The Robot In The Superman Trailer Is More Important Than You Think

DC Studios

There is a lot of information to process in the first official trailer for James Gunn's "Superman" film, which will officially kick off his new DC Studios universe in live-action next July. There's our introduction to this version of Superman, played by David Corenswet, as he lies in the snow and whistles for his super-dog, Krypto, to come help get him home. There's our introduction to Metropolis, the villainous Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), the Daily Planet, reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), and much, much more. Heck, we even get to see some members of the Justice League. There's a lot packed into the trailer, so it can be easy to miss some of the important bits — and one very important shot deserves a special shout-out. 

We see Superman kneeling inside of what looks like the Fortress of Solitude, with all of its crystalline structures, and he's holding the hand of a robot that looks awfully familiar. Given where he's at and the robot's appearance, it's likely we're getting a version of Kelex in "Superman." 

Beginning with "The Man of Steel #1" in 1986, Kelex was introduced as a former robotic servant of Jor-El, Superman's dad, back on their home planet of Krypton, alongside fellow robotic servant Kelor and a number of others. Kelex had served Jor-El longer than any other robot and was attendant upon Kal-El (a.k.a. Superman) when he was an infant, though it was assumed that the robot was destroyed along with everyone else on Krypton. Later, when the Eradicator, an ancient Kryptonian technology, ends up on Earth and begins trying to remake Krypton, it ends up only making what becomes Superman's Fortress of Solitude, with Kelex inside.

DC Comics

Kelex is to the Fortress of Solitude what Alfred is to Batman's bat-cave and Wayne Manor, taking care of everything while Superman is away and assisting him when he's in need. Though Kelex has been in the comics quite a bit, the robot's film appearances are much more rare — last appearing in "Man of Steel" in 2013, voiced by Carla Gugino. Kelex being a part of the story means we'll get the Fortress of Solitude and some of the weirder comic book elements surrounding Krypton, and that rules.

Though the robot doesn't look exactly like the Kelex of the comics, who honestly looks like a cross between Alpha 5 from "Power Rangers" and Number 5 from "Short Circuit," if it is indeed Kelex then that signals some potentially interesting things about "Superman." While it sets up the new DC Studios film universe, it doesn't seem like it will be a full-blown origin story, instead giving us a Clark Kent/Superman who has already done a bit of reckoning with his Kryptonian past. He will have a Fortress of Solitude, a right-hand robot, and won't just be a lost and confused farm boy trying to figure out what to do with his superpowers. 

There are quite a few characters that appear in the trailer that we haven't seen much of at the cinema (if we've seen them at all), but Kelex hints the most at what kind of Superman story we're going to get. 

"Superman" hits theaters on July 11, 2025.