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. 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". 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.
163-679: Superman II is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman . It is the second installment in the Superman film series and a sequel to Superman (1978). A direct continuation of the first Superman , Christopher Reeve reprises his role as Superman . The returning cast includes Gene Hackman , Terence Stamp , Ned Beatty , Sarah Douglas , Margot Kidder , Marc McClure and Jack O'Halloran . The film's plot features
326-477: A sequel , Barb Wire (1996), The Phantom (1996), Black Mask (1996), Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: Ole vs. Kakuranger (1996), Revive! Ultraman (1996), Gekisou Sentai Carranger vs. Ohranger (1997) and Steel (1997). Marvel Comics ' Captain America (1991) did not have a theatrical release , and Roger Corman 's The Fantastic Four (1994) was produced solely for the legal maintenance of
489-478: 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
652-447: A Legion Flight Ring and at least one robotic servant called Kelex . Superman had invited Kara there a number of times, but she always refused, afraid of being overcome by nostalgia. It is also mentioned by Kara's sister Alex Danvers that Kara's cousin uses the fortress as a base where he can communicate with his Kryptonian ancestors. Kara finally goes there with James Olsen to look for information about Indigo . In "Myriad", Kara visits
815-631: A behind-the-scenes book, and a children's dictionary. Before production on Superman II resumed in 1979, the Philip Morris Company had paid $ 40,000 (£30,570) for their Marlboro cigarette to appear in the film. Lois Lane was shown as a chain smoker in the film, although she never smoked in the comic book. During the Metropolis battle, General Zod throws Superman into a Marlboro delivery truck, although actual vehicles for tobacco distribution are unmarked for security reasons. This led to
978-418: A chamber that uses red sun radiation to strip Kryptonians of their super powers. In Richard Donner's cut of Superman II , the Fortress is destroyed by Superman as its existence was revealed to Lex Luthor and his henchwoman, Eve Teschmacher . However, Superman then turns back time (à la 1978's Superman ), so technically the Fortress is completely undamaged, while Zod , Ursa and Non are returned to
1141-409: A congressional investigation. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , Superman II has an approval rating of 83% based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "The humor occasionally stumbles into slapstick territory, and the special effects are dated, but Superman II meets, if not exceeds, the standard set by its predecessor." On Metacritic ,
1304-547: 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,
1467-514: A diner, where a trucker named Rocky sexually harasses Lois and beats up Clark. The fight is interrupted by a news report where the President resigns his office to Zod. When the President pleads for Superman to save the Earth, General Zod demands that Superman "kneel before Zod!" Realizing he has made a horrible mistake, Clark returns to the Fortress to see if he can regain his powers. He luckily finds
1630-472: A dozen Saturday matinee serials but they aren't necessarily the film's deliciousness." Janet Maslin , reviewing for The New York Times , wrote that " Superman II is a marvelous toy. It's funny, it's full of tricks and it manages to be royally entertaining, which is really all it aims for." She also praised the performances of Reeve and Hackman and found the directing style between Donner and Lester to be indistinguishable. Similarly, David Denby , reviewing for
1793-497: 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 kryptonite , a room-sized computer, communications equipment, and rooms dedicated to all of his friends, including one for Clark Kent to fool visitors. As
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#17327797838081956-654: A million tons, restricting its use to those with immense superhuman strength. It has a team of robots working on various projects. The Fortress itself contains the 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
2119-663: A particular superhero character, often focuses on the hero's origin story and typically introduces the hero's nemesis. Many superhero films are adaptations of existing works. Superhero comics from publishers such as Marvel , DC , and Dark Horse ( The Umbrella Academy universe) have frequently been adapted into film. Others are based on television properties, such as films from the Japanese Ultraman , Kamen Rider , and Super Sentai franchises. Both Underdog and The Powerpuff Girls are based on their respective animated television series. The Green Hornet
2282-512: A production budget of $ 54 million, which meant it was a box office success, albeit less so than its predecessor. A sequel, Superman III , was released in June 1983, for which Lester returned as director. A director's cut of the film, restoring the original vision for the film under Donner's supervision, titled Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut , was released on November 28, 2006, in various home media formats. The following synopsis reflects
2445-459: 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
2608-608: 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. The caretaker of
2771-598: A self-imposed exile to space, was entrusted with a Kryptonian artifact called the Eradicator , created by his ancestor Kem-El. 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
2934-462: 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. 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 super-dense dwarf star material and weighs half
3097-478: 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
3260-438: A telegram from them saying my services are no longer needed and that my dear friend Richard Lester would take over. To this day, I have not heard from them." Ilya Salkind countered, "Dick Donner said, 'I will do the second movie on my terms and without [Pierre] Spengler' ... Spengler was my friend since childhood and my father and I were very loyal guys. We said no, and it really boiled down to that." The decision to replace Donner
3423-400: 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
