Superman's KRYPTON Still Exists in The Star Trek Universe
While Supermanmay be Earth’s greatest champion, our world’s gain came at the cost of his home planet Krypton. Doomed thanks to geological instability, Krypton’s inevitable end led to Kal-El being rocketed to Earth just as his birth world exploded, erasing virtually all traces of Krypton’s great civilization. However, this may not be the case in all universes…
In the Star Trek/DC crossover Star Trek/Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds, readers get a glimpse into an alternate reality where the remnants of several Lantern Corps (including the Green, Red, Blue, Indigo, Orange, Star Sapphire, and Sinestro Corps) crossed over into Star Trek’s Kelvin timeline… and stayed there. This led to major changes for both Starfleet and the Green Lantern Corps, and possibly for Krypton as well.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowStranger Worlds actually functions as a sequel to the earlier Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum Warminiseries which saw Hal Jordan, Guy Gardener, and other Corps members flee a doomed version of the DC Universe and enter the J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek. Finding new allies in Kirk and his crew (several of which were chosen as ring bearers for other Corps), the Green, Blue, Indigo, and Star Sapphire Lanterns managed to repel the Red Lantern, Orange Lantern, and Sinestro Corps. Because they had no world to return to, however, all the Lanterns remained in the Kelvin timeline.
The ramifications for this were explored in Stranger Worlds where Starfleet incorporated ring technology into their gear and Hal Jordan wound up joining the Enterprise on several missions. Most amazing, however, was the revelation that the DC Universe and Star Trek Universe were not as dissimilar as they may have originally seemed. While looking for a replacement power source for their failing rings, the Green Lanterns discovered that their home base of OA actually existed in the Star Trek universe.
OA was not, however, how the Green Lanterns remembered it. Although the DC Universe version of OA had been an established power for many thousands of years, in the Star Trek Universe, OA was still in its infancy, and the Guardians were still experimenting with Manhunter robots and early ring technology. All of this was thrown into chaos when various DC Lanterns converged on this new OA, hoping to claim its Power Battery. Leading one of the charges was Kirk’s old enemy Khan, who had been chosen to be the new Red Lantern thanks to his rage.
To combat this threat, the Guardians released their very first Green Lantern Ring, which ended up choosing (who else?) Captain James Tiberius Kirk as its first wielder. As the original Green Lantern of his universe, Kirk made short work of Khan, but realized he’d have to split his time between Starfleet and the newly emerging Green Lantern Corps. While conversing with Hal Jordan, however, Kirk learned of an all new planet to explore – one with a “big red sun.”
While the planet’s name wasn’t directly stated, it’s practically a given that the next planet the Green Lanterns (and by extension, Starfleet) will be making contact with will be the Star Trek Universe version of Krypton. This leads to all sorts of fascinating questions. Since the OA of the Kelvin timeline is so young, could this version of Krypton also be a similarly young planet that’s not in any immediate danger of exploding? This could mean Kryptonians might be joining Starfleet in this alternate reality – which could be a huge gamechanger whenever their starships approach a yellow or blue sun.
On the flipside, if Krypton is about to explode, then Starfleet might be able to issue a planet-wide evacuation, saving more than one infant from the world’s destruction. Certainly, Starfleet has shown they’re capable of relocating huge populations with the evacuation of Romulus in Star Trek: Picard, and the relocation of all the surviving Vulcans after the events of Abrams’ original Star Trek film. And the offer of advanced Kryptonian technology could be a huge motivator to Starfleet to help these new allies.
Moreover, both Starfleet and the Green Lanterns would be highly motivated to save Krypton from any impending doom. Remember, Spock just lost his home planet a few years ago in this new timeline and would likely support any movement to save any other worlds from Vulcan’s fate. Likewise, the Green Lanterns failed to save Krypton in the DC Universe and may see this new Krypton as a second chance at redemption.
Of course, if Starfleet does manage to save Krypton (or even a large segment of its population), this could mean major changes for the Star Trek Universe – and not all of them good. Superman/Kal El and Supergirl/Kara Zor-El might represent the best of what Krypton could offer the universe, but there have been far more Kryptonians like General Zod who’ve shown how dangerous it could be to suddenly have thousands of aliens with god-like abilities freely roaming the universe. In saving Krypton, Starfleet and the Green Lanterns could be triggering a new “Superman War” far more devastating than Earth’s Eugenics War.
One additional wrinkle in this crossover madness is the revelation that planets from the Marvel Universe may also exist in Star Trek’s vast universe. In an earlier crossover between Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men, Picard’s crew mentioned off-handedly that the Sh’iar technology the X-Men use in their Danger Room also exists in their universe. As Marvel’s Shi’ar Empire includes many powerful alien races and beings, including the Superman-like Gladiator, it would seem the Star Trek Universe has no shortage of potential god-like threats (then again, this is the universe that boasts beings like the Q, the Wormhole Prophets, and Trelane.)
Although IDW and DC Comics have not explored the possibility of a Superman/Green Lantern/Star Trek crossover yet, the implication that Krypton exists in the Star Trek Universe offers many fascinating potential storylines comic book creators can explore. Star Trek has proved a fertile creative ground for fanfiction and offbeat crossover tales, and a story about Starfleet’s dealings with Krypton would undoubtedly make many readers sit up and take notice.
Source: screenrant.com