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Fortress of Solitude
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The Fortress of Solitude is the occasional headquarters of Superman in DC Comics. 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. However, the formal introduction of the Fortress took place in the story "The Super-Key to Fort Superman", published in Action Comics #241 (June 1958).
Traditionally, the Fortress of Solitude is located in the Arctic, though more recent versions of the Superman comics have placed the Fortress in other locations, including the Antarctic, the Andes and the Amazon rainforest.
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Encyclopedia
The Fortress of Solitude is the occasional headquarters of Superman in DC Comics. 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. However, the formal introduction of the Fortress took place in the story "The Super-Key to Fort Superman", published in Action Comics #241 (June 1958).
Traditionally, the Fortress of Solitude is located in the Arctic, though more recent versions of the Superman comics have placed the Fortress in other locations, including the Antarctic, the Andes and the Amazon rainforest. The general public in Superman's world is either unaware or at best only vaguely aware of the existence of the Fortress, with its location kept secret from all but Superman's closest friends and allies (such as Lois Lane and Batman). A trademark of the Fortress is that it contains a memorial statue of Jor-El and Lara, Superman's Kryptonian parents, holding a large globe of Krypton. Although Superman has living quarters at the Fortress, his main residence is still his apartment in Metropolis.
Original version
The original Silver Age Fortress, first appearing in 1958, was located in the Arctic and 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 mirage-ray to camouflage the entrance and key and to ensure the Fortress's secrecy.
The Fortress contained an alien zoo, a giant steel diary in which Superman wrote his memoirs (using either his invulnerable finger 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 Kryptonite, a (room-sized) computer, communications equipment, and rooms dedicated to all of his friends, including one for 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. 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 Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons titled For the Man Who Has Everything, in which it served as a battleground for Superman, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman against the alien would-be overlord Mongul. This story was adapted to animation in Justice League Unlimited.
In addition to Mongul, the Fortress has been independently broken into at various times by villains Lex Luthor, Brainiac and the Atomic Skull, among others.
This version of the Fortress made its last appearance in the 1986 non-canonical (or "imaginary") story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", appearing in Action Comics #583 and Superman #423.
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. This assertion is unsupported by other texts.
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.
Post-Crisis versions
In John Byrne's 1986 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 super-hero behind.
This concept was often invoked in later stories, with one story even featuring 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 Eradicator, created by his ancestor Kem-L. Dedicated to preserving Krypton, this device built a new Fortress in the Antarctic as a precursor to recreating Krypton on Earth. Superman broke the Eradicator's control, but maintained the Fortress as a useful location for emergencies. The first appearance of this new post-Crisis version of the Fortress was in Adventures of Superman #461 (Dec. 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.
This Fortress was cast into the Phantom Zone as a result of a battle between Superman, Lex Luthor, and Dominus, a villain who played with Superman's mind and who was also trapped in the Phantom Zone. It did, however, serve as the template for the next Fortress, built by 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 2004-2005 Superman comics, Wonder Woman breached the Fortress in an attempt to confront Superman, causing the Fortress to self-destruct. Superman One Million has since established a new Fortress in an ancient temple on a remote village in the Cordillera Del Condor 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. 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 Infinite Crisis, several survivors of the pre-Crisis multiverse - the Earth-Two Superman, Lois Lane of Earth-Two, the Earth-Prime Superboy, and Earth-Three's 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-El 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 (in Action Comics #840) to construct a new Fortress in the Arctic in the exact same manner as in Superman. 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.
Action Comics Annual #10 (2007) revealed that, in the continuity of "New Earth", the original Arctic fortress was built before Clark assumed the Superman identity. The Fortress physically resembles the movie and television depictions and Superman communicates with Jor-El via crystal constructs as in Superman The Movie and Smallville.
