Comic Book / The Phantom Zone

The Phantom Zone is a Superman limited four-issue-long series published in 1982, penned by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Gene Colan.

Charlie Kweskill, who used to be known as the Kryptonian criminal Quex-Ul before losing his memory and powers, is living a peaceful life thanks to Clark Kent arranging a job for him in the Daily Planet. However, he has been recently plagued for terrible visions and nightmares of a strange alien world full of natural and manmade marvels... and terrible criminals whose misdeeds were punished by exiling them in a pocket dimension.

Meanwhile, the Phantom Zoner inmates, led by General Dru-Zod, exploit the fact that Charlie is a former Phantom Zoner to breach into his mental defenses and influence him into stealing electronical components to assemble a makeshift Phantom Zone Projector. When attempting to stop him, Superman is sent into the Zone together with Charlie, whereas Zod and his band are released.

Now the Phantom Zoners are free to carry out General Zod's plan to annihilate Superman's adoptive people, and only a few heroes -Supergirl, Batman, Wonder Woman...- are available to defend Earth. Meanwhile, Superman and his friend try to make their way back to the physical world by travelling across several nightmarish alternate dimensions until confronting the Aethyr, the cosmic horror who created the Zone.

The Phantom Zone was the first story featuring the Zoners to be published after the release of Superman II, and to be affected by Terence Stamp's iconic performance. For the first time since the 60's, General Zod is the Zoners' leader instead of Jax-Ur's henchman. As for Jax-Ur, who used to be mainly a (mad) scientist, is now a strongman and Zod's enforcer, filling Non's role in Superman II.

Steve Gerber wrote an epilogue -of questionable canonicity- four years later in DC Comics Presents #97, the very last Pre-Crisis Superman story (due to Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? being declared an alternate universe).

Although this storyline became non-canon after Crisis on Infinite Earths, some concepts like the Aethyr were reused later by stories such like Escape from the Phantom Zone.

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The Phantom Tropes:

• Acid-Trip Dimension: The Phantom Zone is actually the physical manifestation of the mind of an Eldritch Abomination. As long as you don't probe about too deep in the Zone, it's a perfectly safe place, albeit very barren; but Heaven help you if you deliberately attract the thing's attention.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: After escaping from the Zone, the Phantom Zoners break into Superman's Fortress of Solitude, using its own key as a giant battering ram, destroy anything could be used to rescue Superman, and loot the base.
  While Superman endeavors to explain the situation, Zod and his band prepare to invade his arctic sanctum...
• Amnesiac Dissonance: The Phantom Zoners' psychic manipulations force Charlie Kweskill to remember that he used to be a Kryptonian criminal known as Quex-Ul before losing his memory and becoming the Daily Planet's mousey layout designer.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: Back on Krypton, Quex-Ul was framed for poaching an endangered species. After losing his memory, he became a meek, quiet and easily scared person who would not hurt a fly.
• Angry Collar Grab: Superman rudely and roughly grabs the collar of Thul-Kar's robe as asking whether the wizard will answer his questions willingly or will need to have them beaten out of him.
• Another Dimension: Superman and his friend Quex-Ul travel through several parallel dimensions while making their way back to Earth.
• Apocalypse Anarchy: Believing that the world is about to be ravaged by nuclear war, a violent riot breaks out in Gotham City, complete with gangs of looters breaking into stores and stealing anything.
  Supergirl: "He'll think twice before he steals his next toaster...!"
  Batman: "Possibly— But then he'll steal it, anyway! The world might've ended tonight...and look how he chose to celebrate its survival!"
• Apocalypse How: Wegthor, one of the two moons of Krypton, was destroyed by an experimental missile. Five hundred colonists were killed by the explosion.
  The guidance system fails. The missile hurtles on past its target towards Wegthor, one of the Moons of Krypton, and its contingent of intrepid colonists...none of whom will survive the nuclear blast! In the first searing flash of heat, 500 men and women are reduced to cinder— a microsecond before the decimation of Wegthor itself!
• Bash Brothers: Superman and Supergirl finally are reunited when they spot and attack the Zoners' space orbital cannon simultaneously. Both cousins swiftly turn the cannon into space debris and make quick work of most of Zoners by fighting together efficiently.
