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Phantom Zone

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The Phantom Zone is an interdimensional realm outside the normal space/time continuum. It's a timeless dimension, a vast expansion of near-nothingness.[7][8] It's also the permeable membrane between the light side of the DC Multiverse and the Dark Multiverse.[9] Along with it being a projection of a living mind, a god's mind, that belongs to a being called Aethyr, it's a place where consciousness could survive without a tangible body... where prisoners would never age, die, or escape. But only when Aethyr slept. When it awakened, everything changed. This became a place of living nightmares.[10] The Phantom Zone is the domain of Aethyr and those who breach the dimensional walls, tearing the fabric of his mind without warning or permission, will sire his ire and won't go unpunished.[11]

History

Earth-One

It is a barren and insubstantial null area absent of any physical material. There is only one native denizen to the Phantom Zone, the enigmatic and powerful entity known as the Aethyr. All cause and effect that occurs within the zone does so at Aethyr's capricious whim. People who travel into the negative zone are no longer corporeal and exist only as psychic phantasms of their true selves. Though their minds and personalities remain intact, they can no longer physically interact with any other being. This includes direct physical contact as well as the power of speech. Communication within the Phantom Zone is done so by telepathy. As the Phantom Zone exists outside of space/time, those within it are no longer subject to the rigors of age or illness, rendering them effectively immortal – and they also require no sleep, food or air.

Many years ago, the penal system of the planet Krypton sentenced their criminals by placing them in suspended animation. The Kryptonian scientist Jor-El discovered the existence of the Phantom Zone and introduced it as an alternative means of imprisonment. He had little knowledge of the true inner workings of the zone, but believed that it was a more humane form of punishment over that which they had previously employed. He developed a projection device that could send people into and retrieve them from the zone with the simple flick of a black button and a white button respectively. The first prisoner to be exiled to the Phantom Zone was the renegade scientist Jax-Ur. Jax-Ur, a former colleague of Jor-El's, was responsible for the destruction of Krypton's moon Wegthor and the deaths of over five-hundred lunar colonists. Over a short expanse of time, the Kryptonian Science Council began exiling the worst of the planet's criminals into the zone, the most famous of which was the military insurrectionist General Zod.

When Jor-El later discovered that Krypton was going to explode due to geological instability, he proposed bringing the entire population of Krypton into the zone. Jor-El never had the opportunity or approval to conduct such a plan, and ultimately everyone living on the planet Krypton died when it exploded.

Those within the Phantom Zone survived however. It was years before they ever learned the truth about their home-world's destruction. Several of the exiled criminals, now led by General Zod, found a means of escaping the zone and eventually came to Earth where they battled the "Last Son" of Krypton, Jor-El's son Kal-El.

Occasionally, a Phantom Zoner who has completed their sentence is allowed to be released. One such example is Ak-Var, who was released by Superman and then joined his fellow Kryptonians in the Bottled City of Kandor.[1]

New Earth

Originally supposed to be a repository of Krypton's most shining accomplishment, the Eradicator used its technology stored within to bring back Krypton on planet Earth. The zone worked as a bridge between Krypton's past and the present, in fact Superman was capable of going back in time just before Krypton's demise to complete the rite of passage to become a true Kryptonian, allowing him to meet his biological parents.[2]

It was later revealed that the Phantom Zone is in fact the mythical "Underworld," home to the likes of Hades, Annwn, Erishkagal and Pluto.[3]

Arrowverse

Zulian Maletarians 0001

Phantom Zone in the Arrowverse

The Phantom Zone is a pocket dimension that serves as an interdimensional prison. The Zulian Maletarians was banished to the so-called Phantom Zone for conspiring to take over various planets. Eventually, they became the new ruler of the dimension and came to be known as the Phantoms.

Malefic J'onzz, Midnight and some White Martians were banished to the Phantom Zone by the Green Martians. The Kryptonian prison Fort Rozz was banished to the Phantom Zone along with all its prisoners; which includes Astra, Non and several others.

During the Krypton explosion in 1979, Zor-El and Alura sent their daughter Kara to Earth to be saved, but she ended up in the Phantom Zone. Zor-El tried to save himself during the explosion and also ended up being trapped in the Phantom Zone. 24 years later, Kara fell to the Earth with the prisoners of Fort Rozz.

In 2019, the Monitor released Malefic Jonnz, who later also released Midnight. But she was again trapped in the Phantom Zone by Supergirl using the Phantom Zone Projector.

In 2020, Lex Luthor used the Phantom Zone Projector to trap Kara in the Phantom Zone. There, she was reunited with her father and the Imp Nyxlygsptlnz; who were later released by the Superfriends.

Residents

Notes

See Also

Links and References