Phantom zone

The Phantom Zone (. English phantom zone ) is a fictional dimension , which in the Superman - Comics , books, computer games and animated series, based on these comics occurs and in films. The phantom zone is an inter -dimensional fold (possibly a tesseract ) that should be located in the transgression area of the four-dimensional human world to the “magical” 5th dimension. Other names for the phantom zone: buffer zone (buffer zone), region of silence (silence zone), Stasi zone (stasis zone), Ghost Zone (Ghost Zone) and honeycomb (Honeycomb).

history

Classic version

In the so-called pre- crisis comics of the Superman series (the Superman comics from the years before 1986 when the series was completely overhauled and restarted), the phantom zone was very often used as a place of exile to keep those superhumanly powerful Superman opponents who had no assurance that a prison would hold them. Originally the Phantom Zone was an invention of Superman's father, the scientist Jor-El from the planet Krypton, and was used as a repository for the criminals of the planet. The phantom zone bears its name because its occupants are placed in a shapeless, planimetric state of being, from which they can observe the processes in the real dimension, but cannot influence them. The occupants of the phantom zone neither age nor do they need food; In addition, they are telepathic and insubstantial to one another and therefore imperceptible. The inhabitants of the Phantom Zone owe their survival when the planet Krypton is destroyed to this "lack of jurisdiction". After losing their homeworld, the inmates of the Phantom Zone turn their attention to Earth as the haven for most of the surviving Kryptonians. They hold a particular grudge against Superman as the son of the creator of their prison. The standard pattern of a "phantom zone story" classically consists of a criminal's escape from the phantom zone, a destructive rampage on earth or a direct attack against Superman, his defeat against the hero, recapture and repatriation into the zone.

The only instance of an innocent being admitted to the Phantom Zone is the alien Mon-El from the planet Daxam. Due to its physiology, the Daxamiter is extremely susceptible to lead, to which it reacts hyper-allergically : however, since a cure will only be possible in the 30th century, Mon-El is transported by Superman into the phantom zone, where he is able to survive into the 30th century despite the incurability of his ailment. Superman is also developing a communication tool , the Zone-o-Phone , to be able to communicate with the residents of the zone.

Modern version

The Phantom Zone appears for the first time in the modern Superman series when Superman brings back a Kryptonian artifact from a trip into space: the so-called Eradicator , a living machine developed by his ancestor Kem-L . In an attempt by the awakened machine to transform the earth into an image of the planet Krypton, the Fortress of Solitude , Superman's refuge in the Arctic, is created . The extra-dimensional space in which the Eradicator finds the materials required to build the fortress is the Phantom Zone, which is used in the new Superman series.

The equipment of Superman's fortress now includes a so-called phantom zone projector, which is used, among other things, to stabilize the inter-dimensional city of Kandor and - again - to set up a safe stowage location for various villains such as B. the white Martians. In the meantime, other residents of the DC universe, in which the Superman adventures take place, have also managed to gain access to the Phantom Zone, such as the Bgzltians , the white Martians, as well as the villains Loophole , Prometheus and Queen Bee .

The phantom zone in other media

In the Superman films with Christopher Reeve , the zone is depicted as a large, flat shard of crystal . General Zod and his co-conspirators Ursa and Non are placed in a two-dimensional space on the surface of the crystal, which is whirled into space. In an interstellar explosion that shatters the crystal, they finally manage to escape. The Phantom Zone also appears in the feature film Supergirl with Helen Slater and in several episodes of the television series Smallville . In addition, the Phantom Zone appears in various episodes of the cartoon series Superman and The Justice League , including the monster Doomsday and a blend of General Zod that are banished there. In the movie The LEGO Batman Movie , villains from other stories can also be found in the Phantom Zone.