  While the Emerald Gladiator swears his solemn oath far below, Superman unleashes his incomparable fury on Aethyr's accomplices in the murder of Charlie Kweskill! Kru-El becomes a living bludgeon, swung with unimaginable force against Jax-Ur! The blow leaves Kru-El unconscious— and sends Jax-Ur careening through space—- in the general direction of Supergirl and a punched-out Prof. Va-Kox. The villains collide— head-on. Then, they just float.
• Big Bad: General Zod engineers another ploy to escape from the Phantom Zone and take revenge on Superman and his adoptive world.
• Big Damn Heroes: Wonder Woman has just destroyed several nuclear missiles when she spots another barrage heading towards her way. Diana is despairing that not even she can stop so many flying threats alone when Supergirl comes along.
  Wonder Woman: "A barrage of them! Even I can't hope to stop them alone—!"
  Supergirl: "So who says you're alone?"
  Wonder Woman: "Supergirl! Thank Hera—!"
• Big "NO!": Superman yells a loud "NO!!" when he realizes that Charlie is being mind-controlled into building a device to free the Kryptonian criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone.
• Bring It: When a Metropolis SWAT team threatens to open fire at Az-Rel and Nadira if they do not surrender, Az-Rel nonchalantly tells them to shoot.
  SWAT member: "I said "Freeze", screwballs, or we'll blow your heads off!"
  Az-Rel: "Then blow."
• Bullying a Dragon: A riot is caused in Gotham City by the threat of a nuclear war. As Batman is stopping a group of looters, one thug pulls out a knife and points it at him. Batman is not impressed -or amused-, and he easily slaps the man away.
  Looter: "Batman—!! L-Lemme go— I mean it— Or I'll cut ya—!"
  Batman: "Your hand is shaking, scum."
• Bus Full of Innocents: Kru-El, Va-Kox and Jax-Ur steal Hal Jordan's Power Battery. When Green Lantern gives chase, they knock over a transport truck driving down the freeway. Hal rushes to prevent more fatal car crashes, and Jax-Ur exploits his distraction by slamming him into the road.
• By the Hair: Jax-Ur takes advantage of Supergirl being focused on fighting Kru-El off to grab her hair and slam her through a wall.
• Complexity Addiction: The Phantom Zoners manage to knock Supergirl out, but instead of picking one weapon of the Fortress' armory and shooting her unconscious self, they drop her in the Disintegration Pit and leave. Hence, they are not around to see Supergirl awakening right before sinking into the radioactive miasma, clinging to the pit's walls and climbing up and out of the cauldron. Fortunately for Supergirl, since she is not in a condition to fight anybody.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Zigzagged. Supergirl is curbstomped by three Zoners. When Superman and Supergirl fight five Zoners, though, they defeat three of them and force Zod and Faora to run away.
• Continuity Nod:
  • A footnote remembers readers that Superman went through a sun-shaped dimensional portal in World's Finest (1941) #198.
  • The Fortress of Solitude's Disintegration Pit (also called Atomic Cauldron) was seen for the first time in Action Comics #402.
  • One of the priestesses of the Temple of the Crimson Sun brings up Superman's romance with Lyla Ler-Ol in Superman's Return to Krypton.
• Continuity Porn: The first issue includes a long flashback sequence which retells the history of the Phantom Zone and its inmates since their first appearance in Adventure Comics #283: The Phantom Superboy (1961), including obscure characters who had been Comic Book Limboed after their first appearance like Shyla Kor-Onn (Strangers at the Heart's Core) and Jer-Em (The Untold Story of Argo City).
• Convection, Schmonvection: Variant. Supergirl is thrown into the Disintegration Pit, a cauldron fueled by radioactive flames. Kara is hurt and weakened by the searing radiation, but she survives by not touching the flames.
• Cool Gate: Superman and Quex-Ul go through several dimensional portals through their journey: an energy wall surrounding the Phantom Zone, a sun which works as a gate when it is glowing yellow, a whirlpool, the flames of a hearth...
• The Coup: Believing that Krypton has become ripe for conquest after experiencing long years of peace, Dru-Zod raises a clone army and launches a coup. He is defeated, arrested and sent into the Phantom Zone.
