History Characters / SupermanRoguesGalleryPhantomZone

->''"hey think me mad. They're not altogether wrong. But madder men than I have spoken true... And grief has come to those who would not hear."''

-->''"I am here to do what your father could not. I am here to save our world. Farewell, Kal-El. "''

-->''"A whole world. A world of people made of brittle glass and splinters. '''I am free!''' And you! You, Jor-El, are dead! Krypton is dead, and Xa-Du lives! Do you hear me, Jor-El? '''Xa-Du lives!'''"''

-->''" Superman, you're a fool to have freed me! I'm going to destroy you forever with an amazing secret weapon -- Gold Kryptonite!"''

-->''" Tedious, is she not? A family trait, I'm afraid General. I alone among the Els seem to have been unafflicted."''

''"There is much you fail to understand, Kal-El... And-- Like your ancestors who opposed me, you would sooner lash out at me... Than try to understand! "''

* AndIMustScream: This is the whole idea behind using the Phantom Zone as a punishment in the first place; the prisoners are trapped in an endless void, unable to age or die until age or die but perfectly aware of the passage of time.

[[Characters/SupermanTheCharacter Clark Kent/Kal/El/Superman]]\\

* KnifeNut: Carries a Green Kryptonite dagger for use against her fellow Kryptonians.

* BalefulPolymorph: Supergirl was once subjected to his Plant-Scourge Ray, which caused any being near her to become a plant.

** Quex-El is an innocent man who got sent to the Phantom Zone due to a miscarriage of justice. Even when an amnesiac Quex-El has a short-lived ThenLetMeBeEvil moment and tries to de-power Superman, he still forms a brief truce with Superman to save an innocent bystander.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Pre-crisis Superman used to release them when their sentences were up, but they always ended up re-offending and going back in. The only one who didn't return to crime, Quex-Ul, lost his powers and memories then ended up working at The Daily Planet, thinking he was human.

* TokenGoodTeammate:

** Quex-El is an innocent man who got sent to the Phantom Zone due to a miscarriage of justice.

A religious zealot who survives the destruction of his planet due to a force field surrounding his hometown, Argo City. He is the first person sent to the Phantom Zone after the destruction of Krypton after he accidentally dooms most of the city' s population to Kryptonite poisoning while moving the floating city away from a yellow sun due to viewing their powers as unnatural.

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Krypton had no system of capital punishment, so instead of execution, the most heinous criminals were imprisoned in the PhantomZone, a dimension without time or physical substance -- which, ironically, allowed the very worst members of Krypton's civilization to be among the few survivors of the planet's destruction. Over the years, numerous super-powered Kryptonian criminals have escaped the Zone to bedevil Superman. In addition to the ne'er-do-wells below, there are numerous less prominent Phantom Zone criminals, including Kru-El (Superman's distant cousin), Az-Rel, Nadira, Car-Vex, and Jer-Em.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Mon-El is the only good Phantom Zone resident but he's only in there because he's dying rather than being a criminal. Also, Quex-Ul in Pre-Crisis.

[[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryAToL A-L]] ([[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Alexander "Lex" Luthor]], [[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Vril Dox/Brainiac]], [[Characters/SupermanCyborgSuperman Cyborg-Superman]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], [[Characters/SupermanDoomsdayCharacter Doomsday]], ComicBook/{{Lobo}}) | [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ M-Z]] ([[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]], [[Characters/SupermanSuperboyPrime Superboy-Prime]]) | '''Phantom Zone Criminals''' ([[Characters/SupermanGeneralZod General Zod]])\\

* PhantomZonePicture: The portrayal of the Phantom zone in the movies is the TropeNamer. Though ''Film/{{Supergirl}}'' and ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' imply that the picture is just transportation to the Phantom Zone.

* DarkActionGirl: The most prominent female among the Phantom Zoners Post-Crisis, and easily one of the deadliest. In the end it takes Supergirl, Superboy, Steel, and Krypto to subdue her.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In response to an attack on New Krypton by a rogue general from one country, Ursa tries to slaughter the leaders of almost every country on Earth.

* AxCrazy: Pre-Crisis she was a completely insane serial killer.

%%* TheFundamentalist

* BreakoutVillain: Of the various New 52 Superman villains, he's proven to be by far the most durable, appearing in several other runs since then long after the era came to a close.

* HeroicSacrifice: Pre-Crisis. He threw himself into his own Gold Kryptonite trap he set up for Superman (which he had set while being controlled by Rog-Ar), losing both his powers and memory. Still later, he ended up sacrificing his life to save Superman when they were both trapped in the Zone while the Zone's evil inmates were running rampant on Earth.

* {{Aliens are Bastards}}: Most of them are criminals who have committed crimes along with other things so they get sent to the Phantom Zone as punishment for these crimes.

* AxeCrazy: Even among the Phantom Zoners, Ursa is not the poster girl for mental health week, regularly flying into rages, and sparing no one but Zod from her wrath.

* AccidentalMurder: Played With in ''Future State'' where he's on the receiving end. While Lor-Zod was killed by Bolt, the circumstances of his death were engineered by Amanda Waller, who wanted to weed out the weaker, more problematic members, of which Lor-Zod was one. Bolt shot him with a K-Spray, an aerosol Kryptonite pistol and she was aghast at what she did, claiming that she thought the shot was supposed to neutralize Lor-Zod. Waller, on the other hand [[ExactWords affirms]] that "he is neutralized. Permanently".

* MirrorCharacter: He's one for Jon Kent, being sons of two of the most notable Kryptonians in the DC Universe and who are being raised by their fathers to be the best possible successors they can be. The key difference, however, is that Jon was bought up with an ordinary lifestyle on Earth and is being raised by Superman and Lois Lane to be the former's successor whereas Lor-Zod lives in a priviledged setting with Zod and Ursa and is taught diplomacy and leadership to prepare for the occasion he becomes a GalacticConquerer like his father is.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Straight-up respects his father and is more than willing to fight for his cause, and Zod reciprocates this with fatherly pride. This is a really jarring comparison to his Post-Crisis version where his relationship with Zod is [[AbusiveParents anything]] [[ArchnemesisDad but]].

* DaddysLittleVillain: A male variant, but the basic principle is still there. Lor-Zod is very much like his father in some aspects, such as their ambition, desire to conquer and their penchant for being skilled combatants.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Straight-up respects his father and is more than willing to fight for his cause, and Zod reciprocates this with fatherly pride. This is a really jarring comparison towards his Post-Crisis version where his relationship with Zod is [[AbusiveParents anything]] [[Archnemesis but]].

->''"You can see and hear me, Superman! I, Vakox outwitted you! Now the belt will create a hyper-explosion that will blow the whole Phantom Zone into a remote universe, never to return!"''

[[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryAToL A-L]] ([[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Alexander "Lex" Luthor]], [[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], [[Characters/SupermanBrainiac Vril Dox/Brainiac]], [[Characters/SupermanCyborgSuperman Cyborg-Superman]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], ComicBook/{{Lobo}}) | [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ M-Z]] ([[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]], [[Characters/SupermanSuperboyPrime Superboy-Prime]]) | '''Phantom Zone Criminals''' ([[Characters/SupermanGeneralZod General Zod]])\\