Fortress of Solitude

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Fortress of Solitude
Superman location
The Fortress of Solitude in Action Comics #846 (February 2007), art by Adam Kubert.
First appearanceAction Comics #241 (June 1958)
Created by
GenreSuperhero comics
In-universe information
TypeFortress
LocationsArctic
CharactersSuperman
PublisherDC Comics

The Fortress of Solitude is a fictional fortress appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. It is the place where Superman first learned about his true identity, heritage, and purpose on Earth. The fortress functions as a place of solace/occasional headquarters for Superman and is typically depicted as being in frozen tundra, away from civilization.[1] Its predecessor, Superman's "Secret Citadel", first appeared in Superman #17, where it was said to be built into a mountain on the outskirts of Metropolis. By issue #58 (May–June 1949) it is referred to as the Fortress of Solitude, seems at a glance to be a freestanding castle, and is said to be located in a "polar waste".[2] When the Fortress reappears in 1958 and for the first time takes center stage in a story ("The Super-Key to Fort Superman", Action Comics #241), it is again an underground complex in a mountainous cliffside.

Traditionally, the Fortress of Solitude is located in the

Krypton.[3] Although Superman has living quarters at the Fortress, his main residence is still Clark Kent's apartment in Metropolis. The arctic Fortress of Solitude concept was first created for pulp hero Doc Savage
during the 1930s.

Original version

Silver Age Fortress of Solitude, from Superman #187 (June 1966); art by Curt Swan and George Klein
.

The concept and name "Fortress of Solitude" first appeared in the Doc Savage pulps in the 1930s and 1940s. Doc Savage built his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic and retreated to it alone to make new scientific or medical breakthroughs, and to store dangerous technology and other secrets. The Golden Age Superman did not have an arctic fortress, but instead a "mountain sanctuary" which was located in a mountain range on the outskirts of Metropolis. Here, Superman kept a diary, oversized tools for various projects, and other equipment and trophies.

Superman's Silver Age Fortress, which debuted in 1958, was also located in the Arctic and served similar purposes. Built into the side of a steep cliff, the Fortress was accessible through a large gold-colored door with a giant keyhole, which required an enormous key to open it. The arrow-shaped key was so large that only Superman (or another Kryptonian such as Supergirl) could lift it; when not in use, the key sat on a perch outside of the Fortress, where it appeared to be an aircraft path marker. This was until a helicopter pilot followed the direction of the arrow straight to the entrance of the Fortress, forcing Superman to develop a cloak to camouflage the entrance and key (which now hung on brackets on its side beside the door) and to ensure the Fortress's secrecy.[4]

The Fortress contained an alien zoo, a giant steel diary in which Superman wrote his memoirs (using either his invulnerable finger, twin hand touch pads that record thoughts instantly, or heat vision to engrave entries into its pages), a chess-playing robot, specialized exercise equipment, a laboratory where Superman worked on various projects such as developing defenses to

Clark Kent to fool visitors. As the stories continued, it was revealed that the Fortress was where Superman's robot duplicates were stored. It also contained the Phantom Zone projector, various pieces of alien technology he had acquired on visits to other worlds, and, much like the Batcave, trophies of his past adventures.[1] Indeed, the Batcave and Batman himself made an appearance in the first Fortress story. The Fortress also became the home of the bottle city of Kandor
(until it was enlarged), and an apartment in the Fortress was set aside for Supergirl.

A detailed depiction of the Fortress and its contents forms the background to DC Special Series #26 (1981); "Superman and his Incredible Fortress of Solitude", in which Superman minutely inspects the Fortress, suspecting an enemy has planted an Earth-destroying bomb within it. Another noteworthy appearance of this version of the Fortress was in 1985's Superman Annual #11, a story by

Robin, and Wonder Woman against the alien would-be overlord Mongul. This story was adapted to animation in the 2004 TV series Justice League Unlimited
.

In addition to Mongul, the Fortress has been independently broken into at various times by villains Lex Luthor and Brainiac (Action Comics #583 and Superman #423) and the Atomic Skull (DC Comics Presents #35), among others. According to Action Comics #261, Superman first established secret Fortresses in outer space and at the center of the Earth before settling on an Arctic location.[5]

Additionally, Superman established an undersea Fortress of Solitude – hollowed out of the side of an undersea cliff – in September 1958. The undersea Fortress, which is reportedly located at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea at 28 degrees North latitude, 50 degrees West longitude, is stocked with numerous exotic ocean relics and is equipped with sophisticated monitoring apparatus to enable Superman to keep abreast of events occurring throughout the seven seas. Superman later abandoned the undersea Fortress and the structure is now used by the mer-people of Atlantis as a showplace and a tourist attraction.