• Crapsaccharine World: Pre-Crisis Krypton was full of wonders but by no means it was a utopia. Super-advanced science entailed that evil, wicked people had better, more powerful tools to commit more spectacular crimes. And the Science Council deemed that throwing criminals into a nightmare dimension was more humane than killing them or rocketing them into space.
  "What's wrong with these people?" Charlie wonders— meaning, how can a civilization so outwardly advanced produce such a collection of fiends? That question is no longer asked of Krypton. The dark side of the human heart is taken for granted— and its transgressions punished.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Jer-Em tries to talk Az-Rel and Nadira out of leaving Charlie Kweskill's apartment, reasoning that they were meant to serve time in the Phantom Zone; and defying Rao's will by invading Superman's cherished Earth is a bad idea. Both Kryptonian criminals dismiss his words as superstitious nonsense of a crazy doomsayer, though, and Jer-Em points out that it is possible to be crazy and right.
  Jer-Em: They 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.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Batman intercepts a looter, the crook actually pulls out and waves a knife in front of his face. Batman comments his hand is shaking and swiftly decks him.
  [Batman's] words are spoken softly, and with contempt. Then, a single blow fractures the man's jaw...disarms him...and sends him sprawling.
• Death Trap: The Phantom Zoners decide to get rid of Supergirl by tossing her into the Disintegration Pit, a radioactive cauldron used by Superman to disintegrate anything dangerous he finds.
• De-Power Zone: Superman cannot use any of his powers in the dimension located between the Phantom Zone and the solid world.
• Designated Girl Fight: Superman fights most of Zoners, except for Faora, who is defeated by Supergirl.
• The Dog Bites Back: Az-Rel and Nadira spot Zod and Faora knocking skyscrapers down and decide to pay them back for mistreating them. Nadira's psychic attack causes Zod to crash into a truck, and Az-Rel flames burn Faora's face.
  Nadira: "The General and Faora are having a tantrum."
  Az-Rel: "Something must have upset their grand plan."
  Nadira: "Why should we care?"
  Az-Rel: "Because now we can repay their treatment of us."
• Dream Reality Check: Charlie Kweskill suddenly wakes up from a long nightmare and finds himself in a dark room full of machines. Charlie quickly pinches his left hand to check if he is dreaming or not.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: The Phantom Zoners cause Charlie Kweskill to dream events of Krypton's past; specifically, the Phantom Zoners' lives before being convicted and thrown into their dimension-prison.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Wegthor, one of the moons of Krypton, blew up when it was hit by a missile launched by Jax-Ur. Jax-Ur intended to intercept a meteor, but the guidance system failed, and his missile hit the wrong target.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Aethyr is an ancient and supremely powerful being whose will can create and reshape universes at whim. Other than its crystalline core, its shape cannot be understood by mortal minds.
• Eldritch Location: Superman and Quex-Ul cross through several dimensions created and fully controlled by the ancient, reality-warping and utterly alien mind of the Aethyr. So, a sun glowing in the sky leads them to the stairs of a temple. There, they are greeted by priestesses whose heads turn into reflections of Superman and Quex-Ul's worst traumas before exploding. Both Kryptonians are thrown into a whirlpool and tossed in front of the gates of a castle surrounded by clouds...
• Evil Is Petty: When the Phantom Zoners get out of the Zone, most of them get to carry forward General Zod's grand revenge scheme. Az-Rel and Nadira, though, leave the band in favor of smuggling bystanders.
• Evil Overlooker: The first issue's cover features the heads of Dru-Zod, Va-Kox, Az-Rel and other Phantom Zoners grinning down on Superman and other characters.
• Evil Plan: General Dru-Zod gathers the Phantom Zoners to telepathically influence Charlie Kweskill into stealing several electromechanical components, with which building a Phantom Zone Projector. After escaping from the Zone, Zod and his men intend to take revenge on Superman by exterminating mankind (via provoking a nuclear war) and sending Earth into the Phantom Zone.
