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Why didn't Kryptonians escape Krypton?

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Log4Girlz

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Is there ever a good explanation why the technologically advanced Kryptonians didn't leave their doomed planet or at least have a huge portion of their population outside their planet and immune to its destruction? In every lore I'm aware of, they were somewhat space-faring to begin with?

Were they hiding their "footprint" in space because they worried attracting a more advanced, aggressive race or conquerer from invading? Like Darkseid or something?
 
That is the most mind boggling things of all time, especially in the new movie.

In the new movie they actually went through a whole period of colonization and they just said "fuck it" and decided not to do it anymore for reasons that just defy logic or reason.

In the original it seems more tragic, like they never really decided to leave home - closer to the way humanity is.
 
The million dollar question. Man of Steel did a laughable job trying to explain this. Didn't ruin the movie, but it made for a good laugh talking about it after.
Advanced space faring civilization with advanced space faring ships can't leave dying planet.
 
FillerB said:
Hubris. "Our planet can't explode, we're way too advanced for that kind of shit."
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Yeah, in the animated series until the moment the earth swallowed them they were so confident Jor-El was delusional and so they never had a chance to escape. You cant have mass migration on a moments notice, these things need a lot of planing.
 
Phoenix said:
That is the most mind boggling things of all time, especially in the new movie.

In the new movie they actually went through a whole period of colonization and they just said "fuck it" and decided not to do it anymore for reasons that just defy logic or reason.

In the original it seems more tragic, like they never really decided to leave home - closer to the way humanity is.
Click to expand...

I like the Animated Series' involvement of Brainiac but there is still the issue of why they are not a space faring race, though implied they've dabbled. I think I prefer that perhaps they were just a smidgen more advanced than us or they were trying to hide form an advanced race/conquerer like Darkseid...which would then tie Supermans destiny with his.
 
In some continuities, this is because it is difficult to actually get ships off the planet and so they rarely have ever done it.
 
If they were so starved for resources why did they abandon the idea of colonizing other worlds? That explanation really annoyed me in the movie.
 
BLACKLAC said:
:)

In the old B&W cartoons No one believed Krypton was doomed except for Supermans parents. Why his parents didn't leave with their son? Reasons.
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I love the idea of throwing your son into a rocket and just aiming at some random planet figuring there was no way anything bad could come of it.
 
Superman comics were the product of the 1930s and 1940s, there was no Space Program to draw inspiration from and was meant to draw a parallel between a 'failed' Europe for children of immigrants like the creators of Superman comics and Kal-El himself. Maybe people Krypton mainly cared about life at 'home' ignoring the potential problems, like people at the time who did not immgrate from Europe.
 
BLACKLAC said:
:)

In the old B&W cartoons No one believed Krypton was doomed except for Supermans parents. Why his parents didn't leave with their son? Reasons.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Jor-El (Supes dad) accidentaly cause the destruction of Krypton through SCIENCE? I always thought that they stayed behind to atone for their "sins".
 
Depends on the source. Most offten it is because they think their shit don't stink. Other times they can't because they would die(thanks John Bryne).
 
In the animated series, the artificial intelligence that ran all of the systems on the planet knew of the impending apocalypse, but obscured the data from the people. If the people knew, they would use all of the AI's resources to try and solve an unsolvable problem - and the AI needed those resources to devise an escape strategy for itself.

There's a logic to it. The computer knew that the people couldn't be saved in time, but knew that it could save itself and did so. This wasn't entirely selfish either - the AI held the records, history, art and science of the Kryptonian civilisation, and reasoned that if it survives, then not all of Krypton will be lost.

After the destruction of the planet, a group of poor aliens survey the devastation, and find the computer core. It promptly expands its AI into the ship's hardware, kills the crew and uses the vessel to escape.

I don't know if that's "canon" or whatever, but I liked it and internalised it.
 
Slayven said:
Other times they can't because they would die(thanks John Bryne).
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I remember this. As I recall, it was something to do with too many clones on Krypton and needing to sort out who was real and who was a clone. Kryptonians had a genetic link to the planet (when some tried to leave before, they died in space). There's a hamfisted attempt to put this in Man of Steel with the Codex and such. It's for the best not to think about it too much.
 
