| May 2042 | Edition nº14 |
Phantom Zone: The Prison Dimension
What is DC's Phantom Zone?
“Another dimension. The ultimate purgatory of punishment and exile. A timeless sensory deprivation tank that, in time... will drive any prisoner mad.” As described by the Eradictor. The Phantom Zone is a realm outside of the normal space and time - hence why it is described as timeless. It is also described as a membrane between the light and the dark side of the DC multiverse. Consciousness can survive here without actually having a body. It is the perfect prison, as prisoners cannot age, die, or escape. It is a place of living nightmares, literally. The Phantom Zone is Aethyr’s domain - it is quite like his mind. Sounds kind of cool, but also scary, doesn’t it?History of the Phantom Zone
The Phantom Zone has a broad history. It has existed in multiple universes so far, but the one on New Earth and the one in the Arrowverse are the most worth mentioning and will be described in this blog!The Phantom Zone on DC New Earth
In this Phantom Zone, it was just the Aethyr who was native to this place. Everything happening in the zone happens because of what Aethyr does. When human beings move here, their minds and personalities remain intact, but they cannot physically interact with others any more (physical contact and speech will be limited - telepathy will happen instead), due to them becoming immortal.
The Kryptonian scientist Jor-El discovered the Phantom Zone first. He sculptured the idea of sending criminals to this place, making Krypton the first planet to use the zone as a prison. Jor-El developed a device to send and retrieve people from the Phantom Zone. It worked simple, having a black button and a white button - one to send and one to retrieve. The first prisoner Krypton exiled to the zone was Jax-Ur, a colleague of Jor-El, nonetheless. He was the one responsible for the destruction of Krypton’s moon (Wegthor) and with that the deaths of the people living on this moon. It felt like a fitting punishment for Jax-Ur. But he wasn’t the only one sent, because soon enough Krypton’s worst criminals got sent toward him too.When it was discovered that Krypton was geologically unstable, Jor-El suggested bringing the entire population of Krypton toward the Phantom Zone. However, this plan never went through and Krypton exploded anyway. Years later, the Kryptonians in the Phantom Zone learned about this; by then they were making plans to escape and were led by General Zod. He let them to Earth, where they fought Kal-El.
The Phantom Zone in DCs Arrowverse
Within the Arrowverse, the Phant Zome is a pocket dimension that serves as an interdimensional prison as well. For example, the Zulian Maleterians were banished to this Phantom Zone for conspiring to take over various planets. They became the new rulesr of this dimension and soon became known as the Phantoms. All Kryptonian prisoners from Fort Rozz as well as some other criminals send by the Green Martians were exiled toward the Phantom Zone too.
In this universe, the exposion of Krypton happened as well. Zor-El and Alura tried to send their daughter, Kara, to Earth during this explosion to save her, but instead she ended up in the Phantom Zone together with Zor-El. Only 24 years later, Kara fell to Earth with many prisoners of the Phantom Zone. Lex Luthor later tried to trap Kara in the Phantom Zone again. He succeeded in this, but later Kara and Zor- El were released by the Superfriends.