All Star Superman
In the out-of-continuity series All Star Superman, the Fortress is once again located in the Arctic. Superman has replaced the giant key with a normal-sized key which is made from dwarf star material and is therefore too dense for any mortal to lift. It has a team of robots working on various projects. The Fortress itself contains a ship similar to the Titanic, the space shuttle Columbia, a Sun-Eater as well as larger-than-life memorabilia, making it more akin to the Batcave than to more traditional depictions of the Fortress from the Silver Age. It has various scientific facillities as well, including a malfunctioning device to communicate with the future.
Other media
Superman film series
In Superman and its sequels (except for Superman III, in which it did not appear), the Fortress is created by a crystal that Jor-El enclosed in Kal-El's spaceship. It leads teenage Clark Kent to an ice field where, after he throws it down, melts into the ice and grows into a huge crystalline building, similar to the crystalline architecture shown on Krypton at the beginning of the film. This feat is similar to other descriptions in science fiction of a nano-assembler device. This Fortress contains numerous "memory crystals" that can be used to access Jor-El's artificial intelligence and hologram, interactive holographic recordings of Lara, and other Kryptonians, and a chamber that uses red sun radiation to strip Kryptonians of their super powers. (Used in both versions of Superman II)
In Richard Donner's cut of Superman II, the Fortress is destroyed by Superman as its existence was revealed to Lex Luthor as well as the police who arrested General Zod, Ursa, and Non. However, Superman then turns back time (a la Superman I), so technically the fortress is completely undamaged.
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 the Fortress to create a new continent. An observation is made (following Superman II) that he acts as though he has been there before.
The tie-in book, Superman Returns: The Visual Guide lists the Fortress as sitting on 'Fletcher's Abyssal Plane'.
Computer and video games
In the video game The Death and Return of Superman for SNES, the Fortress of Solitude is shown in one of the cut-screens.
In Superman Returns: The Videogame, it was thought that the Fortress would be accessible. However, it is only shown in one cut-scene. The only locations accessible in the game are Metropolis, and a small part of Warworld. The Fortress in the game is the Options menu.
The Fortress of Solitude is also a location in Mortal Kombat vs. DC. It's apperence is based on the films.
Television
Animation
The Fortress has several appearances in the Super Friends animated series. A 1981 episode titled "Evil From Krypton" depicted a Fortress with a somewhat crystalline exterior and without the giant key, reminiscent of its film appearances. In a 1986 episode titled "The Death of Superman", the Fortress more closely resembles the pre-Crisis comic-book version, including a giant yellow key whose use required the combined efforts of Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Cyborg.
Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited present a slightly altered version, with the Fortress 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 just before it was destroyed, which is used by Superman to access information about Krypton. The fortress also contains massive sculptures of Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara, serving as monuments to Krypton.
The Fortress of Solitude is also a major setting for the Justice League Unlimited episode For the Man Who Has Everything. A fight with the warlord Mongul took place there, after he delivered a parasite capable of hypnosis to Superman and was detected by Batman and Wonder Woman. In this version, the name "Fortress of Solitude" was given by Professor Emil Hamilton in a sarcastically humorous remark while he visited the fortress in one episode.
The Fortress also appears in the Legion of Super Heroes animated series. It appears in the episode called "Message in a Bottle". In that episode, the Legion chase Imperiex to the Fortress, where he shrinks himself to enter Kandor, to steal highly advanced ancient Kryptonian technology invented by Jor-El.
Live-Action Television
Lois & Clark
On Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the "Fortress" appeared in one episode as the name of young Clark Kent's treehouse.
Smallville
In Smallville, teenage Clark Kent is often found in his loft in a barn, which Jonathan Kent once called the "Fortress of Solitude" since it is the place where Clark likes to be alone. However, the fifth season premiere, Arrival, introduces a Fortress of Solitude that is very similar in appearance to the one seen in the original Superman movies, but much larger in size; it is even constructed by self-growing crystals in a manner very similar to what is seen in Superman.