• The Executioner: Prisoners are beamed into the Phantom Zone (sometimes for eternity) by Cha-Kor, a big man with a black hood. The flashbacks in the epilogue flesh him out more. His sister was one of the people Jax-Ur killed, he feels little sympathy for any of the Phantom Zone prisoners besides his former commanding officer Zod (although not enough to approve of Zod's coup) and wouldn’t mind just killing them, and he sometimes wonders if Jor-El (who he respects) is right about the approaching doom of their civilization.
• Facial Horror:
  • Thul-Kar's face is half-skinned, half-melted, a grim reminder of what happened when he challenged the Aethyr.
  • Faora's face and hair are burned and singed, respectively, by Az-Rel's flames.
• Failed a Spot Check: Clark Kent hears that his co-worker Charlie Kweskill has vanished after falling sick. Since Charlie used to be his enemy Quex-Ul before losing his memory, Superman decides to check on him. His X-Ray Vision finds nothing unusual in Charlie's apartment so Superman leaves, but he is unable to shake the feeling he has missed something very important. As General Zod smugly points out, Superman was so worried about and focused on finding Charlie that he did not notice the latter's lead-lined closet, which should have led him to wonder why Charlie owned it, and whether his ex-enemy was hiding something from him.
  Superman: Nothing suspicious. No sign of Charlie. And I feel like a peeping tom. I suppose a man's entitled not to be home when I pay a call— but I can't shake the feeling I missed something. Something I'll regret missing later on.
  Dru-Zod: I told you, Kru-El— He never noticed! He was in a hurry— and so his concern was focused on Quex-Ul— his health, his safety— not his lead-lined closet and the contents thereof.
• Fainting: Charlie Kweskill passes out in exhaustion caused by recurring nightmares and visions making him sleepless and restless. His boss Perry White, who was lecturing him angrily, becomes concerned enough to get him in a cab to his apartment and give him a day off.
• False Flag Operation: Per General Zod's instructions, the Zoners destroy all of Earth's communications and espionage satellites, prompting both Americans and Russians to believe they are being attacked by each other and retaliate by launching their nukes.
• Flaw Exploitation: Dru-Zod takes advantage of Superman's trustfulness to mind-control his friend Charlie Kweskill into stealing electronic components without Superman suspecting anything.
  Dru-Zod: And it never occurred to him to connect "Charlie" with the thefts. His mind does not work that way. Superman is highly intelligent, very clever, but not by nature mistrusting. He knows Charlie as a diligent worker with a problem— not as a master thief. And by the time he learns the truth— it will be too late— for him— and all of Earth.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: After flying into the Aethyr's core, Superman and Quex-Ul are intercepted by a giant, purple bat-like dragon head. Superman believes he has found the Aethyr, but the dragon's head explains the very universe where they have gone into is the Aethyr. Superman is addressing to a mere interface which he can understand and talk to.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Supergirl stabs her forefinger at Zod as demanding answers when he smugly refuses to reveal why her cousin is missing.
• Good Is Not Soft: When Zod smugly reminds Superman of his code against killing, Superman retorts his code says nothing against delivering brutal beatdowns to scum like Zod himself.
  Superman: "He's dead, Zod. You're going to have to pay for that."
  Zod: "Forgive my not trembling, Kal-El... But what am I to fear, in light of your moronic code against killing?"
  Superman: "You're right, Zod! I can't take your life— much as I'm tempted! But my code does not say a damn thing— about not battering you to within an inch of it!! Murderer!!" (thinking) And there are moments... When I think I should chuck that code altogether...!
• Good Morning, Crono: In the first page, Charlie Kweskill, the story's tritagonist, is awoken up by his chief Perry White's shouting.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: At the climatic final battle, Superman grabs Kru-El by the ankles and slams him against Jax-Ur.
• Hanging by the Fingers: Supergirl stops herself from falling right into the Disintegration Pit's radioactive flames by clinging to the cauldron's wall. Her fingers rip into the metal and tear a long gash in the shaft as she falls, but she manages to slow down her descent.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When they finally confront the Aethyr, Quex-Ul realizes that the Aethyr kept him around because his presence keeps Superman distracted and unfocused. So Quex-Ul attacks the Aethyr head-on, so it destroys him, and Superman can fight freely.
