Phantom Zone
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The Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media. It was frequently used in the Superman comics before the continuity was rebooted in the 1980s, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and has appeared occasionally since.
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[edit] Pre-Crisis
The Phantom Zone was discovered by Jor-El and used on the planet Krypton as a method of imprisoning criminals. The Phantom Zone criminals first appeared in the Superboy stories and soon began appearing in the Superman stories. The inmates of this dimension are cast into the Phantom Zone and reside in a featureless state of existence from which they observe, but cannot interact with, the regular dimension clearly. Inmates do not age or require sustenance in the Phantom Zone; furthermore, they are telepathic and mutually insubstantial.
As such, they survived the destruction of Krypton and focused their attention on Earth, seeing as how most of the surviving Kryptonians now reside there. Most have a particular grudge against Superman seeing as how his father created the method of their own damnation. As such, they usually cause destructive trouble when they manage to escape while Superman struggles to return them to the Phantom Zone.
Among the Phantom Zone criminals were Kru-El, the weapon's designer cousin of Jor-El, and thus a relative of Superman. Faora Hu-Ul, a Martial Arts expert and hater of males, was another criminal who was reproduced in a tamer form for the movie Superman II where her name was changed to Ursa. Professor Va-Kox, a geneticist who created monsters, was another Phantom Zone criminal. Nadira (last name unknown who was a telekinetic) and Az-Rel (a Kryptonian pyrokinetic) were two petty criminals from the Krypton Isle of Bokos (the Island of Thieves, much like Australia used to be here on Earth). Jax-Ur, a rocket & missile engineer who accidentally destroyed one of Krypton's two moons and a populated moon of millions and the only criminal sentenced to spend all existence within the Phantom Zone, without the possibility of any kind of parole and is considered Krypton’s worst criminal. Quex-Ul was the only innocent person sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Quex-Ul was put in the Phantom Zone for killing a herd of the sacred Rondors. Rondor horns had healing properties and were therefore sacred to Kryptonians. Quex-Ul was caught at the scene of the crime and was convicted and sentenced to 25 Sun Cycles in the Phantom Zone. Superman proved his innocence and released him and Quex-Ul in turn saved Superman from exposure to Gold Kryptonite. Ak-Var was a petty criminal who upon his released became the assistant and partner of Superman's cousin, Van-Zee. Van-Zee was a Kandorian scientist who was secretly Nightwing with Ak-Var as his partner Flamebird. Doctor Xadu (first name unknown) was a physician who killed dozens of patients while performing forbidden cryogenics experiments upon them. And finally there was General Dru-Zod, who created an army of clones in an attempt to take over as ruler of Krypton. Later others who survived Krypton's destruction became criminals, like Jer-Em, who caused the destruction of Argo City, the birth place of Supergirl. A jelous Kryptonian female from the bottle city of Kandor named Zora Vi-Lar (who took on the name of Black Flame) escaped from Kandor to fight Supergirl. And then there was Nam-Ek, who was the Kryptonian who killed the Rondor herd and used their horns to become immortal. Superman found Nam-Ek floating in space and rescued him, but the transformation into an immortal being had turned Nam-Ek into a bipedal version of a Rondor and also drove him to insanity. These criminals were also sentenced to serve time within the Phantom Zone.
The only exception is Mon-El, a Daxamite youth who met Superboy on Earth and discovered he was acutely vulnerable to exposure to lead (this is described in the comics as "lead poisoning," though it is not the same as real-life lead poisoning). To keep him alive, Superboy cast Mon-El, with his permission, into the Phantom Zone where he resided until the 30th century where Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes developed a cure which allowed him to leave safely.
Superman developed communications equipment for the Phantom Zone, like the Zone-o-phone, and refinements to the project. In addition, the City of Kandor used the Phantom Zone regularly, with parole hearings sometimes chaired by Superman. However, since the departure of Kandor, that is, outside of Mon-El, most of the inhabitants were confined-to-lifers and generally not inclined to making conversation with their jailer.
In the Steve Gerber miniseries The Phantom Zone, it was revealed that the Zone not only had a back exit through which villains could escape, but was also home to terrible beasts.
