Summary
The upcomingAction Comics#1071 will seeSupermantrapped within the Phantom Zone and brought face to face with the dreadedPhantom King. The DC Universe is full of dangerous places, but few are as dangerous as the Phantom Zone. But despite the Phantom King’s intimidating moniker, he actually has a fairly goofy history.
This isn’t Superman’s first time trapped in the Phantom Zone, butthe newAction Comicscreative teamis pulling out some old characters that newer fans might not be familiar with. ThePhantom King has been around since the days of the original Clark Kent Superboy, and he’s gone through a lot of changes over the years — from the goofy Silver Age villain of Xadu to the Phantom King of the New 52.
October 16th, 2024
Variant Covers:
Wes Craig, Stevan Subic, Mark Spears
Trapped in the Phantom Zone! Investigating the ethereal prison created by his father, Superman finds himself helpless before the dreaded Phantom King. But what surprise reveal is in store for him? A clue lies in Superman’s teenage years! Plus, Supergirl finds herself on trial as she comes face-to-face with the judge of the United Planets’ highest court!
The Phantom King has been through many changes, and he’s not the only threat that Superman will have to face in the Phantom Zone, as the terrifying Aethyr will also play a major part in this upcoming story, which runs weekly starting on October 9th withAction Comics#1070.
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The Superman Villain Xadu First Appeared In 1961’sAdventure Comics#283
“The Phantom Superboy” by Robert Bernstein and George Papp
After a mysterious container lands on Earth, Superboy investigates and discovers that it’s full of incredibly dangerous Kryptonian weaponry, from a rifle that can destroy anything to a device that can enlarge anyone. But by far the most powerful device that Superboy finds is thePhantom Zone Projector. And so readers gettheir first glimpse of the villain Xadu:after Superboy puts on a very convenient helmet that explains to him exactly what the Phantom Zone Projector does, Superboy learns of the criminal Xadu, a brilliant scientist who was sent to the Phantom Zone for his experiments with suspended animation.
It’s a very brief appearance, and Xadu really isn’t in the story for anything more than an exposition dump of how thePhantom Zone Projector works, but this isn’t the last readers would see of Xadu.InSuperboy#100 by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan, Xadu and his wife escape the Phantom Zoneafter a volcanic eruption.
The duo then immediately kidnap Martha and Jonathan Kent and try to impersonate them to fool Superboy. Thankfully, Superboy recognizes the deception and quickly exiles the two Kryptonians to a planet with a red sun. Xadu returns yet again inAction Comics#434 by Cary Bates, Swan, and Vince Colletta, where he impersonates Superman’s dentist to try and brainwash the Man of Steel.
Panel fromSuperman#27 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair, and Dave Sharpe
Between impersonating Superman’s fatherandhis dentist, there’s no denying that Xadu was a ridiculously goofy Silver Age villain, but that all changed during the New 52. DC’s reboot kept Xadu’s original origin as someone who was banished to the Phantom Zone due to his research into suspended animation, but it gave him a much darker twist. As the first prisoner of the Phantom Zone, Xadu had plenty of time to learn how it worked,resulting in Xadu creating the Ecto-Suit, which allows him to physically interact with things both inside and outside the Phantom Zone.
As terrifying as the Phantom King might be, he’s not the only threat lurking in the Phantom Zone.
With his Ecto-Suit in hand and decades of planning, all Xadu wanted was revenge on the El family, as it wasJor-El who discovered the Phantom Zone that Xadu was now trapped in. When the destruction of Krypton was underway, Jor-El originally planned to flee into the Phantom Zone with his family, but this was prevented byKrypto the Super Dog, who managed to fight Xadu off. This twist also ended up saving Krypto’s life, as he was pulled into the Phantom Zone and avoided the explosion of Krypton.
From there,Xadu became a recurring villain for the Super-Family, attacking both Clark and his cousin Supergirl on separate occasions. After the New 52, Xadu was a far more intimidating villain than his Silver Age counterpart. But as terrifying as the Phantom King might be, he’s not the only threat lurking in the Phantom Zone, and it seemsSuperman will have to contendwith another major problem during his time in the Phantom Zone this fall.
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Aethyr Is the Only Native Inhabitant of the Phantom Zone
Panels fromThe Phantom Zone#4 by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, Tony DeZuniga, Carl Gafford, and Ben Oda
Also known as the Oversoul,Aethyr is a massive monster who lives within the Phantom Zoneand is the only being in the DC Universe who is actually native to the Zone. As such, Aethyr views everything in the Phantom Zone as its own. Every person in there, every object, exists only for Aethyr to consume. Aethyr is a horrifying being who is capable of devouring the souls of anyone in the Phantom Zone, which he has already tried to do to Superman on several occasions.
If Xadu gains that power, he’ll go from being the Phantom King to the Phantom God.
The solicitation forAction Comics#1073 calls out how Xadu and Aethyr are about to converge, andit’ll be up to Supermanto prevent this. Considering Aethyr is the undisputed God of the Phantom Zone, who is even capable of warping the Zone as he pleases, if Xadu gains that power, he’ll go from being the Phantom King to the Phantom God. Unlike Aethyr,Xadu has shown he isn’t content to simply stay in the Phantom Zone, and there’s no telling what he’d be able to do if he gained Aethyr’s powers of consuming souls.
The NewAction ComicsArc Begins with #1070 on October 9th, 2024
Superman has faced plenty of dangerous villains over the years, and his answer to the most dangerous is usually throwing them into the Phantom Zone. This new storyline inAction Comicswill flip this, as not only will Superman himself become trapped in the Phantom Zone, but the threat itself will be coming from there.Supermanwill have to use everything he has if he’s going to stop thePhantom Kingand Aethyr from becoming a threat that could destroy both the Zone and Earth.
Action Comics#1071is available October 16th, 2024 from DC Comics!
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
