian; there weren’t any other survivors in the entire universe. But as the DC Universe continued to expand, the idea of Superman as the last living Kryptonian started to seem like a waste of potential.

After a few decades of Superman being the last living Kryptonian, DC began introducing more survivors, both as friends and enemies to the former Last Son of Krypton. These additions included major characters such as Kara Zor-El’s Supergirl and General Dru-Zod. While Kryptonians were once thought to be nearly extinct, there are more than ever now, with at least fifteen known survivors — and likely many more.

15 H’El

First Appearance: Supergirl #13 by Mike Johnson, Sami Basri, Dave McCaig, and Rob Leigh

H’El is a strange case, as he believed himself to be a skilled Kryptonian explorer working for Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, whom he loved like his own parents. It was eventually revealed that H’El wasn’t a true Kryptonian, but a clone. When Krypton was about to explode, Jor-El built a rocket ship and helped H’El escape, making him promise to protect the legacy of Krypton. 27 years after Kal-El arrived on Earth, H’El arrived, immediately bringing him into conflict with the Superman Family. He tried to murder Superboy Kon-El for being a clone, making him one of the Super-Family’s most dangerous enemies.

14 Eradicator

First Appearance (as a Device): Action Comics Annual #2 by Roger Stern and Curt Swan

Being obsessed with preserving the legacy of Krypton seems to be a common trope of Kryptonian survivors, and the Eradicator perfectly embodies this. The Eradicator was designed as a weapon to preserve Kryptonian culture. While initially little more than a weapon, the Eradicator eventually evolved into having a full body. This evolution was spurred on by Superman being killed by Doomsday. Eradicator was responsible for both Superman’s return after Doomsday seemingly killed him and the creation of the Fortress of Solitude. While initially a villain, Eradicator has helped Superman in the past.

13 Mon-El

First Appearance: Superboy #89 by Robert Bernstein, George Papp, and Joe Letterese

Mon-El is another strange example, as he’s not technically a Kryptonian. When he landed on Krypton, he was quickly warned of the impending explosion by Jor-El, and was sent to Earth. He arrived a few years after Superman and quickly made friends with Clark Kent’s Superboy, though he lost his memories due to his travel. Seeing as Mon-El had the exact same powers as him, Superboy assumed him to be a Kryptonian and was overjoyed to meet him. But after Mon-El demonstrated complete immunity to Kryptonite, it was revealed Mon-El was actually a Daxamite, an offshoot of Kryptonians who are weak to lead.

Mon-El Is often a staple character of the Legion of Super-Heroes, DC’s classic team from the far future!

12 Karsta Wor-Ul

First Appearance: Superman #668 by Kurt Busiek, Rick Leonardi, Dan Green, Pete Pantazis, and Comicraft

Krypton wasn’t always the planet of science and reason that it was before it exploded. It used to be a massive military empire, and that empire needed soldiers. Karsta Wor-Ul was one of these soldiers, and she invaded plenty of planets in the name of Krypton. Eventually, Krypton gave up its militaristic ways and recalled its forces, but Karsta and her group refused to return, instead going AWOL and becoming space pirates. After the destruction of Krypton and her group being slaughtered, Karsta settled down on Earth, reasoning that anyone who hated Kryptonians would attack Superman before finding her.

11 Xa-Du the Phantom King

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #283 by Robert Bernstein and George Papp

Xa-Du was the first prisoner of the Phantom Zone and is best remembered for fooling Superman with increasingly absurd disguises. When Xa-Du first escaped the Phantom Zone, he took the place of Johnathan Kent as he tried to locate the Phantom Zone Projector. He was eventually defeated and sealed away in space. Eventually, Xa-Du returned to Earth and took his next disguise as Superman’s dentist, hypnotizing Clark into wanting to destroy Earth. Many years later, during the New 52 reboot, Xa-Du returned as the Phantom King, the first ruler of the Phantom Zone.

Xa-Du returns to DC lore as part of 2024’s DC All In initiative. Catch the storyline in which he appears starting with
Action Comics
#1070 by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry, available October 9th, 2024 from DC Comics.

10 Zor-El

Superman / Batman #9 by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner, Peter Steigerwald, and Richard Starkings

Zor-El is the father of Kara Zor-El — Supergirl. A skilled scientist, he tried to save the city of Argo from Krypton’s destruction. He also helped make sure his daughter escaped. Unfortunately, after arriving on Earth himself, Zor-El was be killed by Lex Luthor’s task force, who were made to hunt down and murder Kryptonians during the events of New Krypton. Zor-El didn’t fair much better in the New 52 timeline either, as he was kidnapped by Brainiac and brainwashed into becoming an evil Cyborg Superman. Despite his sympathetic origins, he’s now a major enemy to the Superman Family and a great personal villain to Supergirl specifically.

9 Doomsday

First Appearance: Superman: The Man of Steel #17 by Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Bob McLeod, Glenn Whitmore, and Bill Oakley

Doomsday is possibly the first Kryptonian to exist. He was born on Krypton and experimented on for nearly hundreds of years, long before the humanoid Kryptonians had even evolved. He was experimented on by a mysterious alien named Bertron who wanted to create the strongest living organism, and while he succeeded, he also created a monster that hated all life. While Doomsday will happily kill anything in his path, he holds a special hatred for anything specifically from Krypton, which is what led the monster into his first encounter with Superman during the Death of Superman storyline.

