As a geek and an animal lover, I’ve always loved seeing the sidekick pets on page and screen. Now I’m not talking about a dog or cat who happens to just be around and has no part in the story except for a brief mention. Nor am I referring to the anthropomorphic talking animals that are partners to the main characters. I mean the true sidekick pets, the ones that provide an assist as a real sidekick but also live with the heroes, at least part of the time, and have a connection to them.

I think the first comic book sidekick pet that would come to mind for most people is Krypto aka Superdog. I’m not much of a Superman fan, but I remember Krypto from some of the cartoons I watched as a kid. For the most part, I remember Krypto being a lot like Lassie, finding people in trouble and bringing help. It felt like he was underused and under-appreciated, considering he’s a super-powered dog… imagine the bite! I know DC brought him back in the new 52 and he’s done some “fighting”, but I doubt they’ll do much with him.

DC heroes have had other animal sidekicks through the years. Batman had Ace the Bat Hound, there were kangaroos in Wonder Woman (yes, you read that right), the Wonder Twins had Gleek the monkey and Aquaman had literally everything under the sea. (On a sidenote, if you haven’t seen the live action Aquaman short from 1984, where his best friend is a starfish that he uses as a shuriken at one point, it’s worth a look.) But not surprisingly, my favorite sidekick pets have been in the Marvel universe.

Marvel heroes aren’t known for having pet sidekicks. You have Redwing, Falcon’s companion (which is now a drone in the MCU, but we won’t get into that), and Captain Marvel’s “cat” Chewie, but a lot of animals in Marvel tend to be the anthropomorphic variety, like Rocket Raccoon or Howard the Duck. But then there are the Pet Avengers, with my all-time favorite comic book animal sidekick, Lockjaw.

As a team, the Pet Avengers have been around only since 2009, when their first mini-series comic came out. Along with Lockjaw (who is essentially a massive bulldog), members include Redwing, Hairball the cat, Lockheed the diminutive dragon, Throg (a frog version of Thor) and Ms. Lion, a pup who was actually on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. But Lockjaw made his first appearance in Fantastic Four in 1965, so he’s definitely part of Marvel history.

It would be enough for a sidekick pet to be incredibly large, but Lockjaw is so much more than that. He is from Attilan, home to the Inhumans, meaning he has some extra powers. He’s a protector and escort for the royal family of Attilan and other inhumans, can teleport himself and others to virtually anywhere, can even open alternate dimensions and is also telepathic. And because of the telepathy, he can “talk” in a way. Seriously… how cool is that for a dog?! And he actually gets to use his powers pretty regularly to help out in minor and major ways.

So yes, I like the animal sidekicks and I think we need to see a little more of them. They’ve been treated at times as little more than Lassie substitutes, guard dogs or means of transport, but I think when they are presented as legit sidekicks, given powers and personalities, it works.