[edit] Post-Crisis
In the post-Crisis DC Universe, the Phantom Zone first appeared when Superman returned from space with a Kryptonian artifact called the Eradicator. This device, created by his Kryptonian ancestor Kem-L, attempted to recreate Krypton on Earth, building the Fortress of Solitude; the extradimensional space in which the Eradicator found the Kryptonian materials necessary was called the Phantom Zone. A Phantom Zone Projector is part of Superman's current Fortress. It has been used to access the Bottle City of Kandor and to trap villains such as the White Martians. The projector was also used by Supernova as the basis of his powers and then later used against Skeets who somehow enveloped the Phantom Zone within himself.
The Phantom Zone has also been independently discovered by the Bgztlians, the White Martians, and the villains Loophole, Prometheus, and the first Queen Bee, who call it the "Buffer Zone," the "Still Zone," the "Stasis Zone," the "Ghost Zone," and the "Honeycomb," respectively. In post-Crisis/post-Zero Hour continuity, it was Loophole's "Stasis Zone" technology that exiled Mon-El, known in the new continuity as Valor/M'Onel, into the Phantom Zone for a thousand years.
Superman was able to fashion the Phantom Zone technology into an arrow projectile which upon striking a victim will lock them into the Phantom Zone. Roy Harper, the original Speedy, stole this arrow from Superman when the original Teen Titans were invited for a visit many years ago. Roy, however, never used the arrow and passed it on to his replacement, Mia Dearden, who used the arrow in the recent Infinite Crisis on Superboy-Prime. Unfortunately, he was too strong for even the Phantom Zone, and managed to break out.
At one point, the White Martians imprisoned Batman in the Phantom Zone and took his identity as Bruce Wayne.
Recently in Action Comics, General Zod, along with Ursa and Non appeared in search for the son of Zod and Ursa.
[edit] Depiction in other media
[edit] Movies
In the movies starring Christopher Reeve, the Phantom Zone is presented as a large, flat shard of crystal. General Zod and his co-conspirators Ursa and Non appear to be transferred to a two-dimensional space on the crystal's surface. The crystal is then flung into space.
Years later, in Superman II, a nuclear explosion from a bomb Superman was forced to fling from Earth into space inadvertently shatters the prison and releases the prisoners. Now free, General Zod and his cohorts travel to Earth, wreaking havoc with the powers granted to them by Earth's yellow sun.
The Phantom Zone appears in Richard Donner's cut of Superman II, released in November 2006. In this version the crystal shard imprisoning Zod, Ursa, & Non is shattered by the XK-101 rocket Superman threw into space in Superman: The Movie. The Zone is shown splitting into three separate shards, one containing each villain, before it finally shatters, freeing them.
In the Supergirl movie, Kara is banished to the Phantom Zone by means of a summoned crystal shard. The crystal transports her to a barren, desolate world where it shatters, casting her to the ground. This depiction of the Phantom Zone suggests that the crystal shard seen in the first two Superman movies is not the Phantom Zone itself, but simply a vehicle that takes prisoners to this desolate wasteland which is referred to as the Phantom Zone. In this movie, it is also revealed that there is a way out of the Zone, but the trip to the exit portal is extremely dangerous.
[edit] Television
[edit] DC Animated Universe
Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited have made use of the Phantom Zone at various times. The Phantom Zone is first mentioned in the first episode of Superman: The Animated Series, "The Last Son of Krypton, Part 1," where Jor-El attempted to convince everyone to enter the Phantom Zone to be saved from Krypton's destruction, and one man would be sent via spaceship to re-establish Krypton's population on a new world. Since this idea was not accepted, Jor-El sent his son in the spaceship to Earth along with the Phantom Zone projector.
In the episode "Blasts from the Past," Superman discovers the Phantom Zone projector, which also has a communication function that allows him to converse with the inmates. Making contact with the convicted traitor Mala (a loose adaptation of Superman II's Ursa) and upon further research, learning that her sentence is finished, he releases her. Unfortunately, Superman learns that Mala is arrogant and power-hungry badly enough to possibly require returning her to the Phantom Zone. When she learns that Kal-El prefers the company of a certain Terran named Lois Lane, Mala turns against Superman and later releases Jax-Ur (a version of General Zod, although named after another villain from the Superman comics) to take over Earth. Banished once again into the Phantom Zone at the end of the story, Jax-Ur and Mala are later accidentally released on another remote planet, and ultimately sent into a black hole.