• The Homeward Journey: Superman and Quex-Ul being in a remote parallel dimension and trying to return home by traveling through several dimensions is one of the main subplots.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Az-Rel and Nadira were caught when the victim whom they ambushed and robbed turned out to be a police decoy carrying a stun-grenade.
  • The Phantom Zoners hurl the JLA Watchtower far from Earth in order to neutralize the League, and they get to build a giant space cannon to send Earth into the Phantom Zone. However, the remainder Leaguers warn Supergirl something has happened to the Satellite, prompting Kara to use her super-vision to check on the Watchtower. Whereupon she discovers the Zoners' massive weapon, whose existence the Earth's protectors were not aware of.
• Hoist Hero over Head: During one battle, Jax-Ur lifts Kara Zor-El before throwing her into a wall.
• Hurl It into the Sun:
  • Krypton Science Council's method to get rid of anything dangerous (lawbreakers, Kru-El's forbidden weapons, the Phantom Zone Projector...) was to rocket it into space.
  • Kru-El throws the JLA Watchtower far from the planet to prevent the Leaguers from interfering with their scheme.
• Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The Phantom Zone is a complete whiteness in which you can get lost forever. And it's the physical manifestation of the mind of an Eldritch Abomination. A perfectly safe place unless you go trying to attract the creature's attention.
• I Control My Minions Through...: General Dru-Zod becomes the leader of the Phantom Zoners on the basis that he is the only one of them who has actual military training and knows how to strategize and conduct a war.
• In the Back: Kru-El catches Supergirl off guard by lunging at her from behind.
• I Shall Taunt You: Supergirl enjoys taunting and mocking Faora before engaging with her and defeating her decisively.
  Faora Hu-Ul: "This planet... shall fall... before my might...!"
  Supergirl: "You think so, Faora— with those looks and no personality?"
  Faora Hu-Ul: "Supergirl!! Then this attack upon my beauty was your doing! I shall scratch your eyes out for this, you—"
  Supergirl: "Save the threats for another night, Sweetcheeks."
• Informed Flaw: One panel in the opening scene goes over a Long List of Phantom Zone prisoners who appear in earlier comics but remain offscreen in this one. They are described as a “legion of infamy”, each responsible for “heinous” crimes. However, some of them them are only guilty of lesser crimes like theft (Ak-Var and Tra-Gob) or forbidden scientific experiments that didn’t hurt anyone (Vorb-Un), and several of them (including the aforementioned three) were even paroled and allowed to live in Kandor prior to this story. Possibly justified, since their crimes may be considered worse by the standards of the more advanced Kryptonian society, and the Phantom Zone inmates giving Quex-El dreams about the prisoners may not care about that point.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Perry quickly switches from shouting he will have Charlie's head on a platter if he does not get his assignment done soon to insisting that his employee takes one day off when Charlie shows signs of being sick.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: As fighting the Phantom Zoners, Supergirl gets slammed into a tachyon cannon. The ensuing explosion gets her dazed but still conscious…until Zod's boot stomping her head causes her to lose consciousness.
• Kill Sat: The Zoners build a giant space cannon-like Projector, powered by Green Lantern's power battery, to send Earth into the Phantom Zone.
• Last of His Kind: Thul-Kar is the last of the Wizards of Juru. Born in an uncharted Kryptonian valley, Thul-Kar's race studied magic and practiced secret rituals until they were blown up together with Krypton. Only Thul-Kar survived because he heeded Jor-El's warnings and travelled into the Phantom Zone of his own volition.
• Legion of Doom: General Zod assembles all of the remaining Phantom Zoners (some were pardoned in earlier comics) to carry out his scheme against Superman and Earth.
• Lovely Angels: The nuclear holocaust schemed by General Zod is averted thanks to Supergirl and Wonder Woman working together to destroy all nuclear warheads.
  "In moments the combined might of the two most powerful women on Earth reduces the missiles to a hail of flaming metal that sizzles and sinks into the icy strait below!"
• Man on Fire: Az-Rel is burned to ashes by his own flames when Nadira's psychic attack causes him to lose control of his powers.
  For a single, shimmering instant, he is beautiful to behold— like a man and a star made one. Then he is gone— consumed by his own flames. The light fades. Only the stench of cauterized flesh remains.