Mama Robotnik said:
In the animated series, the artificial intelligence that ran all of the systems on the planet knew of the impending apocalypse, but obscured the data from the people. If the people knew, they would use all of the AI's resources to try and solve an unsolvable problem - and the AI needed those resources to devise an escape strategy for itself.

There's a logic to it. The computer knew that the people couldn't be saved in time, but knew that it could save itself and did so.

After the destruction of the planet, a group of poor aliens survey the destruction, and find the computer core. It promptly takes over their ship - and escapes.

I don't know if that's "canon" or whatever, but I liked it and internalised it.
Click to expand...

Nope, not cannon and at first not welcomed in the series. I'm so glad they went with it. Really amazing story telling.
 
Matt_C said:
Superman comics were the product of the 1930s and 1940s, there was no Space Program to draw inspiration from and was meant to draw a parallel between a 'failed' Europe for children of immigrants like the creators of Superman comics and Kal-El himself. Maybe people Krypton mainly cared about life at 'home' ignoring the potential problems, like people at the time who did not immgrate from Europe.
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Yeah i and the black kryptioians lived on a separate island. I am not kidding

250px-vathlo.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vathlo_Island

TetraxShards said:
I remember this. As I recall, it was something to do with too many clones on Krypton and needing to sort out who was real and who was a clone. Kryptonians had a genetic link to the planet (when some tried to leave before, they died in space). There's a hamfisted attempt to put this in Man of Steel with the Codex and such. It's for the best not to think about it too much.
Click to expand...

Yeah Superman was exampted because he matured and was born from a birthing matrix. Which would later lead to Cyborg Superman getting his DNA.
 
Kryptonians used to be a really violent race, so it's probably better that they couldn't live on. Breeding warriors to be violent didn't make matters easier either.

There are offshoots like Kandor, Daxam, and even the Phantom Zone, so all isn't lost.
 
Log4Girlz said:
I love the idea of throwing your son into a rocket and just aiming at some random planet figuring there was no way anything bad could come of it.
Click to expand...

At least in the new movie he got there quicker. In the old movie it seemed to take an eternity where any one of a million things could go wrong. In this one, he exits hyperspace right inside the solar system - a tactic that just makes it weird that the rest of the population wouldn't have just done the same thing.

Its almost as strange as the penalty for treason and murder on Krypton. Try to take over the planet and kill members of the high council, we just put you in jelly for 300 cycles. The new Kryptonians are a strange people. I also don't understand why they have a standing army bred for war.... who are they fighting?
 
Tapiozona said:
The million dollar question. Man of Steel did a laughable job trying to explain this. Didn't ruin the movie, but it made for a good laugh talking about it after.
Advanced space faring civilization with advanced space faring ships can't leave dying planet.
Click to expand...

And apparently their colonies all died in like thirty years without Krypton? I mean they had goddamn colonies
. What the hell was up with that?
 
Tapiozona said:
Advanced space faring civilization with advanced space faring ships can't leave dying planet.
Click to expand...

USA: advanced spacefaring nation that reached the Moon (40 years ago!) no longer capable of sending astronauts into orbit on its own... due to budget issues. I actually do think it was enough to say their civilization was in decline and they couldn't afford the resources to maintain their colonies. See every other colonial empire in history.

Tapiozona said:
If they were so starved for resources why did they abandon the idea of colonizing other worlds? That explanation really annoyed me in the movie.
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Better plot hole. But in fairness it's always more efficient/less costly to look closer to home. And politically expedient.
"Drill baby drill!"
 
MisterHero said:
Krypton used to be a really violent race, so it's probably better that they couldn't live on. Breeding warriors to be violent didn't make matters easier either.

There are offshoots like Kandor, Daxam, and even the Phantom Zone, so all isn't lost.
Click to expand...

Daxamites are xenophobic to a psychotic level. Any alien that comes to the planet is burned alive. And they wanted to use Ion to exterminate other races.
 
