History Main / PhantomZone

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'', the titular heroine's rocket remained trapped many years into the Zone before breaking free and landing on Earth.

* Subverted in the {{Deconstruction}} of the mecha genre that is ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''. The fights between the giant robots involve one going into the other's home dimension, but all of them are inhabited, so they cause exactly as much damage as one would imagine. Cities are destroyed, thousands of innocents are crushed, etc.

* The Room of Spirit and Time (a.k.a. Hyperbolic Time Chamber in the Creator/{{Funimation}} dub) from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' fits the trope, though a more applicable version would be the Dead Zone.

* Subverted in the {{Deconstruction}} of the mecha genre that is ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''. The fights between the giant robots cause exactly as much damage as one would imagine. Cities are destroyed, thousands of innocents are crushed, etc.

** The Zone definitely had some unpleasant properties, but it also had some ''beneficial'' effects: Superboy put [[ComicBook/{{Valor}} Mon-El]] in the Phantom Zone after he was exposed to lead (which causes fatal poisoning for members of Mon-El's race). In the Zone, Mon-El's illness did not progress and he did not age, which was good because it took until the time of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} (around a thousand years) before an antidote was discovered and he was able to leave the Zone.

* Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Franchise/{{JLA}}'' introduces the Still Zone, where the League battle the White Martians and, later, Prometheus. According to these stories, the Still Zone (or, as Prometheus calls it, the Ghost Zone), which the White Martians use in place of {{Hyperspace}}, is both the Phantom Zone and (according to the angel Zauriel) Limbo...and probably also the Stasis Zone that was at the time standing in for the Phantom Zone in [[ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} M'Onel's]] origin and the Buffer Zone that [[IntangibleMan Bgzltians phase into]]. A later story adds [[TimeMaster Epoch's]] "timeless void" and ComicBook/DCOneMillion's "tesseract space" to the list.

** In ''Comicbook/{{Convergence}}: The Adventures of Superman #1'', Superman and Supergirl have to go into the Zone. Superman warns her cousin that "The Zone's dangerous. Filled with Krypton's worst. And because our fathers built their prison, we'll be targets". As they fly over the place, Kara notes that the Zone is "Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles", and the sky changes colors constantly and suddenly. Superman states that "Nothing in the Zone makes sense".

* The Kekkai in ''[[Manga/{{X1999}} X/1999]]'' are seven magical seals spread around Tokyo to prevent the impending apocalypse. Each Kekkai is protected by a magic user belonging to the group known as "Dragons of Heaven", sworn defenders of humankind's continued existence. Another group, the seven Dragons of Earth, meanwhile, are [[GaiasVengeance protectors of Earth]] ''from'' humanity, tasked with destroying all Kekkai. When the two sides battle, one of the Dragons of Heaven must erect a Kekkai Field to remove the surrounding landscape (minus the muggles) from the regular space and into the Phantom Zone, where they can battle unimpeded. If the Dragon of Earth attacker is killed or driven off, the Kekkai Field is removed safely, undoing any structural damage that occurred inside; however, if the host Dragon of Heaven is killed instead, their Field fails and all battle damage becomes permanent, with horrifying consequences to the hapless muggles caught in it.

* Aversion: The dream world of ''Anime/{{Yumeria}}'' looks like a Phantom Zone, but as Mone's appearance in the real world at the end of the first episode attests, there's a very real connection between the two.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'''s Samaritan has access to such a dimension, but rather than use it for criminals or epic battles, he uses it as... [[MundaneUtility a storage closet]], mainly holding all the awards and plaques he regularly receives. It's also a convenient place to change his clothes when no phone booth is available.
* The Creator/GrantMorrison ''Marvel Boy'' series had the "pocket battlefield", a small cube that essentially does to physical space what the "incoming games" did to Mainframe on ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}''; impose a virtual yet tangible interactive environment on the local reality, but the twist being that said environment gives anyone in it ''except'' the designated user a major case of the heebie-jeebies, giving him an advantage over his foes.

* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Discord's home dimension...]]