• Men of Sherwood:
  • The Kryptonian Science Police is made up of unnamed officers who nonetheless efficiently arrest lots of the most dangerous criminals their planet has seen without much difficulty (they use a ray gun to knock Faora unconscious from a ship when she beats anyone who fights her hand-to-hand, they use a decoy and stun grenade on the psychic thieves Az-Rep and Nadira, and they fight off giant mutants while arresting Va-Kox).
  • The Defense Corps has gone decades without fighting a war, but is still able to soundly defeat Zod and his army of robots during their attempted coup.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: After grabbing Supergirl by the hair, Jax-Ur lifts and slams down Kara repeatedly before smashing her through a wall.
• Mistaken for Junkie: When Charlie Kweskill suddenly passes out on the floor, Perry White wonders whether he might have been drinking excessively, but Charlie's co-workers shoot the idea down. Charlie never drinks.
• Mugging the Monster: Unaware that they are Kryptonians, a Metropolis Police SWAT team gets killed off when trying to arrest Az-Rel and Nadira, whose skin deflects their bullets.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lara foiled the Phantom Zoners' attempt to telepathically influence her husband Jor-El into releasing them, so ensuring they would survive Krypton and would plague her son, niece and the Earth people for years to come.
• No Sympathy: Az-Rel and Nadira care for nobody other than themselves. When Mon-El is explaining he cannot get out of their dimensional prison because he would die from lead poisoning, both Zoners bluntly tell him they could not possibly care less.
  Nadira: He shields his thoughts from no one. His sympathies are with the tactile world— and with Superman!
  Mon-El: Should I apologize for that, Nadira? As a youth, Superman placed me in the Zone to save my life. I'm affected by lead the way Kryptonite would affect you. I can never leave the Zone— until a cure is found!
  Nadira: Look elsewhere for pity, Mon-El...
  Az-Rel: ...And for information. You disgust us.
• Not Enough to Bury: The Phantom Zoners toss an unconscious Supergirl into the Fortress's Disintegration Pit, expecting her to burn to ashes.
  General Zod: We shall deposit her in the Disintegration Pit! Its radioactive Kryptonian fuel will complete the work begun by us! Supergirl shall be nothing more than a memory...and a handful of atomic ash.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Superman is absolutely furious when he finally faces Zod, what with having gone through several nightmarish parallel dimensions, having lost a friend, and seeing the Zoners trying to send Earth into the Twilight Dimension. Zod being smug about it is the last straw, and Superman delivers a real battering.
• Nuke 'em: Rather than verifying if they are indeed under attack when their satellites are shut down, both Americans and Russians opt for launching their warheads immediately.
• Pensieve Flashback: Charlie Kweskill is walked through a series of visions narrating the past of Krypton, the discovery of the Phantom Zone, the imprisonment of its inmates -including him-, and finally Krypton's explosive demise.
• People Jars: When Kryptonian lawmen barge into Faora Hu-Ul's farm to ascertain what happened to twenty-three persons who disappeared after visiting her farm, they find her surviving victims naked and hanging upside-down inside membranous sacs— filled with a strange glowing preservative gas.
• The Place: This storyline is named after the Hell dimension where Kryptonians dumped their worst criminals.
• Playing with Fire: Az-Rel is a pyrokinetic who can create fire in anywhere.
  Az-Rel is a pirotic. He can start fires with his thoughts. Anywhere. Even in the snow.
• Pocket Dimension: Beyond the energy wall circling the Phantom Zone there are several small, weird and half-empty universes. Superman and Charlie travelled through a storm-battered rocky place, inhabited by weird flying carnivorous creatures, a temple inhabited by headless priestesses, a castle surrounded by clouds... Superman eventually discovers those worlds are so strange because they were spawned and warped by the Aethyr's ever-changing will.
• Precision F-Strike: When Zod smugly reminds Superman that he can't kill him, Superman angrily replies: "But my code does not say a damn thing— about not battering you to within an inch of it!!"
• Psychic Strangle: Nadira's specialty. Her form of psychokinesis can invade her victims' nervous system and cause them to choke.
• Put Their Heads Together: Variant. Superman and Supergirl punch Jax-Ur and Va-Kox simultaneously, and both villains' heads collide with each other.