The original version of the Fortress of Solitude made its last appearance in the 1986 non-canonical (or "imaginary") story "

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?". In this story, under constant attacks by returning foes, Superman goes to ground inside the Fortress, taking his closest friends with him for their protection. The villainous android Brainiac soon besieges the Fortress with various allies, surrounding it and the outlying territory with an impenetrable force field to keep Superman's fellow heroes from aiding him. Superman ultimately battles a newly evil Mister Mxyzptlk, who was behind the plot to destroy him. As Superman was forced to destroy Mxyzptlk, breaking his vow against killing, he exposes himself to gold kryptonite to permanently remove his powers and then appears to leave the Fortress to freeze to death in the Arctic cold. Superman is never seen again, although we find out in a "ten years later" wraparound segment set in 1997 that he survives as Jordan Elliot, husband of Lois Lane Elliot, and that they are the parents of toddler Jonathan Elliot, who has super-powers.[6][7]

Post-Crisis versions

Superheroes gather inside the Fortress of Solitude in Justice, art by Alex Ross.

In

Man of Steel miniseries, which re-wrote various aspects of the Superman mythos, the Clark Kent persona was described as a "Fortress of Solitude", in that it allowed him to live as the ordinary person he saw himself as and leave the world-famous superhero behind. This concept was often invoked in later stories, and one story featured Superman hiding his secret identity from a telepath behind a door identical to that of the pre-Crisis
Fortress. By that time, however, a more physical Fortress had been reintroduced.

In Action Comics Annual #2 (1989), Superman, on a self-imposed exile to space, was entrusted with a Kryptonian artifact called the

The Adventures of Superman
#461 (December 1989).

It contained many artifacts from the post-Crisis version of Krypton, most notably a number of robot servitors (one of whom, Kelex, became a trusted confidant) and a battlesuit from the Third Age of Krypton.

Superman in the Fortress of Solitude on the variant cover of Action Comics #977 (June 2017), art by Gary Frank.

This Fortress was cast into the Phantom Zone as a result of a battle between Superman, Lex Luthor, and

Steel
, which was an extradimensional space accessed through a vast puzzle-globe. The now-mobile Fortress was relocated somewhere in the Andes.

In the DC One Million series (1998), Superman's Fortress of Solitude in the 853rd Century resides within a tesseract located at the center of Earth's sun. By this time, Superman has lived in self-imposed exile within the Fortress for over 15,000 years.

During the "For Tomorrow" story arc in 2004–05 Superman comics, Wonder Woman breached the Fortress in an attempt to confront Superman, causing the Fortress to self-destruct. Superman subsequently established a new Fortress in an ancient temple on a remote village in the Cordillera del Cóndor Mountains, on the border of Ecuador and Peru. This version of the Fortress is visually similar to the earliest "Secret Citadel" from Superman #17.

The final version of the post-Crisis Fortress was home to Krypto and his dog-sitter Ned (the last remaining Superman robot), and contained a version of Kandor, a portal to the Phantom Zone, Kryptonian and alien artifacts, and holographic images of Jor-El and Lara.[1] The caretaker of the Fortress was Kelex, a Kryptonian robot that was a descendant of the Kelex robot that served Jor-El.

Infinite Crisis

In the 2006 limited series

Alexander Luthor, Jr. – set up a base in the ruins of the Antarctic Fortress following their escape from the "paradise dimension" they had been trapped in since the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was then revealed from Power Girl
's repressed memories from her life on Earth-Two that her cousin Kal-L had his own version of the Fortress of Solitude similar to his Earth-One counterpart's Fortress.

"One Year Later"

In the 2006 story arc "Up, Up, and Away!", Superman recovered a piece of Kryptonian sunstone, which Lex Luthor had used to awaken an ancient Kryptonian warship. Superman learned that the sunstone had been sent with him from Krypton, and used it to construct a new Fortress in the Arctic in exactly the same manner as in the 1978 Superman film. He nevertheless plans to restore the Peruvian Fortress, even if compromised and no longer in a secret location, and plans more Fortresses around the world.[8] This version of the Fortress physically resembles the movie and television depictions, and Superman communicates with Jor-El via crystal constructs as in the Superman film and Smallville.[9]

The New 52

The New 52 Fortress of Solitude

In

Yucatan
base", a reference to his fortress in the Amazon rain forest in previous continuity.