8 Krypto

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #210 by Otto Binder, Curt Swan, and Sy Barry

Krypto was the El family pet. When Jor-El realized Krpyton was going to explode, he immediately began building rockets to save Kal-El. But needing to test the rocket first, he had no choice but to use Krypto as the first test subject. So, after stuffing Krypto in a rocket, Jor-El fired the family dog into outer space. Thankfully, Krypto actually mad it to Earth, but it took him a few years longer than Kal-El. By the time Krypto arrived, Kal-El was already a young teenager, and Krypto has been by Clark’s side ever since, protecting both him and the other members of the Super-Family.

7 The Lost City of Kandor

First Appearance: Action Comics #242 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino

The Lost City of Kandor is the biggest bastion of surviving Kryptonians in DC history, even with their population fluctuating depending on the story. The bottled city of Kandor has been stated to hold 10 million, 7 million, and 100 thousand Kryptonians. They were able to survive the destruction of Krypton due to Brainiac stealing the city long before Krypton exploded. Even though Superman saved the City of Kandor from Brainiac, it took him years to figure out a way to reverse Brainiac’s shrinking technology. When he eventually did, it led to the events of New Krypton, which, unfortunately, ended in tragedy.

1958’s
Action Comics
#242 also features the first appearance of Brainiac!

6 Val-Zod

First Appearance: Earth 2 #19 by Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott, Robson Rocha, Oclair Albert, Trevor Scott, Pete Pantazis, and Dezi Sienty

On Earth 2, Val-Zod was one of several Kryptonians to escape to Earth along with Kal-El and Kara Zor-El. Learning from his parents that violence was meaningless, Val-Zod took up an oath of pacifism. After landing on Earth, he was discovered by Terry Sloan, a businessman who kept Val in isolation. It wasn’t until Lois Lane discovered him that he finally entered the real world. With Superman brainwashed and going on a rampage, it was up to Val-Zod to fight the rogue Superman and try his best to save the world. After Superman’s death during World’s End, Val-Zod became the new Superman of Earth 2.

5 Jor-El

First Appearance: More Fun Comics #101 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Jor-El was the brilliant scientist father of Kal-El, and he was the only one who foresaw the destruction coming Krypton’s way. While he tried to convince the Kryptonian council to take his warnings seriously, he was branded a madman and ignored. This spurning led Jor-El to build a rocket ship to save his son, making Kal-El the last surviving Kryptonian. Unbeknownst to everyone though, Jor-El actually survived as well, as he was pulled from Krypton’s destruction by Dr. Manhattan and forced to interfere in Superman’s life, playing a major role during DC’s Rebirth era.

4 Faora

First Appearance: Action Comics #471 by Cary Bates and Curt Swan

Faora was one of the few serial killers on Krypton and exclusively targeted men. Before her capture, she had killed 23 men and was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for her crimes. There, she met her future husband, Dru-Zod. The two continually escaped the Phantom Zone to be a major problem for Superman. Faora and Zod had a child together, Lor-Zod, and together the two ruled over a planet of their own — until Faora was eventually killed by invading aliens, who sought to plunder the planet as they thought it was unprotected.

3 General Zod

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #283 by Robert Bernstein and George Papp

One of the most dangerous Krpytonians to ever exist is Dru-Zod, also known as General Zod. Former leader of the military guild of Krypton, Dru-Zod only cares about protecting Krypton’s legacy and bringing Krypton back if possible. He survived Krypton’s destruction because Jor-El had sent him into the Phantom Zone after he tried to overthrow the government. This betrayal left Zod with a deep hatred of the El family. But with the majority of the El family dead, Zod directs that hatred at Superman. Zod has been one of the most consistently dangerous members of Superman’s rogues gallery ever since.

Zod fans should check out the eight-issue series
Kneel Before Zod
by Joe Casey and Dan McDaid, available now from DC Comics.

2 Power Girl

First Appearance: All-Star Comics #58 by Gerry Conway, Ric Estrada, Wally Wood, Tatjana Wood, Ben Oda, and Gaspar Saladino

Kara Zor-L’s history is much the same as Supergirl’s, but Power Girl’s life is just a bit darker. Instead of just being a survivor of Krypton, she’s the survivor of an entire universe. During the events of Infinite Crisis by Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez, it was revealed that Power Girl is the last survivor of the Earth 2 universe, which was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, making Power Girl an anomaly in the Multiverse. There’s only one version of her, since her native universe was destroyed. Since then, Power Girl has struggled to find her own identity in a world where she was never meant to exist.

1 Supergirl

First Appearance: Action Comics #252 by Otto Binder, Al Plastino, and Joe Letterese

The original version of Supergirl survived the explosion of Krypton when Argo City, her hometown, was freed from Krypton and drifted through space. While Argo became irradiated, the Kryptonians there managed to solve this by putting lead sheeting on the ground. From there, the Kryptonians were able to live a surprisingly happy and normal life. And so Kara had a pretty decent childhood, at least for a few years. A meteor storm eventually pierced the lead shielding, causing the Kryptonians to begin dying of radiation poisoning, forcing Kara to escape in a rocket, joining her cousin Superman on Earth.