• Ramming Always Works: Supergirl neutralizes three nuclear warheads by crashing through them.
  But even as Superman's heart sinks in despair... the Girl of Steel swoops from the clouds towards the roaring ICBM's...! Like a human missile, her body lances through the bombs' steel casing, exploding their liquid oxygen fuel...and short-circuiting the arming-mechanisms— rendering the deadly warheads useless!
• Regained Memories Sequence: After going back home, Charlie Kweskill is put through a series of visions which remind him that he used to be a Kryptonian scientist and criminal known as Quex-Ul. Nonetheless, Charlie convinces himself he is merely getting insane.
• Revenge: General Zod concocts a complex scheme to take revenge on Superman for harming Earth and its inhabitants.
• Revenge by Proxy: Rather than conquering Earth, Zod wants to dump the planet into the Phantom Zone after wiping out its inhabitants, only because they are Superman and Supergirl's adoptive people.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Thul-Kar, the last of the Wizards of Juru, wears purple robes and a similarly purple, horned, pointy hat.
• Spanner in the Works: Dru-Zod's ploy to deceive USA and the Soviet Union into nuking each other fails because he had not counted on Supergirl and Wonder Woman intercepting and destroying all missiles.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Thanks to Superman II bolstering his popularity, General Dru-Zod, who had spent two decades serving as Jax-Ur's lackey, becomes the Phantom Zoners' leader from this point on.
• Super Window Jump: In the beginning, Superman flies through a closed window to reach Charlie Kweskill.
• Take Over the World: Dru-Zod intends to conquer the universe after getting out of the Zone.
  Dru-Zod: The Earth— The very universe itself— is ours for the taking!
• Talk to the Fist: When two Kryptonian policemen tried to take Faora into custody, she kicked one of them in the mouth before he was done talking.
  Kryptonian Cop: Halt— In the name of— Unngh
  Faora-Hu-Ul: I don't care to be shouted at, lawman! And I don't care to halt, either!
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Although they agree to work together, General Dru-Zod and Faora Hu-Ul- cannot stand each other at all. Zod does not tolerate insubordination, and Faora refuses to follow a male's orders.
  General Dru-Zod: I command this operation— and will tolerate nothing that hinders its objective!
  Faora Hu-Ul: Nor shall I long tolerate Zod's arrogance. I am not his drone.
• Teleport Gun: General Zod and his band build a giant cannnon to teleport the whole Earth into another dimension.
• Tempting Fate: When Superman and Zod finally square off, the latter asks why he should fear someone who refuses to kill his adversary. Superman proceeds to deliver a brutal beatdown.
• Terms of Endangerment: Supergirl mockingly calls Faora Hu-Ul "Sweetcheeks" before punching her out.
• There Was a Door: When Superman's X-Ray Vision informs him that Charlie is assembling a Projector, he smashes himself through his friend's house wall to stop him.
• The Teetotaler: When Charlie Kweskill passes out on the office's floor, Perry White wonders if he might be lapsing into an alcoholic coma, but his co-workers find it unlikely: Charlie hardly samples something stronger than herbal tea.
• Third-Person Flashback: During the initial flashback sequence, Charlie sees other Phantom Zoners' memories. Justified, since they were projecting them into his mind.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Superman confronts General Zod, who laughs that Kal-El won't kill him. Superman, though, replies with "I can't take your life, much as I'm tempted. But my code doesn't say a damn thing about not battering you to within an inch of it, murderer". Once Zod is out cold for a long, long time, Superman, still holding him by the tunic, thinks "And there are times I've considered chucking that code entirely."
• Thrown Down a Well: Jor-El discovered the Phantom Zone; and believing exile in a pocket dimension was more humane and cheaper of a punishment than killing or blasting criminals off into space, he built the Phantom Zone Projector to send them into the Zone. Nonetheless, he was not aware of how unpleasant the Zone might be.
  Jor-El: I am about to propose a more humane, less costly, yet equally effective method of criminal confinement...in the Phantom Zone.
  Councilor: Whatever that is, proceed, Jor-El. [...] By Rao!! She's vanishing—into nothingness!!