In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction," Superman and the Justice League send the nearly unstoppable Doomsday into the Phantom Zone after his capture. This usage of the Phantom Zone, effectively sentencing Doomsday to life imprisonment without trial, presented massive arguments about the Justice League's right to make such judgments. Batman was especially troubled by this move.
[edit] Smallville
In the television series Smallville, in the fifth season premiere "Arrival", Clark Kent battles two Kryptonians, and when he refuses to join them in their quest to subjugate Earth, the Kryptonians attempt to banish Clark to the Phantom Zone using a metallic bracelet, inscribed with Kryptonian symbols, that opens up a vortex. However, Clark manages to turn the tables, sending them into the portal instead. Aside from its entrance, the Phantom Zone is represented as a floating black square similar to its depiction in the Superman films.
In the episode "Solitude," the Kryptonian artificial intelligence known as Brainiac, posing as Professor Milton Fine, manipulates Clark into believing that Jor-El is responsible for Martha's mysterious illness; this is all part of a plot to free the imprisoned General Zod. Professor Fine persuades Clark to take him to the Fortress of Solitude, where he gives Clark a black crystal and instructs him to insert it into the Fortress' control console, misleadingly saying that it will destroy Jor-El and therefore save Martha. However, the crystal, once inserted into the console, instead opens up a vortex in which another black square is seen, with a figure resembling General Zod as portrayed in the Superman movies. However, Brainiac's plan is thwarted once Clark removes the crystal.
In the episode "Vessel," General Zod is finally freed from the Phantom Zone. After inhabiting Lex Luthor, Zod traps Clark inside the Phantom Zone, using a Kryptonian bracelet similar to the one used in the episode "Arrival."
In the season premiere of the sixth season, the Phantom Zone itself is shown as a desolate wasteland, and it is revealed that it was found by Jor-El, not created, as a prison for not only Kryptonian convicts, but also criminals from the "28 known galaxies." Most of the prisoners (i.e. General Zod) are stripped of their corporeal forms, and their spirits are then cast into the Zone.
Clark escapes with the help of a Kryptonian woman named Raya, who claims to have known Jor-El. To ensure her survival, Jor-El sent Raya to the Phantom Zone just before the destruction of Krypton. Raya reveals that those of the blood of Jor-El's house can utilize a secret exit from the Phantom Zone, meaning Clark can utilize it. Upon escaping the Phantom Zone, Clark accidentally releases Raya and various prisoners and phantoms to Earth. Chloe Sullivan later refers to the escaped convicts as "Zoners."
[edit] Other DC Animated Works
- In the direct-to-video animated feature Superman: Brainiac Attacks, Superman must enter the Phantom Zone to retrieve a rare element which will cure Lois Lane of a deadly disease. This version of the Phantom Zone differs from previous animated continuity, as it is shown to actually be populated by "phantoms."
- In the animated series Legion of Super Heroes, the Phantom Zone is close to its classical portrayal, in that it is a parallel dimension where criminals are sent. As a throwback to the Pre-Crisis version, inhabitants of the Zone become incorporeal - essentially, ghost-like phantoms, thus giving the Zone its name. In this series, Superman discovers his previous self's Phantom Zone projector, which he accidentally uses to free a villain named Drax. The projector is eventually turned on the other Legionnaires, but with Phantom Girl's help, they manage to escape without it and send Drax back at the same time.
[edit] Parodies
In the Family Guy episode "Lethal Weapons," Peter enrages the three Kryptonian villains from Superman II which Lois promptly sends into the Phantom Zone through the crystal shard.
In the South Park episode "Krazy Kripples," Christopher Reeve is sent into space in the crystal shard Phantom Zone after stem cells give him superpowers which ironically make him evil in that episode.
In the beginning of the second season of Robot Chicken, Seth Green gets sentenced to cancellation and gets put into the Phantom Zone and the Phantom Zone gets hit by a UFO, releasing him and he gets his second season.
The Galacticast video blog parodies the Phantom Zone in the episode Superman I.V where the three criminals come to grip with cramped quarters and lack of personal hygiene.
In the first person shooter BZFlags, your tank can enter the "phantom zone," but your tank is a bit more of a "ghost".
[edit] External link
- Supermanica: Phantom Zone Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Phantom Zone
