James Gunn's Rescue Dog Who Inspired Krypto the Superdog Has Let Fame Go to His Head—At Least According to His Owner

My dog and I are absolutely obsessed with Superman (2025) and Supergirl (2026). Obviously, we love watching the adventures of everyone’s superpowered cousins Clark Kent, AKA Kal-El (David Corenswet) and Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock). But who we really adore is Kara’s very good boy (NOT bad boy) Krypto the Superdog. 

Fans of the 2025 DC film are probably aware that Krypto’s personality and likeness were based on Superman director James Gunn and his wife, actress Jennifer Holland’s very own rescue dog named Ozu. 

While speaking to People magazine in June 2026, Holland revealed that fame has gone to Ozu’s head a bit. 

"It's getting to his head a little bit. My older dog gets treats for going outside, going potty, and then coming back in. He thinks he gets treats for any reason at all. He thinks he's pretty special, and I guess he is,” said Holland, who is also in the DCU universe as Peacemaker’s Emilia Harcourt. 

Photo by Rafaëlla Waasdorp on Unsplash

This update is promising because it seems that Ozu used to have some issues with his CGI counterpart.

In a May 2025 TikTok video, Gunn revealed that Ozu reacts in anger when he sees Krypto on screen. 

“This is my dog Ozu barking at the screen. Krypto was actually 3D modeled after Ozu’s body. We 3D captured Ozu and turned him into Krypto. And turned him white. And any time he sees himself come on screen, he tries to murder himself,” said the director while his dog ran around his screening room. 

While speaking to BFI in June 2025, Gunn said Ozu was “a terrible, terrible dog,” who “just destroyed everything” when his family first adopted him. While thinking about his dog’s bad behavior, he began to wonder how a pup with the same personality and also superpowers would act. And that’s when this version of Krypto was born. 

“Just the throw of it a dog had superpowers, and it was as bad as Ozu is, just what a huge enormous problem he would be,” said Gunn. 

The co-CEO of DC Studios clarified that his furry friend is “getting a little bit better but he’s still pretty naughty.”