About Schreyer Kryptonian 2013

For the 2013 film, Man of Steel, linguistic anthropologist Christine Schreyer was brought in to develop a new and unique writing system and spoken language for Krypton, unrelated to any previous depictions of Kryptonian. Dr. Schreyer teamed up with graphic designer Kirsten Franson who designed the look of the writing. Although the language was never spoken in the film, the writing was featured prominently in most scenes set on Krypton. In subsequent films, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), the writing can be seen on several places on Superman's suit, most prominently on the "S"/"hope" symbol on his chest.

It is hoped that a decision by Warner Brothers will be made to release a Man of Steel Kryptonian primer. Until then, all information on the language has been gleaned from a very small set of examples including mainly the Man of Steel movie tie-in book, and the Deep Space Radio Wave Project and the Glyph Creator websites which were launched as a promotional pieces for the movie.

Other Resources

Twitter user @Rachelyoubish has been doing some amazing breakdowns of the Kryptonian writing seen in Man of Steel. For now you can see her work-in-progress on this Google Doc. She has already managed to translate quite a few words and phrases.

Click over to the Man of Steel Kryptonian Writing page for a detailed breakdown of the writing including a downloadable chart, as well as the phonology of the language.

Be sure to check out my own interview with Christine Schreyer for more behind-the-scenes info on the language.

Visit Dr. Schreyer's own Kryptonian page for links to more interviews and information.