Superman’s Dangerous, Forgotten Enemy PHANTOM KING Returns to DC Lore

The upcoming Action Comics #1071 will see Superman trapped within the Phantom Zone and brought face to face with the dreaded Phantom 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, but the new Action Comics creative team is pulling out some old characters that newer fans might not be familiar with. The Phantom 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.

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 with Action Comics #1070.

The Superman Villain Xadu First Appeared In 1961’s Adventure 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 the Phantom Zone Projector. And so readers get their 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 the Phantom Zone Projector works, but this isn’t the last readers would see of Xadu. In Superboy #100 by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan, Xadu and his wife escape the Phantom Zone after 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 in Action Comics #434 by Cary Bates, Swan, and Vince Colletta, where he impersonates Superman’s dentist to try and brainwash the Man of Steel.

Xadu Got a Major Makeover During and After DC’s New 52 Era

Panel from Superman #27 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair, and Dave Sharpe

Between impersonating Superman’s father and his 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.

With his Ecto-Suit in hand and decades of planning, all Xadu wanted was revenge on the El family, as it was Jor-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 by Krypto 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 seems Superman will have to contend with another major problem during his time in the Phantom Zone this fall.

Aethyr Is the Only Native Inhabitant of the Phantom Zone

Panels from The 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 Zone and 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.

The solicitation for Action Comics #1073 calls out how Xadu and Aethyr are about to converge, and it’ll be up to Superman to 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.

Superman Will Have to Face Xadu and Aethyr Once Again This Fall

The New Action Comics Arc 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 in Action Comics will flip this, as not only will Superman himself become trapped in the Phantom Zone, but the threat itself will be coming from there. Superman will have to use everything he has if he’s going to stop the Phantom King and Aethyr from becoming a threat that could destroy both the Zone and Earth.

Action Comics #1071 is available October 16th, 2024 from DC Comics!