* ''Series/VRTroopers'' had the Battle Grid for when they wanted to deal with [[{{Mooks}} the Skugs]] in relative privacy. For the actual MonsterOfTheWeek, the usual MO was for JB to use the Vortex command to return them to {{Cyberspace}}, which had a suspicious resemblance to ''Franchise/SuperSentai's'' BBCQuarry (''every time''). Also, in the second season, new {{Dragon}} Despera had the ability to send the whole fight to another dimension where the monster was usually stronger with a lot of crazy powers it never had in the 'real' world. "[[OnceAnEpisode Escalate to Indigo Sector]]!" (And when the hero got the upper hand ''there,'' it was time to do it ''again.'' "Escalate to the Fractal Zone!")
** In the ''Series/MetalHeroes'' franchise, the villains' use of this trope is seen in several series. Where Power Rangers/Sentai villains make monsters grow, Metal Heroes villains send the fight to a trippy alternate dimension where the monster is three times stronger. As seen in modern movies and sentai team-ups, the original was ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'' and its "Makuu Space." In ''VR Troopers, Shaider'' footage gives us the Indigo Sector and Fractal Zone. ''Spielban'' footage of the franchise [[ReimaginingTheArtifact trying it differently]] by letting the ''hero'' initiate it to protect the city gives us JB's vortex. Even B-Fighter had it, but the Gaohm Zone was used infrequently and wasn't always somewhere that ''couldn't'' exist on Earth, so Beetleborgs didn't adapt it, instead giving a different explanation for the few instances of the battle ending up somewhere bizarre.

* Invoked by the protagonists of ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan''. Nyarko even lampshades it in the first episode as a "convenient barrier", ''twice'', explaining it as "[[MediumAwareness important information]]", complete with an AsideGlance.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', Evangeline is able to create one of these with her magic, transporting herself and the victim to her special resort. Naturally, [[YearInsideHourOutside only seconds actually pass while this is happening]].

* ''Manga/KagihimeMonogatari'': The Merveille Space. [[spoiler: It becomes a plot point because Aruto is the second male to be able to enter it apart from Alternate L. Takion.]]

** ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' loves this trope. ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has, for example, the final fight against Ultimecia, in compressed time. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has an entirely trippy sequence against [[OneWingedAngel Kefka]], and of course you then have [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Exdeath.]] Even the ''player'' can join in on this, with the well-documented [[GoodBadBugs Vanish/Doom trick.]]

Hurling a bad guy into an alternate dimension is a great way to provide a bloodless "death" for a BigBad, or just set up his return because you never know when he might pop back out of that alternate dimension to ruin your day. If animated shows for young kids ever require a villain to be KilledOffForReal, they'll usually throw him in a PhantomZone and then lock the door behind him; he's not really dead, but he's also never coming back. Of course, this can also be the setup for SealedEvilInACan via a TailorMadePrison.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'''s Samaritan has access to such a dimesion, but rather than use it for criminals or epic battles, he uses it as... [[MundaneUtility a storage closet]], mainly holding all the awards and plaques he regularly receives. It's also a convenient place to change his clothes when no phone booth is available.

* The TropeNamer is the Phantom Zone (as well known as Ghost Zone, Limbo, Hyperspace, Underworld or The Land of No Return) from the Franchise/{{Superman}} comics, the barren, harsh dimension absent of any physical material and located outside of the normal space/time continuum to which Kryptonian criminals are banished.

* The Twilight in ''Literature/NightWatch''.

* A minor example in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': Rika's Renamon has the ability to talk to her in a pocket dimension where no time passes in the outside world. They can even enter it in a crowd of people, and when they get out again, nobody has noticed.

* Item World from ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series qualifies to a certain degree. While having somewhat realistic battlefields (with grass and trees and blocks and ''even graveyards'') and inhabitants (whom you fight, uh), these locations still float in colorful space and can only be quitted upon completing each ten floors or with the help of a specific item... Come on, it's up to a hundred floors of various sizes that exist ''inside'' equipable or non-equipable items! All the destuctions that take place (remember Laharl's meteor skill) are unseen and undamaging for anyone outside said worlds.

* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Another Dimension]] in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamland''.

** Subverted in the anime equivalent,the ''Reverse World''. Whatever you destroy in this world, affects the "real world" [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt greatly]].