  Jor-El: No, gentlemen—into another dimension. Lara is with us in this room, at this moment. She hears every word we speak, sees everything we do. [...] She is a wraith, unable to affect the material world in any manner. Nor can it affect her. In the Phantom Zone, she feels no hunger, requires no sleep— does not age. She can neither touch nor be touched. She can only think— as our criminals will be forced to contemplate the folly of her crimes.
• Tomato in the Mirror: As being forced to watch visions of Krypton, Charlie Kweskill notices Quex-Ul, one of the criminals sentenced to the Phantom Zone, looks right like him. Throughout his and Superman's travels, he remembers he is a Kryptonian.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Jax-Ur was never good, but he was not a sadistic, either. Now he enjoys snapping bones and slamming people through walls.
• Torture Cellar: Faora's farm at the Kryptonian grasslands of Alezar hid a cellar where Faora kept her victims until she grew bored of torturing them, whereupon she killed them off. She murdered twenty-three persons before getting caught.
• The Unapologetic: Jax-Ur did not intend to blow up one moon and kill hundreds of persons, but he was utterly unrepentant about his tragic mistake when he was taken into custody.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway:
  • Deconstructed. Renegade scientist Jax-Ur decided to test his new guidance system by launching a missile with an explosive payload into space. Jax-Ur meant to destroy a meteorite, but the guidance system failed, and his missile destroyed an inhabited moon instead, incinerating five hundred persons.
  • Jax-Ur mind-controls Quex-Ul into building a makeshift Phantom Zone Projector using Earth's crude materials. The homemade device blows up when Quex-Ul presses the power button, but it successfully pulls the Zoners out of the Zone... and Superman and Quex-Ul into it.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A drunkard slumped against a wall sees a brunette girl dashing into his alley, changing into a blonde super-hero right in front of him and flying off, and her changing hair color is the only thing he considers worth of commenting on.
• Virtue Is Weakness:
  • General Zod believed he could carry out a successful takeover because a desire for peace and fellowship had surely made Kryptonians weak and pliable. He discovers his error when his army is crushed after their initial surprise assault.
  • Zod believes he should not be afraid of Superman because Kal-El is not a killer. Superman proceeds to punch him over and again.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Before sending Zod back into the Zone, Superman remarks his latest scheme has only resulted in defeat, humiliation and dead people. Superman asks if it was worth of it, and Zod answers a resounding "Yes".
  Superman: "It's back to the Zone, Zod— to the twilight where you belong. Was it worth all those lives— just for this?"
  General Zod: "To be free? To conquer?? That would be worth those lives and a billion more! And yours will be among them, Kal-El!!"
• We Have Become Complacent: Subverted. Dru-Zod thought he could raise an army and take over Krypton because decades of peace had turned people soft and incapable. He was wrong.
  "But like many before him— and since— the General mistook peace for complacency, and mercy for lack of resolve. Now, as Krypton defends its tradition of tranquility, Zod discovers his error...
• We Will Meet Again: Before being beamed back into the Zone, Zod swears he will escape again to attack Superman and Earth.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Mon-El is never seen again (in this story) after unsuccessfully trying to find someone to help oppose Zod before the mass escape. Many Phantom Zone inmates who appeared in past issues while serving long sentences and didn't get pardons, like Cha-Mel, Gor-Nu, and Bal-Gra, are mentioned a few times but never appear during either the escape or the epilogue (where the remaining Phantom Zone residents are trapped in a crystal). Gra-Mo (the last prisoner sent into space in a rocket before the invention of the Phantom Zone, which is shown in a flashback in this comic) is also absent, even though an earlier comic has him sent to the Phantom Zone after his rocket reaches Earth and he fights Superman.
• You Talk Too Much!: Upon finding out the Phantom Zoners have invaded the Fortress of Solitude, Supergirl demands answers from General Zod. Suddenly, Kru-El lunges at her from behind, complaining that she talks too much.
  Supergirl: Let's forgo the posturing, Zod. How did you escape the Phantom Zone? What is it you think you're commanding? And where's Superman?
  Kru-El: Tedious is she not? A family trait, I'm afraid, General.
• You Wake Up in a Room: When Charlie Kweskill wakes up from his nightmare, he finds himself in a room inside S.T.A.R. Laboratories, with no memory of how or why he got there.

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