A Few of My Favorite Sidekicks – Animal Edition

Written by Shae Rufe 

While sidekicks get a lot of love in comics and media, we often overlook the best types of sidekicks, animals. Recently, I sadly lost one of my animal sidekicks, and this got me thinking as to how often we see animals featured in media and how much they truly mean to us. So today, I’m going to shed some light on some amazing animal buddies in honor of my Bella. As a Great Dane, Bella was funny, sensitive, and beyond the gentlest animal I have ever met in my entire life. Just like Scooby-Doo she was also easily frightened. Now Scooby was one of the inspirations for wanting a Great Dane for a lot of people, his wild antics and gestures are very cartoonish and genuinely quite realistic. These dogs are beyond loyal and have extremely expressive faces can easily con anyone into passing some treats. Let me tell you, these gentle giants can easily reach the dining room table and happily share a meal. Scooby-Doo loved to eat anything Shaggy did, and despite being scared easily, he still went along for the Mysteries. Thankfully for Scooby, most of the scary monsters and ghosts turned out to be people. Which, if that isn’t the most real thing, I really don’t know what is. Scooby stole the hearts of millions and he deserves to live on in infamy for being the coolest best friend.

Speaking of really cool dogs that love people food and have really cool best friends, Pizza Dog. Okay, truthfully his name is really Lucky, but he’s the absolute best. Lucky was introduced in the 2012 comic, Hawkeye. That’s right, Clint gets a dog in the comics. He actually rescues Lucky and gets him back to health before deciding to keep him. The comic series even gives Lucky his own issue where everything is from his perspective, which is the coolest thing ever in my opinion. Fair warning, Lucky does experience some abuse which is very sad and off putting, even if he gets a happy ending. Lucky is a wonderful side kick that definitely deserves his own spot in the MCU, just saying, maybe a Hawkeye movie or a cameo in the new Hawkeye series on the upcoming Disney+? Maybe Lucky needs his own spin off!

Okay, while Lucky may never get his own spin off, there is at least one dog that has, that’s right, Krypto. Krypto has had his own comics and even cartoon, and to top it all off, his best friend is Superman. This super powered super dog has been around since 1955 doing all sorts of doggy things. Unlike others, Krypto does indeed have his own set of superpowers that happen to coincide with Superman’s, making the two the perfect match, which is fair and probably does make him the most recognizable of all the comic dogs. Like his human counterpart, he’s had many a struggle with many a villain and even his own death scene or two. Which, legit, can we not do that to poor comic animals?

Move over Krypto, because he’s not the only super dog on this list. Ace the Bat Dog probably isn’t as renowned, but he certainly deserves his own award. Also introduced in the ripe year of 1955, Ace hopped onto the comic scene by being lost and then found by Batman. The dog was later returned and eventually found his way into the Bat Family, where he then became the world’s coolest dog. Okay, working with Superman is pretty cool, but working with Batman is much cooler. Ace made his small screen appearance on Batman Beyond, where he was Bruce’s loyal hound. Bat Dog seems far more likely to bite first and ask later, and what’s probably why I love him more. Ace isn’t the only dog Bruce has ever had though. When Damien is introduced, we also get Titus, a Great Dane and great addition to the ever-growing Bat Family.

Dogs aren’t the only companions many of our heroes have. Redwing happens to be a robot bird type device created by Falcon in the MCU, however in the comics, this bird is just that, a bird. Sam Wilson buys him and through some wondrous comic magic of epic per portions, the two become telepathically linked. Okay, weird? Maybe. But cool? Definitely. The two can actually see through each other’s eyes and Redwing is able to understand Sam. That can come in really handy when taking down bad guys or picking up take out. I’m just saying, I’d probably use a telepathic connection with an animal for the greater good and that often includes pizza.

There are so many more amazing animals in comics, so don’t count this as the only blog! But I wanted to end this with something that’s a bit not my norm. Earlier I mentioned that there was animal abuse towards one of the comic dogs, and that can be quite sensitive to people. I’d like to introduce everyone to a website called DoesTheDogDie.com. This website lets you know if a dog dies in a movie and/or show, and so much more. It offers a variety of possible triggers, such as sexual assault or child abuse, animal abuse, and on and on. I found this site through social media and was really impressed. This site has saved me from a lot of shows that have things I cannot watch as it triggers me. I really want people to know about it in hopes of saving someone from those awkward moments of having a trauma or phobia thrown out there by a movie or show.

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