Warning: Spoilers for Action Comics #1081
Despite Superman‘s altruistic heroism on Earth, his home planet of Krypton isn’t known for being quite as merciful as he is. Instead, Krypton is infamous for subjecting its criminals to torment in the Phantom Zone dimension, which has long been thought to be the DC Universe’s worst punishment. However, a new form of Kryptonian torture has been revealed, as Superman is faced with the true darkest punishment in DC lore.
Action Comics #1081 by Mark Waid, Clayton Henry, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe opens with Xa-Du, the Phantom King, ambushing Superman and his allies. They find themselves imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, and Xa-Du discusses how he’s spent millennia plotting his revenge against the Man of Steel. In that time, he’s concocted the perfect way to kill Superman via a death machine.
Fueled by the hatred of the Phantom Zone’s prisoners, the device Xa-Du has prepared in order to eliminate his enemies is the ultimate anti-Superman weapon, and it has the power to unleash the most grim fate imaginable for a Kryptonian.
Superman Faces a Worse Torment Than Krypton’s Phantom Zone
The Phantom King Threatens to Transform Superman Into Kryptonite
According to Xa-Du, the death machine he’s set up in the Phantom Zone will do much more than kill Superman. With the prisoners’ heat vision, it will first produce a blast similar to the one that caused Krypton’s destruction. He notes that Superman and his family will survive the explosion, but their suffering won’t end there. The Phantom King explains, “Your skin – your bones, your blood – will be elementally transformed into Kryptonite.” Forcing Superman to experience the pain that had been inflicted upon his planet firsthand is already bad enough, but that shocking detail proves how harsh this punishment is.
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As most are well aware, Superman’s greatest weakness in DC history is Kryptonite, and the same can be said for any Kryptonian. Therefore, turning a Kryptonian into the very thing that deals them such extreme harm is an unimaginably brutal outcome to endure. Superman has admittedly harnessed the perilous element for himself before in dire instances, such as when he wears Kryptonite gauntlets Superman #8 by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov. With that being said, using Kryptonite as a last resort is different from becoming it against one’s will, which is precisely what the Phantom King intends with Superman.
Superman’s Punishment Confirms Kryptonians Are DC’s Harshest Race
From the Phantom Zone to Death Machines, Kryptonian Torture Methods Are Terrifying
Kryptonians are no strangers to chilling types of torment, with the Phantom Zone serving as a key example. Jor-El’s invention of the Phantom Zone projector introduces DC lore’s most unethical prison, as the Science Council locks the criminals they feel are unworthy of redemption in a nightmarish dimension. Now, by conspiring to transform Superman into Kryptonite with his death machine, Xa-Du has further demonstrated how twisted Kryptonians can be. Although Superman has managed to circumvent his bleak fate for the time being, he won’t soon forget that one of his enemies knows how to kill him in the most horrific possible fashion.
Action Comics #1081 is available now 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.
