The Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961), and was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp. It was frequently used in the Superman comics before the continuity was rebooted in the 1980s, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and has appeared occasionally since.

The Phantom Zone was discovered by Jor-El and used on the planet Krypton as a method of imprisoning criminals. Previously, criminals were punished by being sealed into capsules and rocketed into orbit in suspended animation with crystals attached to their foreheads to slowly erase their criminal tendencies; Klax-Ar was one criminal who received this punishment but managed to escape. Gra-Mo was the last to suffer the punishment, for it was then abolished in favour of the Phantom Zone, which was considered a more humane and less costly punishment, but just as effective.

The Phantom Zone criminals first appeared in Adventure Comics (Superboy stories), and soon began appearing in Superman stories. The inmates of the Phantom Zone reside in a featureless state of existence from which they can observe, but cannot interact with, the regular universe. Inmates do not age or require sustenance in the Phantom Zone; furthermore, they are telepathic and mutually insubstantial.

As such, they are able to survive the destruction of Krypton and focus their attention on Earth, as most of the surviving Kryptonians now reside there. Most have a particular grudge against Superman because his father created the method of their damnation. When they manage to escape, they usually engage in random destruction, particularly easy to them since, on Earth, each has the same powers of Superman.

Nevertheless, Superman periodically released Phantom Zone prisoners whose original sentences had been completed, and these fortunately tended to be relatively repentant criminals. Throughout the Silver Age of Comics, Superman meets many residents of the Phantom Zone:

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