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#17327797838083586-448: 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
3749-528: 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
3912-458: A worldwide total of $ 216.3 million. As with the first film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind prepared a version for worldwide television release that re-inserted unused footage (in this case 24 minutes) into the film. It was through this extended version that viewers first caught a glimpse into the Superman II that might have happened had Richard Donner remained as director. In fact, a majority of
4075-624: 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 the future of Batman Beyond , a Starro from the Fortress' intergalactic zoo
4238-549: Is based primarily on the original radio series and its 1960s television adaptation . Anime superhero films are often based on manga and television shows . Some superhero films, like the RoboCop series, The Meteor Man , the Unbreakable film series , Hancock , Darkman and They Call Me Jeeg , were developed as original projects for the screen. According to box office income figures from Box Office Mojo ,
4401-665: Is disguised not by his glasses but by his ordinariness. Beneath his meek exterior, of course, is concealed a superhero. And, the movie subtly hints, isn't that the case with us all?" Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded three-and-a-half out of four stars and declared it "better than the original." Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times called it "the most interesting 'Superman' yet," adding, "This film's fun comes from character, dialogue and performance, not effects. There are, of course, enough effects to fill
4564-450: Is located in the Arctic , though more recent versions have been in other locations, including the Antarctic , the Andes , and Amazon rainforest . The general public is either unaware or at best only vaguely aware of the existence of the Fortress, and its location is kept secret from all but Superman's closest friends and allies (such as Lois Lane and Batman ). A trademark of the Fortress
4727-466: Is revealed to have latched on to Superman years prior and subtly controlled his actions since then, including allowing an entire population of the creatures to breed in one of the aquatic chambers. The Justice League of the future travels to the Fortress where they are themselves taken over by Starros, until Batman is able to free Superman and the rest of the League from their control. The League then sends
4890-419: 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 Clark Kent's apartment in Metropolis. The arctic Fortress of Solitude concept was first created for pulp hero Doc Savage during the 1930s. The concept and name "Fortress of Solitude" first appeared in
5053-647: The Justice League Action episode "Field Trip", Superman gives Blue Beetle , Firestorm , and Stargirl a tour of the Fortress of Solitude. Originally, the Fortress started out as the ship that first brought Kal-El to Earth. After it was buried by his parents, it grew until the presence of Kryptonite activated its defensive measures and sent it into orbit. In the My Adventures with Superman episode "More Things in Heaven And Earth",
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5216-612: The New York magazine, praised the film's light approach and Hackman's performance. Christopher John, reviewing the film in Ares Magazine , commented that " Superman II falls into the category of sequels containing such films as Jaws 2 - highly absorbing and entertaining, yet better films only if you never saw the original." British cinema magazine Total Film named Terence Stamp's version of General Zod No. 32 on their 'Top 50 Greatest Villains of All Time' list (beating out
5379-520: The Superman film and Smallville . In The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity (launched in 2011) the Fortress of Solitude is first seen floating in space. It is later revealed to be the orbiting ship of Braniac which Superman had taken over after he physically reprogrammed the Collector of Worlds. This fortress is reported destroyed in the five years between the current Action Comics arc, and
5542-634: The Ultraman Tiga TV series led to several films based on it and later installments, including Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light (1998), Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace (1999) and Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey (2000). Adam Sternbergh of Vulture.com has stated that The Matrix (1999) was influenced by comic books, cyberpunk fiction, Japanese anime , and Hong Kong action films , reinvented
5705-536: 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. 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
5868-663: The Daily Planet that omits the Eiffel Tower opening from the original, as well as the original scripted and filmed ending for Superman II featuring Superman reversing time before it was cut and placed at the end of the first film. Superhero film A superhero film is a genre centered on superheroes and their adventures, with characters often possessing superhuman abilities or exceptional skills. Superhero films typically blend elements of action , adventure , fantasy , or science fiction . The first film about
6031-403: The Daily Planet . Superman arrives, after restoring his powers, and battles the three. Zod realizes that Superman cares for the humans and takes advantage by threatening bystanders. Superman realizes the only way to stop Zod and the others is to lure them to the Fortress so he flies off with Zod, Ursa, and Non in pursuit, kidnapping Lois and taking along Luthor. Superman tries to get Luthor to lure
6194-562: The French political satire film Mr. Freedom (1969), the Polish parody Hydrozagadka (1970), and the American B movies Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) and The Wild World of Batwoman (1966). Following the success of Star Wars which increased interest in fantasy and science fiction films, Richard Donner 's Superman (1978), the first major big-budget DC feature film,
