# Have the Phantom Zone prisoners ever been used to save the Kryptonian species in comics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312 "2012-02-19T07:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/1 "2012-02-19T07:08:25Z")
I am unfamiliar with a lot of Superman comics, and yes I realize they are a bunch of murderers and worse, but finding out your entire world and even species is gone can have a way of making you rethink your life. Have they ever realized there are some Kryptonians tucked away, that could find a planet to rebuild on and start having babies? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/2 "2012-02-19T07:43:03Z")
I haven’t the foggiest since I know almost nothing about comics but doesn’t the existence of Superboy and Supergirl suggest that there are more non-phantom zone Kryptons than we were led to believe originally? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/3 "2012-02-19T07:44:21Z")
The “tucked away” Kryptonians scenario was the genesis of a story arc a year or so ago where Argo City, a Kryptonian city shrunk to water cooler bottle size by Brainiac was re-expanded to a manufactured planet in the earth -sun (Sol) solar system. Some elements were quite interesting. The take on Kryptonian culture (and there have been many such “takes” over time) in the story is that while it was technologically advanced, it was a somewhat rigid hierarchical, and politically borderline fascist state. Without being spoilerific this did not bode well. The unsatisfying end of the story arc was very ham handedly done IMO. See [Superman: War of the Supermen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_War_of_the_Supermen) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/4 "2012-02-19T07:57:32Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The “tucked away” Kryptonians scenario was the genesis of a story arc a year or so ago where Argo City, a Kryptonian city shrunk to water cooler bottle size by Brainiac was re-expanded to a manufactured planet in the earth -sun (Sol) solar system. Kandor, not Argo. Parts of the population of Argo were incorporated into Kandor (noteably Supergirl’s parents), but it was Kandor that Braniac shrunk and kept. And, no, since Kandor was introduced before Supergirl (albeit, not by long), her presence doesn’t actually significantly increase the number of known Kryptonian survivors (though, in current continuity, since it doubles it, she does - I doubt it’ll be long before we see Kandor again, though). Superboy doesn’t increase the number at all, since characters under that name who are Kryptonian are Clark as a kid, and the ones that are separate from him are either unrelated (the original Reign of the Supermen version of the Kid), or cloned from him (the post-Hypertime version, and the current one - both also have human DNA to get past the fact that Kryptonian DNA is not properly cloneable). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/5 "2012-02-19T10:39:06Z")
Aren’t the Daxamites (Mon-El’s people) Kryptonian colonists? So they’re a whole planet-full. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/6 "2012-02-19T11:34:33Z")
Yes, Daxamites are descended from Kryptonians…on the other hand, they’ve been separated so long as to have evolved into a related species, rather than being Kryptonians - specifically, Daxamites have no particular response to kryptonite, but have rapid, deadly reactions to even tiny amounts of lead. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-phantom-zone-prisoners-ever-been-used-to-save-the-kryptonian-species-in-comics/613312/7 "2012-02-19T23:14:38Z")
Back in the Silver Age, **Jax-Ur** helped Superman defeat Black Zero, who (in an unfortunate Ed,und Hamilton-written episode) was declared the being responsible for the destruction of Krypton: > [@](#): > > Jax-Ur would later redeem himself somewhat by helping Superman defeat Black Zero, the alien saboteur who ensured Krypton’s destruction under the orders of the Pirate Empire. It is shown he has a code of honour, as Kryptonian criminals swear by a master criminal who escaped a prison to help each other. Struck by a Red Kryptonite bullet that Black Zero had created, Jax-Ur began mutating through a series of serpentine forms, until he became a Medusa-like creature, and turned Black Zero to stone with his gaze before the villain could destroy Metropolis in revenge for Superman foiling his plan to destroy Earth. Jax-Ur then shattered Black Zero’s body, avenging Krypton, and willingly returned to the Phantom Zone.[3] > **[Jax-Ur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jax-Ur)** > > Jax-Ur is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, usually as an adversary of Superman. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp, the character first appeared in Adventure Comics #289 (October 1961). He has been described as "the worst troublemaker in the Phantom Zone" and was the first criminal banished there. > Jax-Ur has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Superman. He is voiced by Ron Perlman in Superman: The Animated Serie...