Following the discovery of Superman's "Super Flare", Kal-El made his way to the Fortress via a stolen motorcycle due to burning out his powers. When trying access the Fortress, the A.I. was unable to recognize Kal-El due to his DNA changing and forcibly removed his Kryptonian armor. It was revealed months later Vandal Savage was the person responsible for altering Superman's DNA to draw Kal-El away from the Fortress. Savage later converged all of his forces on the Fortress itself and transported it to Metropolis. However, Superman was able to find a temporary 'cure' for his power loss by exposing himself to kryptonite as a form of 'chemotherapy' that burned away the radiation preventing his cells from absorbing energy. On the verge of death while trying to stop Savage, he is caught by the arm and shot in the lower abdomen. As he fell from the sky believing he was about to die, the kryptonite had finished burning away the radiation. The Fortress scanned Superman, confirmed that he is Kal-El, activated and opened up, caught Superman, restored his powers to their peak and returned his Kryptonian armor to him. After defeating Vandal Savage and his children, Superman moves the Fortress back to the arctic circle.

Several days after the crisis Superman uses the Fortress's medical equipment and A.I technology to do a full physical on him and discovers that as a result of Vandal's actions using Krytonite to burn out his infected cells that he is dying and has mere weeks to live.

Following Superman's death, the Pre-New 52 Superman was able to gain access to the Fortress as both he and the deceased Superman share identical DNA, even though they are from separate timelines. Superman takes his deceased counterpart to the Fortress hoping to use the Regeneration Matrix to revive him, as the Eradicator did to him in his native timeline. In the New 52 universe of Prime Earth however, no such technology exists. After burying his counterpart in Smallville he returns to the Fortress and uses his heat vision to create a statue of Superman of Prime Earth to honor his fallen comrade.

The Eradicator of Pre-New 52 eventually arrives on Prime Earth and takes up residence within the Fortress.

Other versions

All-Star Superman

In the out-of-continuity series

Titanic, the Space Shuttle Columbia, and a baby Sun-Eater, as well as larger-than-life memorabilia, similar to the objects found in the Batcave. It has various scientific facilities as well, including a time telescope that can receive brief cryptic messages with reception of limited quality from the future.[12]

Earth One

In Superman: Earth One graphic novel series, the Fortress of Solitude was built by Superman's Krytonian ship's AI, using the Arctic's cave system.

Other media

Television

Animation

Super Friends

The Fortress has several appearances in the

Cyborg
.

DC Animated Universe

In the DC Animated Universe, the Fortress is located in the ocean underneath the Arctic tundra; access was gained by diving into the Arctic water and emerging in an opening inside the Fortress. This version contained an alien zoo housing alien life-forms saved from the Preserver's ship and some computer equipment, along with a Brainiac information sphere stolen from his hijacked spacecraft, which contains information about Krypton. The fortress also contains massive sculptures of Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara, serving as monuments to Krypton. Additionally, this version of the Fortress was named by Professor Hamilton in a sarcastically humorous remark when he visited the Fortress in one episode.

The Fortress of Solitude is also a major setting for the Justice League Unlimited episode "For the Man Who Has Everything", an adaptation of the comic story of the same name, where Mongul traps Superman in a dream world with the Black Mercy plant, and Batman and Wonder Woman fight him after coming to the fortress to give Superman birthday gifts. In this version, the name "Fortress of Solitude" was given by Professor Emil Hamilton in a sarcastically humorous remark when he visited the Fortress in one episode.

In the future of

boom tube
back to the world where the original Starro came from.

Legion of Super Heroes

The Fortress appears in the Legion of Super Heroes episode "Message in a Bottle". In the episode, Imperiex attacks the Fortress to enter Kandor and steal its technology, specifically the Messenger, a powerful device capable of converting anything into crystal. The Legion of Super-Heroes subsequently shrink themselves down to enter Kandor themselves and stop him. The series' version of the Fortress is maintained by a robotic version of Superman (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) who resembles Cyborg Superman.

Young Justice

In the episode "Failsafe", the Fortress of Solitude appears on Robin's satellite imagery as a location that was being investigated by alien invaders, although this was merely a dream-like state for a training exercise gone wrong. Eight years later, the Fortress makes the first appearance in the penultimate episode of its fourth season, "Over and Out", when a boom tube leads a time-traveling Kryptonian criminal and his criminal parents, Ursa and General Zod, from the Phantom Zone. The Kryptonian criminals are amazed upon seeing what the sole survivor of their home world has managed to collect over four decades on their history and culture. It is in this icy and frigid fortress that Zod and Ursa begin to gain even greater abilities from Earth's yellow sun by resting in stasis pods.

