What is Krypton Actually Made Of?

 

Ever wonder where 1978’s “Superman: The Movie” got its iconic imagery of planet Krypton?  Fans of the Christopher Reeve helmed series can see it in their heads, the white rocky surface of the planet.  This is translated directly in the film when Kal-El erects the Fortress of Solitude on Earth.  This iconic vision of the Fortress is carried over into multiple other series, including “Superman: The Animated Series”, “Justice League”, “Smallville”, and “Supergirl”.

Growing up a fan I just figured the Fortress looked that way to blend in with its arctic environment, which is probably true but then I ran across a thing about Batman, and how much it would cost to become the Dark Knight.  It listed the price of Kryptonite as $25,000.  Obviously a fictional substance, you can’t really purchase this radioactive rock from beyond the stars, however I was bored and had the internet at my disposal and started looking up shopping for kryptonite.  Then I got to thinking about the actual element krypton, and looked up how much it would  cost to purchase the very earthly substance. 

Krypton is a rare noble gas, and is colorless, tasteless, and will asphyxiate you if you try to breath it raw.  So, don’t do that.  But I also found out what it looks like in it’s solid form…

 

Yeah, exactly.  It’s a white crystal.  Know what also is a white crystal?

Yeah, all of Krypton, including their technology.  I couldn’t find anything that definitively said the production team used the element of krypton as inspiration for their design of the planet itself, but is sure seems like they were at least influence by it.

This crystalline structure was probably used so they could better translate kryptonite onto the big screen.  It makes more sense, thematically if not scientifically, to have kryptonite be a glowing green crystalline substance if the planet that it came from is made from a white crystalline substance.  The fact that krypton itself is a white crystal may have been intentional or a happy coincidence.

Either way, if you follow the logic that the planet Krypton was made from solid krypton, then you can purchase a non-radioactive piece of Superman's home world on eBay for somewhere between $10 to $40, depending on what form you are looking for.  Probably best not to try and  make it radioactive yourself, because radiation is bad.

 

Thanks for reading!