In that same episode, Chloe Sullivan, having been accidentally transported to the Arctic, finds the Fortress and upon entering, is hit with an ice blast caused by Jor-El, as to prevent her from interrupting Clark's education/training into Superman. After persuading Jor-El to call off his attack, Clark then takes Chloe - her body temperature now dangerously low - to a hospital in the Yukon, suggesting this is one of the nearest inhabited/medically proficient locations to the Fortress.
As of Smallvilles sixth season premiere, the Fortress is apparently "dead" as a result of Clark throwing a Kryptonian dagger into Brainiac. An S-shield-shaped crystal charged with the power of one of several escapees from the Phantom Zone was subsequently used to revive it.
At the end of Smallvilles penultimate, seventh season episode, Quest, Lex Luthor discovers a sophisticated holographic map - apparently of Kryptonian origin - which zeros in on the Fortress' current location; confirming it is somewhere in northern Greenland. The structure was later destroyed as a result of Lex's actions in Season seven's final episode Arctic.
In the ninth episode of Season eight, Abyss, Clark rebuilds the Fortress so that Jor-El might help restore Chloe Sullivan's memories after they were replaced with Kryptonian code by Brainiac. At the end of the episode, Brainiac is shown infecting the Fortress via the crystal hub, causing the entire structure to turn black. The Kryptonian symbol for Doom then appears on the floor.
The Fortress is also referred to as Jor-El's 'Fortress of Knowledge' by his assistant Raya.
Doc Savage and his Fortress of Solitude
1930s and 1940s pulp fiction hero Doc Savage maintained his own Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.
It was there that he did scientific research and study when he needed to get away from his life of adventuring. Doc's fortress was mentioned in the first Doc Savage pulp novel, Man of Bronze by Lester Dent, and was published in March 1933, which predates Superman's hideaway by 25 years.
Doc Savage had devoted his life to aiding mankind and increasing his own knowledge so that he might help the human race. To achieve this he had trained himself to never stop studying. Almost every waking moment was given to it. At times it required concentration so intense that total solitude was required- no interruptions. He sought out remote places in the world for a facility to both serve as a study retreat and a place to house his many unusual scientific experiments. He chose a remote island in the vast arctic wastelands.
Construction began in 1931 shortly after the "Crime College" was completed. Doc and Renny transitioned their construction activities directly from the College to the Fortress. Most of the same construction personnel were used. Materials and men were airlifted in huge cargo planes. The dome shape was chosen because it was the fastest way to enclose a large volume. The nearly impenetrable glass-like carbon compound used for the skin, allowed for large sections to be fabricated and shipped by air to the remote location. Then, it was a relatively simple operation to weld the sections together during the brief arctic summer.
Doc Savage believed that the site he had chosen for the amazing facility was in such remote desolation that it would never be found. But in 1938, in the adventure of "The Fortress Of Solitude", a handful of Soviet prison escapees led by John Sunlight saw the top of the Strange Blue Dome standing above the grey rocks of the small icy island. The group was at that time marooned on a hijacked icebreaking ship, slowly starving. The evil creature that was John Sunlight forbid any of his people to go near the dome. In fact, these poor souls were his people, for he dominated them with the terrible thing that was his mind. His lieutenant Civan and the two giantesses, Titania and Giantia and the others in the group were left to watch from above a nearby snow drift as John Sunlight made repeated attempts to force his way into the dome.
Fortress of Solitude was also the title of a Doc Savage novel published in October 1938, which provides extensive background information about the actual structure which was described as a massive, 100-foot-tall blue dome (see video clip below). It formed the background for a deadly confrontation between Doc Savage and his greatest foe, John Sunlight.
Later, in the October 1942 pulp novel The Laugh of Death, the fortress had been modified to resemble an ice-covered rock outcropping.
In the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, the Fortress of Solitude is shown as a large igloo-like structure.
External links
- Supermanica entry on the pre-Crisis Fortress of Solitude
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- Supermanica entry on the Secret Santuary
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- , a short story by Rick Stoeckel
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