‘Superman' trailer unveils James Gunn superhero epic — and Krypto the Superdog

It's a bird, it's a plane, no — it's Krypto the Superdog, the Man of Steel's right-hand canine, making an appearance in the upcoming "Superman" movie's teaser trailer on Thursday.

This release of the teaser gives fans their first full look at David Corenswet as Superman, as well as the love of his life, Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan) and his archenemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), in the James Gunn reboot of the DC superhero cinematic universe. 

The classic hero is at his lowest when the trailer begins, seemingly stranded in frozen terrain after a forceful crash landing and spitting blood from his mouth. Then he whistles for his loyal sidekick, who appears in a thunderous cloud of snow.

"Take me home," he tells Krypto later in the trailer, who takes Superman's famous red cape in his mouth and pulls him through the snowy landscape.

There's only one other line of dialogue in the entire trailer: a young boy holding a homemade Superman flag while whispering the hero's name.

A rendition of John Williams' classic Superman theme serves as the trailer's soundtrack, underlining the teaser's theme of hopeful nostalgia.

The trailer also revealed a host of other characters, including Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl and Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific.

But the chatter on social media indicates Krypto is the character many fans are most excited to see take the screen (and the skies).

"I’m deadass when I say this but Krypto the Dog is the only reason I’m watching the #Superman movie," one person said on X.

"I’m sorry but I’m pivoting to Krypto.  I’m all about NFTs now: nice fluffy terriers," a fan wrote on BlueSky.

"We must protect Krypto at all costs," another warned on X.

One Krypto fan went even farther on X: "If ANYTHING happens to Krypto I will be going John Wick on anyone."

While most other aspects of the trailer stayed loyal to the comics, Gunn seems to have strayed a bit on Krypto's casting, opting to portray the dog as more scruffy andthan the polished comic version.

In October, the writer-director revealed that his idea of Krypto was inspired by his own dog, Ozu, who he said came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs and never knew humans.

"He immediately came in & destroyed our home, our shoes, our furniture — he even ate my laptop. It took a long time before he would even let us touch him," Gunn said in a post on X. "I remember thinking, 'Gosh, how difficult would life be if Ozu had superpowers?' — and thus Krypto came into the script & changed the shape of the story as Ozu was changing my life."

Gunn is no stranger to spotlighting computer generated animals and creatures in his films, as demonstrated by the success of Rocket Raccoon and Groot in his "Guardians of the Galaxy" films for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While there's no way to know if Krypto will bring the same success to Superman's premiere on July 11, as a fan put it on X, one thing is for sure.

"So many dogs about to be named Krypto, oh my god."

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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