What blew up Krypton?

[marhawkman]

Seeing people including in the government refuse to believe that global warming is happening or at least trying to ignore it because it hurts their industry or funding, I came to like the self-inflicted caused by hubris version.

Heh, political posturing and public opinion have never been the basis of good decision making. (I'm NOT a proponent of AGW, personally I think it's based on hysteria more than science)

At any rate, good decision making needs to be done after collecting evidence. It's much like in a civil court, the verdict is not reached until after all available evidence has been presented and discussed.

The reality though is that often politics is less about making good decisions and more about decisions that benefit the politicians. This is something that some of the comics have nailed perfectly.

[Adekis]

I liked the Krypton show's version where Brainiac taking Kandor led to the core becoming unstable.

I always liked the version from the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon, which was a version of that.

In that show, the planet's core was unstable (I always liked to think it was because of the Clone Wars thing with Black Zero, but since that was never said it was probably meant to be of natural causes) and Jor-El built a machine to stabilize the core, which worked perfectly! Unfortunately, Jor put the machine in Kandor, so when Kandor was stolen - pow! Not enough time left for Jor to make a second stabilizer.

All of which said, the best version is probably Snyder's "core harvesting" version. Since Krypton's civilization basically destroyed its own planet for short-term gain, it draws great parallels to Earth's own situation with dramatic climate change.

... I need a bumper sticker that says "JOR-EL WAS RIGHT".

[MajorHoy]

What blew up Krypton?

"I," said the Sparrow, "with my bow and arrow!"

[9th.]

I grew up thinking it was Brainiac

[Starter Set]

I grew up thinking it was Brainiac

I really like the animated series version of that story. Krypton didn't meet its end because of Brainiac but he knew that there was a huge danger and choose to do nothing. (he does feed Krypton officials with lies about how deadly the situation is though)

[marhawkman]

I really like the animated series version of that story. Krypton didn't meet its end because of Brainiac but he knew that there was a huge danger and choose to do nothing. (he does feed Krypton officials with lies about how deadly the situation is though)

Interestingly, what Brainiac said about it is very similar to what was said in the comics by some of jor-el's peers.

[bitolpav45]

Krypton was ultimately destroyed when its red sun began to collapse; the planet was pulled into the sun and steadily crushed, then exploded in the ensuing supernova.
Capital One NatWest TurboTax

[Osiris-Rex]

For me the big thing is answering a simple problem: why would a planet full of scientists just shrug off a scientific finding instead of doing the work to see if Jor-el was right? And then they just got caught butt naked when the end of the world started going down?

Yeah, that part never made sense. Jor-El is supposed to be the most respected scientist on Krypton. Their equivalent of Einstein. When Einstein warned President Roosevelt that the Germans were building an atomic bomb,
Einstein wasn't laughed at. The United States set to work building their own atomic bomb. Even though the idea of one bomb destroying a whole city probably seemed ridiculous at the time.

Ιn the Donner films, it was the central star of Krypton's system that went nova and destroyed the planet.
In the DCEU, i do not remember what caused the explosion. Was it explained?

Krypton was ultimately destroyed when its red sun began to collapse; the planet was pulled into the sun and steadily crushed, then exploded in the ensuing supernova.

The first part doesn't make scientific sense because Rao would have the same mass and therefore Rao would have the same gravitational field so it wouldn't affect the orbit of Kryton.
But if Rao is a red giant and not a red dwarf star, the supernova part makes sense.
Some versions do have Kryton getting too close to Rao though and the tidal forces caused Kryton to break up.

[Adekis]

instead of Superman being vengeful, like say Batman if a villain killed the Waynes, he's mournful.

That's a very Silver Age idea though, it's just one that's been vastly, vastly underused since Byrne decided that Krypton was too depressing to be worth mourning it in more than a perfunctory way. We don't need a villain to have destroyed Krypton, or to have aided in its destruction, in order for Kal's response to its absence to be a deep, mournful sense of loss.

Though I will say, I like when Krypton's destruction is caused not by a super-villain like Brainiac or Tyrell or by "natural causes", but just by foolishness and inertia in the Kryptonian way of life, because it draws some, er, obvious and much-needed parallels to our current situation here on Earth.

[Jim Kelly]

I think it was David Hemmings.

[Jackalope89]

According to Bendis, it was genocidal alien #3987 that looks like a Doomsday reject.

[Kuwagaton]

That's a very Silver Age idea though, it's just one that's been vastly, vastly underused since Byrne decided that Krypton was too depressing to be worth mourning it in more than a perfunctory way. We don't need a villain to have destroyed Krypton, or to have aided in its destruction, in order for Kal's response to its absence to be a deep, mournful sense of loss.

Though I will say, I like when Krypton's destruction is caused not by a super-villain like Brainiac or Tyrell or by "natural causes", but just by foolishness and inertia in the Kryptonian way of life, because it draws some, er, obvious and much-needed parallels to our current situation here on Earth.

