Historically, how big/populated was Krypton?

[Hypestyle]

just wondering- in comparison to Earth, how physically large was Krypton, and how much of a population did the planet have? Was the population dispersed throughout the planet's surface, or contained only to certain areas? How much land vs. water? Were there parts that were "inhabitable" before the cataclysm?

[Kuwagaton]

The overall impression pre and post crisis is that it was basically Australia as a planet. Luckily they did build upwards and with great efficiency. For all the diversity in scenery the land mass wasn't much. Some cities are pretty well known, like Argo, Kryptonopolis, and Kandor. Post crisis Kandor was where the foreigners ended up, Vathlo in pre crisis is where all the blacks lived. *cough*

By the accounts across many comics, when Krypton exploded billions of lives were lost. I guess you can think of it like Earth.

[superduperman]

My understanding was that it was very large in comparison with Earth. Hence the explanation for why Kryptonians were so much stronger than humans. The larger gravity. Not sure if it was quite Jupiter levels of size. I remember seeing a GA picture that showed it in comparison to Earth. It was about twice the size. Have no idea if this carried over to the post-Crisis universe.

[llozymandias]

My understanding was that it was very large in comparison with Earth. Hence the explanation for why Kryptonians were so much stronger than humans. The larger gravity. Not sure if it was quite Jupiter levels of size. I remember seeing a GA picture that showed it in comparison to Earth. It was about twice the size. Have no idea if this carried over to the post-Crisis universe.

Maggin (for one) wrote that it was the size of Jupiter.

[stargazer01]

My understanding is that Krypton is much bigger than Earth and its gravity a lot stronger. That plus the yellow sun's radiation gave Clark his powers.

There is a recent episode of The Orville about this subject. One of the main characters was from a planet with a much stronger gravity to Earth's, so as a result she was VERY strong compared to humans. And humans were also very fragile when in her planet, so they had to use special suit to protect them from being crushed. It was very cool. I wonder why Adam Strange didn't get crushed when he was on Krypton lol. Plot hole?

[marhawkman]

The overall impression pre and post crisis is that it was basically Australia as a planet. Luckily they did build upwards and with great efficiency. For all the diversity in scenery the land mass wasn't much. Some cities are pretty well known, like Argo, Kryptonopolis, and Kandor. Post crisis Kandor was where the foreigners ended up, Vathlo in pre crisis is where all the blacks lived. *cough*

By the accounts across many comics, when Krypton exploded billions of lives were lost. I guess you can think of it like Earth.

Also it did have many cities, not just the 6 or so main cities, but yeah large chunks were nearly unlivable. It had a rather large region called the "Flame Forest" and several similarly ominously named geographic features. Also one of the 1981 descriptions of Kryptonian geography used the phrase "city-state" to describe Erkol and Xan. While it's unclear how many named locations this applies to, a city-state is a larger area than a city. Thus these were actually more like small countries. Also the descriptions of some named islands suggest the entire island was habitable and at least sparsely populated. OHH! the region called "Wanan" was a plain near Kandor but got turned into more city over time. Which suggests Kandor was a sprawling megalopolis when it was removed from Krypton.
1981 - Krypton Chronicles glossary.jpg

[Jim Kelly]

If it was more than ten times the size of Earth, I'm going to guess that it had a population of about 100 billion. Even if some parts of the planet were uninhabitable, there would still be so much land mass that could support a much bigger population than Earth's. And their advanced science would have solved a lot of the problems that limit population size.

[Adekis]

Man, Vathlo Island is waaay too small on that map.

Er, anyway, I remember a documentary on "the Science of Superman" claiming that in order to justify his titanic strength, Superman's species would have to have evolved on a world at least 100 times as massive as Earth!

And of course in reality there is no "Science of Superman," but I still like playing with the comic book pseudoscience, and that one detail in particular stuck in my head.

[Jim Kelly]

If Krypton is way bigger than Earth, then Vathlo could be larger than Australia.

[llozymandias]

If it was more than ten times the size of Earth, I'm going to guess that it had a population of about 100 billion. Even if some parts of the planet were uninhabitable, there would still be so much land mass that could support a much bigger population than Earth's. And their advanced science would have solved a lot of the problems that limit population size.

Looking at that globe, makes me think of a thing or two. Siegel & Maggin (among a few other) wrote Krypton as being about the same size as Jupiter. If that is the case, then Vathlo Island would have more land area than earth has dry land.

[Doctor Know]

From Mark Waid's Superman Birthright




Remember. Superman is based off of John Carter of Mars. Supes' enhanced strength and agility are similar to Carter's on Mars. Mars has 1/3 of gravity of Earth. Add in the density of his bones and muscles compared to the Martians, Carter is a beast. Same principle applies to Superman and any other wayward Kryptonian who makes their way to Earth.

[karatattoo]

If it was more than ten times the size of Earth, I'm going to guess that it had a population of about 100 billion. Even if some parts of the planet were uninhabitable, there would still be so much land mass that could support a much bigger population than Earth's. And their advanced science would have solved a lot of the problems that limit population size.

Has anyone else noticed that Lurvan looks like a squished Russia?

[Minerboh]

If it was more than ten times the size of Earth, I'm going to guess that it had a population of about 100 billion. Even if some parts of the planet were uninhabitable, there would still be so much land mass that could support a much bigger population than Earth's. And their advanced science would have solved a lot of the problems that limit population size.

Pretty much an Earh like world in terms of water-land analogy.

[Last Son]

The earliest origin depicted Kryptonians as having super strength while on Krypton, so at least then, there was no particular consideration for the size of Krypton, it was just assumed that they evolved from human-like strength to superhuman strength over millions of years. It wasn't until later that Superman adopted the John Carter-inspired explanation for his strength.