Justice League Action

In the Justice League Action episode "Field Trip", Superman gives Blue Beetle, Firestorm, and Stargirl a tour of the Fortress of Solitude.

Live-action

Adventures of Superman

The 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series never mentions the Fortress of Solitude. The closest thing to it are cabins in remote mountains which Superman utilizes in the episodes "The Stolen Costume" and "Superman in Exile".

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

On Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the "Fortress" was conspicuously absent, presumably because the series' aim was to explore the idea of Clark Kent being the true identity and Superman merely being the disguise (therefore, the character would have no use for an otherworldly fortress). In the earlier issues of the John Byrne revamp of Superman, the Fortress was also absent so the show was probably following suit.

In the tradition of this approach, the Fortress of Solitude was the name of Clark Kent's childhood treehouse in the season one episode "The Foundling".

Smallville

In

Jonathan Kent once referred to the loft space in the Kent farm's barn as the "Fortress of Solitude" since it was the place where the teenage Clark Kent
usually preferred to be alone.

In season 4's finale "Commencement", after Clark had united all of the Stones of Power (Air, Water, Fire) they created a super crystal, the "Crystal of Knowledge". Once he grabbed the crystal it transported him to an opening in the Arctic Circle where he threw the crystal into the snow thus creating the Fortress of Solitude.

The fifth season premiere episode, Arrival, fully introduces a Fortress of Solitude that is almost identical, both in appearance and construction by self-replicating crystals, to that depicted in the original Superman movies. During the episode, Clark carries an injured Chloe Sullivan from the Fortress to a hospital in the Yukon, suggesting this is one of the nearest inhabited/medically proficient locations to the structure.

An artificial intelligence built into the Fortress by Clark's biological father, Jor-El, would provide Clark with various 'Trials' throughout the series to help steer him toward his destiny as a symbol of hope for humanity. The Jor-El A.I. was, for the most part, omniscient, with the ability to send characters through time, open portals to alternate dimensions, and remove, restore and also transfer Clark's powers to other characters, seemingly at will.

In later seasons, the Fortress is exposed as being vulnerable to other Kryptonian technology – namely Brainiac, and the Orb of Kandor. Lex Luthor would later use the Orb to revert the Fortress back into its original, handheld crystal form after becoming obsessed with Kryptonian conspiracy theories, and mistaking the structure for an alien invasion base. Lex also uses the orb to locate the fortress. The orb levitates and constructs a 3D globe of the world and isolates a circular section of Greenland.

When the crystal was later recovered by Lex's sister,

Martha Kent-crafted, classic Superman costume, which Clark would go on to don in the final episode. Rather than being specifically made for the production, the costume was originally designed and created for Brandon Routh to wear in Superman Returns
.

The Fortress is also referred to as Jor-El's 'Fortress of Knowledge' by his assistant Raya.

Arrowverse
Supergirl

The Fortress appears in the

Nyxlygsptlnz
.

Superman & Lois

In the Superman & Lois episode "Pilot", Clark reveals that he brought Jonathan to check if Jonathan had superhuman abilities after showing some natural talent for sports. The Fortress's tests said it was unlikely however. In the episode "Heritage", Clark had brought Jordan to the Fortress after he manifested some abilities and wished to test for more information. However the A.I of Jor-El concluded that Jordan's powers were a result of brief flare ups and that his human DNA would limit him. Clark tells Lois that he is taking Jordan to the Fortress, when Jordan's powers flare uncontrollably. The A.I. tells Clark that Jordan will feel pain until he learns to control his super hearing. In the episode "Loyal Subjekts", Clark reveals, at some point, he was exposed to so much Kryptonite that he needed to go to the Fortress to be healed by having it burned from his system and since Jordan's lungs were freezing due to second-hand exposure to the synthetic kryptonite of Project 7734, Clark brought Jordan to the Fortress to be healed. There, Jor-El A.I. told Clark that it had to be burned from Jordan's system for him to heal. In the episode "O Mother, Where Art Thou?", Kal-El went to the Fortress to talk to the Jor-El A.I. about the revelation that Tal-Rho is his maternal half-brother. As the two talked, Jor-El revealed that reversing the Eradicator was beyond his knowledge. In the episode "A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events", flashbacks reveal that after the death of Jonathan Kent Sr., Clark came to the Fortress learn about his abilities. Later, in the Fortress, Clark asked Lois to marry him. In present, Tal-Rho followed Clark to the fortress and put him in a trance where he kept reliving his memories. When Clark woke up, Tal destroyed Jor-El's hologram. In the episode "The Thing in the Mines", the Inverse World's Kal-El flew to the Fortress after fighting Superman, where he took off his armor after sustaining damage during the fight. In the episode "Anti-Hero", to protect his Inverse World counterpart from being killed by Mitch Anderson, Superman gave Anderson coordinates to the Fortress instead of Tal-Rho's fortress, where he actually was. Soldiers went to the Fortress and discovered the armor of Superman's counterpart, leading Anderson to conclude that they were working together.

