Young Justice: 2 Clues Suggest Superboy Isn’t In The Phantom Zone

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Young Justice season 4.

There are two clues that hint at the Superboy and Phantom Girl of Young Justice being trapped in some dimension other than the Phantom Zone. The second half of Young Justice: Phantoms placed Superboy in a strange world full of glowing crystals following his apparent death trying to destroy a viral weapon on Mars. This matched the depiction of the classic Phantom Zone in many Superman comics.

As Superboy attempted to navigate the dimension while protecting the unconscious Phantom Girl in the Young Justice episode, he determined several things. The first was that it was impossible for him to touch anything unless he focused intensensely upon it. Beyond his super-hearing (which allowed him to hear his own heartbeat and determine he was still alive) he also maintained his super-vision and was able to follow the heat trail of one native creature who seemed to seek out strong emotions, requiring him to keep his emotions in check even as he was assailed by nightmarish visions of himself killing his adoptive older brother Superman. This forced insubstantiality and the feelings of dread inspired by this otherworldly realm are consistent with most classic depictions of the Phantom Zone in the comics and other media.

However, the fact that Superboy maintained his powers and was able to touch Phantom Girl at all in this weird world could be a sign that it is not the Phantom Zone. The inability to touch anything was a defining trait of the classic Phantom Zone, as was the Phantom Zone halting all the biological processes of those beings contained in it. This included the Kryptonian ability to process yellow sunlight, making any Kryptonian trapped there powerless. This is particularly notable given Superboy was already in a weakened state at the time of his apparent death, having spent several weeks underground in a Martian city while preparing for his Young Justice wedding to Miss Martian. Another sign that this world is not the Phantom Zone came in Young Justice season 4, episode 17, “Leviathan Wakes,” when Superbody saw the school bus once possessed by Klarion the Witch Boy as he cruised through time and space searching for Zatanna and her students.

While Superboy and Phantom Girl were presented in muted and transparent tones which matched the world around them, Klarion’s magic school bus maintained its color scheme and solidity as it passed through the dimension. While there is some question as to whether or not magic works in the Phantom Zone and it is unclear if most magicians could use their spells to escape it, even the Phantom Stranger (who is one of the most powerful magic users in DC Comics) was forced to conform to the physical laws of the realm before using his powers to escape in one Superman comic. While it is possible Klarion’s nature as a Lord of Chaos allowed him to defy the rules of the Phantom Zone, it seems far more likely that Phantom Girl is responsible for her and Superboy’s intangibility.

In the comics, Phantom Girl’s phasing powers allowed her to enter and exit the Phantom Zone at will. It is unclear if this is also true of the Young Justice version of the Legion of Superheroes member Phantom Girl, though it seems clear that she did something to herself and Superboy in her efforts to save his life. Whether that something was transporting them to the Phantom Zone or some other dimension remains to be seen, but there is ample reason to doubt the nightmarish world they are trapped in is the Phantom Zone.

New episodes of Young Justice release Thursdays on HBO Max.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

More From Matt Morrison

See also  AHS: Apocalypse’s Emily Is Lee Harris’ Daughter - Theory Explained