* Shinobi Barriers in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' are a variant of this, although the extend varies. Sometimes they simply [[InvisibleToNormals prevent the from harming or being detected by bystanders]], other times they embrace this trope to the fullest as personalized pocket dimensions.

* The entire plot of ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Subspace Emissary]]'' revolves around the titular subspace.

* The boss battle with Giygas in ''Earthbound''.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZTheReturnOfCooler'', Goku and Cooler use the [[{{Teleportation}} Instant Transmission]] technique to go into the [[ExtraDimensionalShortcut Teleportation Zone]] to fight privately.

[[caption-width-right:350:When His parents built a very strange machine; it was [[AnotherDimension designed to view a world unseen]].]]

* In ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', General Zod, Ursa and Non are imprisoned in the Phantom Zone by Jor-El. In ''Film/SupermanII'', the Phantom Zone is shattered when Jor-El's son Kal-El (a.k.a. Superman) sends a terrorist hydrogen bomb into space (or one of Luthor's missiles in the Donner Cut) to explode harmlessly, and the three Kryptonian super-criminals are freed to wreak havoc upon Earth.

* Also referenced in ''Film/ManOfSteel'', in this story Zod and companions were on a ship intended for the Phantom Zone, but after the destruction of Krypton they were able to take the device designed to send them to the zone, and make it a hyperdrive.

* A slightly ironic use in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', where Franchise/{{Batman}} becomes disgruntled with Franchise/{{Superman}} after he sends Doomsday into the literal Phantom Zone. The plot really isn't trying to cover up the fact Batman's anger is treating it as giving someone an actual death sentence.
** Before that it appears numerous time throughout ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. Jor-El originally planned to use the zone to save all life on Krypton, as they would place the population of the planet into the zone and, using the ship he had built, fly to a new home and retrieve the people. Though the Kryptonian government refused this plan, Jor-El's ship still had a Phantom Zone projector which Superman would use on Earth to parole Kryptonian criminals who had served their sentence, and also to help human research progress in the area of inter-dimensional travel and observation.
* The Phantom Zone makes an appearance in an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' where a much younger Superman releases a Kryptonian boy born/created by some of his old enemies to, naturally, kill Superman. He should really stop messing with the Phantom Zone projector.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'' (the good Creator/AlanMoore version) has Looking-Glass Land, literally the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis same world visited by Alice]], but on a different continent of that planet, used to exile the criminals no normal jail could hold.

** In the ''Franchise/MetalHeroes'' franchise, the villains' use of this trope is seen in several series. Where Power Rangers/Sentai villains make monsters grow, Metal Heroes villains send the fight to a trippy alternate dimension where the monster is three times stronger. As seen in modern movies and sentai team-ups, the original was ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'' and its "Makuu Space." In ''VR Troopers, Shaider'' footage gives us the Indigo Sector and Fractal Zone. ''Spielban'' footage of the franchise [[ReimaginingTheArtifact trying it differently]] by letting the ''hero'' initiate it to protect the city gives us JB's vortex. Even B-Fighter had it, but the Gaohm Zone was used infrequently and wasn't always somewhere that ''couldn't'' exist on Earth, so Beetleborgs didn't adapt it, instead giving a different explanation for the few instances of the battle ending up somewhere bizarre.

* The Domains in VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV are labyrinths Demons construct to entrap their prey, and you go through a fair few of them on your quest. [[spoiler: The Monochrome Forest also counts.]]

May be related to the VoidBetweenTheWorlds.

** The Zone definitely had some unpleasant properties, but it also had some ''beneficial'' effects: Superboy put Mon-El in the Phantom Zone after he was exposed to lead (which causes fatal poisoning for members of Mon-El's race). In the Zone, Mon-El's illness did not progress and he did not age, which was good because it took until the time of the Legion of Super Heroes (around a thousand years) before an antidote was discovered and he was able to leave the Zone.

* In ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', General Zod, Ursa and Non are imprisoned in the Phantom Zone by Jor-El. In ''Film/SupermanII'', the Phantom Zone is shattered when Jor-El's son Kal-El (a.k.a. Superman) sends a terrorist hydrogen bomb into space to explode harmlessly, and the three Kryptonian super-criminals are freed to wreak havoc upon Earth.