In episode 7 of season 2, it was revealed that this version of the Fortress of Solitude was located at 76.2 North and 100.4 West, which happens to be Qausuittuq National Park in Canada, near the Arctic Ocean.[13]

Krypton

The Fortress of Solitude is central to the storyline of

Seg-El, Kal-El's grandfather, visits the Fortress with his mother, Charys-El, to find the lost research of Val-El, Seg-El's grandfather, after Adam Strange
requests Seg-El to find the Fortress to stop Brainiac from destroying Krypton and altering the timeline to prevent Kal-El's birth, 200 years later. Meanwhile, Nyssa-Vex and Jayna-Zod are trying to find the Fortress to prevent information about life on other planets from getting out to the public. The holographic Val appears to Seg and other allies in helping to expose and stop Brainiac's attempt to "bottle" Kandor City. Seg and Brainiac end up being trapped in the Phantom Zone projector in the Fortress, while the real Val-El is brought to Krypton by General Zod, who destroys the projector. In the second season, Seg and Nyssa come to emptied Fortress to remove Brainiac's nanites in Seg's brain stem. After removing them, Brainiac corrupts Val-El's image, brings the ship and teleports with Seg's and Nyssa's son, Jor-El, leaving from the Krypton somewhere in space.

Film

Original film series (1978-2006)

In

red sun radiation
to strip Kryptonians of their super powers.

In

Ursa and Non
are returned to the Phantom Zone.

Superman Returns (2006) concept art.

In Superman Returns, the Fortress follows the same formula as the earlier movies, but goes into more detail about the crystal origins of the Fortress and Kryptonian architecture. Lex Luthor attempts to use memory crystals he stole from it to create a new land mass in place of America. An observation is made (following Superman II) that he acts as though he has been there before. The crystals that power the Fortress were lost when Lex Luthor's assistant dropped them out the escaping helicopter into the ocean below. The tie-in book, Superman Returns: The Visual Guide lists the Fortress as sitting on "Fletcher's Abyssal Plane".

DC Extended Universe

DC Universe film series

The upcoming film Superman (2025), written and directed by James Gunn, will include the Fortress of Solitude.[16][17]

Video games

In the video game

cutscenes
.

The Fortress of Solitude is a location in

MMORPG and is used by Batman and Lex Luthor as a last bastion against the forces of Brainiac. A similar design was used in Injustice: Gods Among Us
.

The Fortress of Solitude is featured in the Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 213309017
    .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ Superman and his Incredible Fortress of Solitude; Summer 1981; DC Special Series (vol. 5) #26.
  6. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Superman #423 [Direct]".
  7. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? [First Printing]".
  8. ^ Johns, Geoff, Kurt Busiek (w), Woods, Pete (a). "Up, Up, and Away! Finale: The Adventures of Superman" Action Comics, no. 840 (August 2006). New York: DC Comics.
  9. Jiminez, Phil, Andy Lanning (a). "Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude" Action Comics
    Annual, no. 10, pp. 22–23 (March 2007). New York: DC Comics.
  10. ^ Supergirl (vol. 5) #12
  11. ^ Action Comics (vol. 2) #14
  12. Morrison, Grant. All-Star Superman #2 (February 2006), DC Comics
  13. ^ Rifat, Ahmed (2022-03-11). "Real World Location of Superman's Fortress of Solitude — The CW's Superman and Lois". rifatahmed.com. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  14. ^ Man of Steel Prequel
  15. ^ "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - The 10 Best Scenes". ScreenRant. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  16. ^ Andersen, Elise Rønnevig (March 5, 2024). "Spiller inn ny Supermann-film på Svalbard" [Shooting a new Superman movie in Svalbard]. Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024. – via Tinoco, Armando (March 5, 2024). "James Gunn Starts Filming 'Superman' In Norway & Teases Scene With Hero Fleeing To The Fortress Of Solitude". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 6, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  17. ^ Badasie, Charlene (March 5, 2024). "James Gunn Reveals Fortress of Solitude Plans for Superman". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on March 6, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.

External links