Mama Robotnik said:
In the animated series, the artificial intelligence that ran all of the systems on the planet knew of the impending apocalypse, but obscured the data from the people. If the people knew, they would use all of the AI's resources to try and solve an unsolvable problem - and the AI needed those resources to devise an escape strategy for itself.

There's a logic to it. The computer knew that the people couldn't be saved in time, but knew that it could save itself and did so.

After the destruction of the planet, a group of poor aliens survey the destruction, and find the computer core. It promptly expands its AI into the ship's hardware, kills the crew and uses the vessel to escape.

I don't know if that's "canon" or whatever, but I liked it and internalised it.
Click to expand...

WB's animated branch gets it.

It's a shame they don't use them more often.

Even their Green Lantern Animated movie was a better origin story than the live action movie.
 
Also, Man of Steel uses a prophecy from All-Star Superman. "Join us in the sun."

There are literal implications, which the movies probably won't follow. Superman emerges after having lived thousands of years in the Sun. He's so powerful that he recreates Krypton and brings back everyone who died.

Morrison wrote DC 1000000 too!
 
Matt_C said:
Superman comics were the product of the 1930s and 1940s, there was no Space Program to draw inspiration from and was meant to draw a parallel between a 'failed' Europe for children of immigrants like the creators of Superman comics and Kal-El himself. Maybe people Krypton mainly cared about life at 'home' ignoring the potential problems, like people at the time who did not immgrate from Europe.
Click to expand...

Ding Ding Ding. Not everything is literal, the entire krypton thing was this metaphor.
 
MisterHero said:
Also, Man of Steel uses a prophecy from All-Star Superman. "Join us in the sun."

There are literal implications, which the movies probably won't follow. Superman emerges after having lived thousands of years in the Sun. He's so powerful that he recreates Krypton and brings back everyone who died.

Morrison wrote DC 1000000 too!
Click to expand...

That would be soooooooooo stupid that I would vomit, literally vomit in the theater.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
KASA had its funding slashed because the space conservatives refused to raise the debt ceiling.
Click to expand...

"Hey Ant El, lets pour all of our remaining budget into that little spaceship that only has room for one infant!"

"Brilliant Aunt El! Then it reaches to a primitive planet called earth ruled by baboons!"

"Great! Lets do it!"
 
Mama Robotnik said:
In the animated series, the artificial intelligence that ran all of the systems on the planet knew of the impending apocalypse, but obscured the data from the people. If the people knew, they would use all of the AI's resources to try and solve an unsolvable problem - and the AI needed those resources to devise an escape strategy for itself.

There's a logic to it. The computer knew that the people couldn't be saved in time, but knew that it could save itself and did so. This wasn't entirely selfish either - the AI held the records, history, art and science of the Kryptonian civilisation, and reasoned that if it survives, then not all of Krypton will be lost.

After the destruction of the planet, a group of poor aliens survey the devastation, and find the computer core. It promptly expands its AI into the ship's hardware, kills the crew and uses the vessel to escape.

I don't know if that's "canon" or whatever, but I liked it and internalised it.
Click to expand...
yeah this was definitely the best 'fix' for the story. I really dug watching that as a kid.
 
Mama Robotnik said:
In the animated series, the artificial intelligence that ran all of the systems on the planet knew of the impending apocalypse, but obscured the data from the people. If the people knew, they would use all of the AI's resources to try and solve an unsolvable problem - and the AI needed those resources to devise an escape strategy for itself.

There's a logic to it. The computer knew that the people couldn't be saved in time, but knew that it could save itself and did so. This wasn't entirely selfish either - the AI held the records, history, art and science of the Kryptonian civilisation, and reasoned that if it survives, then not all of Krypton will be lost.

After the destruction of the planet, a group of poor aliens survey the devastation, and find the computer core. It promptly expands its AI into the ship's hardware, kills the crew and uses the vessel to escape.

I don't know if that's "canon" or whatever, but I liked it and internalised it.
Click to expand...

I agree, it really did explain everything. The guys who did the animated series really got it right.
 
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