A spin-off of the popular Superman franchise, the half-hour animated series Krypto the Superdog spotlighted the superpowered canine who had been the pet of the younger Superman (aka Kal-El) on the planet Krypton. Sent to Earth as a test-pilot puppy, Krypto (who in this version looked more like a white Scooby-Doo!) landed in Metropolis, where he was adopted by 9-year-old human youngster Kevin Whitney. Although he posed as an "ordinary" mutt, Krypto soon linked up with several other pets with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary animals, among them Batman's pet dog Ace the Bathound, and Streaky, the cat owned by Kevin's next-door neighbor Andrea. Also protecting Metropolis were the members of the Dog Star Patrol, headed by Brainy Barker; this aggregation consisted of super-dogs from other galaxies, such as Mammoth Mutt and Tusky Husky. The series' villains included the alien Mechanikat as well as several "domestic" animal antagonists, owned by the traditional opponents of both Superman and Batman: Catwoman's Siamese cat Isis, Lex Luthor's pet iguana Ignatius, The Joker's red hyenas Bud and Lou, etc. Played more for laughs than any previous Superman derivation, Krypto the Superdog joined the Cartoon Network schedule on April 4, 2005.