Well to start with I'd have to disagree with the assessment of Byrne's take as perfunctory and depressing, because he put some detail into honoring the Reeves/late golden age version of Superman. Man of Steel #6 would be the part where he's hit with a mystical hex and ends up reflecting on the history of Krypton for the first time. It's overwhelming and takes years to really unpack and set in, causing the stories to swing in a different direction. Bill Finger's story has him stand stoically on a beautiful mountain and proclaim, "ugh kryptonite sucks! I'll bet there's more of it out there, too." Byrne's Clark also realizes that what's done is done and nothing will retroactively change where he stands. Except then you have his heritage thrown in his face during Return to Krypton (a more direct homage to Superman #61), Exile, and Trial of Superman. He got Kandor soon after and I think that just like the Bendis version, he'd get hit quicker by Kandor's destruction than the original planet, because it'd be right in his face in present day.

But yeah, I feel like it'd be powerful to really focus on Kryptonian carelessness for the cause. Whether it's by villain or nature, the way it is done to me seems like a weaker parallel because instead of having a strong and logical self interest in avoiding the possibility of utter destruction, they just flat out don't believe what a scientific prodigy has to say about science.

[marhawkman]

But yeah, I feel like it'd be powerful to really focus on Kryptonian carelessness for the cause. Whether it's by villain or nature, the way it is done to me seems like a weaker parallel because instead of having a strong and logical self interest in avoiding the possibility of utter destruction, they just flat out don't believe what a scientific prodigy has to say about science.

This is what i like to call plot induced stupidity. The various versions of the story have different reasons for Krypton's destruction but they all have to end with the planet being destroyed. So you have to find a justification for it and try to force it to make sense.

Engulfed in Rao: Apparently in this version they just couldn't evacuate.

Natural chain reaction: REAL WORLD the idea of a planet exploding because of a naturally occurring nuclear chain reaction is seemingly impossible, so the idea that none of Jor-El's contemporaries believed it is at least plausible. It literally falls into the "well that's never happened" category.

Industrial accident: This could also fit into the "well that's never happened" category because geothermal power and mining don't make things explode.

Why don't they believe Jor-El? Well, the actual importance of Jor-El in Krypton's scientific community varies quite a lot. In some versions he's on the fringe, a guy who researches things that mainstream Kryptonian science considers ridiculous. In others he's more respected or even famous for his achievements. Either way, he's never the top of the scientific community. Who/what is the top is also varied. Sometimes it's Brainiac, a super computer who doesn't care about the people of Krypton. In others it's a council who represent the real-world phenomenon of scientific establishments that have become dogmatic and political. Whichever it is it's an obstacle of immense proportions.

[Kuwagaton]

I mean you'd think a common standing as quite respected would be enough, but in Superman #53 they explicitly do call him the top scientist on the planet.

The original World of Krypton series, which expanded on the political front, incorporated Jax-Ur, added that Kandor tragically held those who agreed with him, was at least a serous effort to work out the story. The second World of Krypton dealt with the factors of Kryptonians being physically incapable of leaving.

[Adekis]

Well to start with I'd have to disagree with the assessment of Byrne's take as perfunctory and depressing, because he put some detail into honoring the Reeves/late golden age version of Superman. Man of Steel #6 would be the part where he's hit with a mystical hex and ends up reflecting on the history of Krypton for the first time.

I mean, Byrne literally has Clark say that he considers his newfound knowledge of Krypton to be "ultimately meaningless", direct quote. I didn't feel like that was a "can't change the past" acceptance of the tragedy, more like a refusal to mourn something he doesn't care about. To me the post-Crisis Krypton always seemed less like something whose memory Superman honored and treasured, and more like something that repeatedly comes back to haunt him in a negative way - a nuisance, a bad penny that keeps turning up. He tries to go to Krypton's remains and winds up hallucinating that if the Kryptonians hadn't all died, he'd have had to kill them. He gets possessed by Eradicator and becomes Krypton Man, a villain. Another life form from Krypton shows up and he has to fight it to the death. You get the idea. It's not all bad, and certainly I don't get the same level of anti-Krypton sentiment from other writers later on as I do from Byrne, but there's still this sense, at least to me, that Krypton was a place that kind of sucked. Even in Exile which is the one that's most pro-Krypton, I think anyway, there's just this story of a horrible tragedy brought on by Kryptonian foolishness and xenophobia.

But yeah, I feel like it'd be powerful to really focus on Kryptonian carelessness for the cause. Whether it's by villain or nature, the way it is done to me seems like a weaker parallel because instead of having a strong and logical self interest in avoiding the possibility of utter destruction, they just flat out don't believe what a scientific prodigy has to say about science.

Absolutely, 100%.