6357-642: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The MCU alone has earned over $ 31 billion. The MCU film Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the highest-grossing superhero film to date, grossing $ 2,797,501,328 worldwide. It briefly held the record for highest-grossing film of all time before being surpassed by Avatar . Superhero stories gained popularity through comic books and were later adapted into film serials . Early examples include Mandrake
6520-476: The Phantom Zone projector to board into Daxamite ship. After saving them, only Lena, her mother and Hank return to Fortress where Lilian betrayed Kara and Mon-El to leave them behind. However, Kara expected her betrayal and her friend Winn Schott Jr. put a bug device on Henshaw prior to rescue operation as a precaution. She activated the device to force him in reactivating the projector to beam Mon-El out of
6683-548: The Superman films, in which Lester became a second unit director where he and Donner formed an effective partnership. By October 1977, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, and Valerie Perrine had completed their scenes. They were all under contract to finish both pictures. Nevertheless, with months left of filming, the Salkinds had halted filming Superman II , of which Donner had shot 75 percent, to focus on finishing Superman . During
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6846-605: The Wonder Twins and Gleek a guided tour of the Fortress showing off many structures such as the Bottle City of Kandor. In a 1980 episode titled "Journey into Blackness", which said the Fortress was located in the North Pole, Superman spots a black hole headed towards Earth using a telescope in the Fortress. In a 1980 episode titled "Revenge of Bizarro", Superman goes his Fortress of Solitude to stop Bizarro and return
7009-542: 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. 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
7172-845: The 1980s include Denshi Sentai Denziman: The Movie (1980), Flash Gordon (1980), Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan: The Movie (1981), Dai Sentai Goggle V: The Movie (1982), Swamp Thing (1982), Kagaku Sentai Dynaman: The Movie (1983), its sequel , Superman III (1983), Choudenshi Bioman: The Movie (1984), Supergirl (1984), Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors vs. the Giant Monster Army (1984), Ultraman Story (1984), Dengeki Sentai Changeman: The Movie and Dengeki Sentai Changeman: Shuttle Base! The Critical Moment! (1985), The Toxic Avenger (1985), Choushinsei Flashman: The Movie (1986), Choushinsei Flashman: Big Rally! Titan Boy! (1987), Hikari Sentai Maskman: The Movie (1987), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Masters of
7335-402: The 2012 summer film market, with three films occupying the top three positions of the box office chart. These were Marvel's The Avengers (May 2012), which broke box office records as the highest-grossing superhero film of all time, The Dark Knight Rises (July 20, 2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man (July 12, 2012). Fortress of Solitude Traditionally, the Fortress of Solitude
7498-475: The Bizarro Super Friends back to normal with an Anti-Bizarro ray. A 1981 episode titled "Evil From Krypton" depicted the Fortress with a somewhat crystalline exterior and without the giant key, reminiscent of its film appearances. In a 1985 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
7661-552: 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
7824-473: 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
7987-417: 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
8150-573: The Fortress and uses Kara's blood which Cadmus drained from her to access the Fortress's archive for information on Project Medusa. In " Medusa ", Kara goes to Fortress to find information on Project Medusa from the hologram of her father. In "Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Kara lures Mxyzptlk in fortress to trick him with a false self-destruct sequence and make him to type the abort code which happened to be his name backwards to force him to go back in his dimension. In "Distant Sun", Mon-El and Kara decide to talk to his mother Rhea in fortress about calling off
8313-473: 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
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#17327797838088476-663: The Fortress is created by a crystal that Jor-El enclosed in Kal-El's spaceship. The crystal leads teenage Clark Kent to an ice field where it is "planted" by Clark, after which it 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 fortress was also used to start Kal-El's 12-year training to become Superman. 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
8639-418: The Fortress is maintained by a robotic version of Superman (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal ) who resembles Cyborg Superman . 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
8802-538: 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. The Fortress of Solitude is central to the storyline of Krypton . In the first season, 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
8965-474: The Fortress to find information about the magical totems from the Fifth Dimension to stop the magical imp Nyxlygsptlnz . 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
9128-413: 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. In John Byrne 's 1986 Man of Steel miniseries, which re-wrote various aspects of the Superman mythos,
9291-440: 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
9454-681: The Fortress was Kelex, a Kryptonian robot that was a descendant of the Kelex robot that served Jor-El. 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
9617-551: 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". In Smallville , 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
9780-520: The Fortress was in 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. This Fortress was cast into the Phantom Zone as a result of a battle between Superman, Lex Luthor, and Dominus ,
9943-533: 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 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
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#173277978380810106-433: 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
10269-514: 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
10432-505: The Krypton scenes, but by May 1977, production had run two weeks behind schedule. It was reported that Donner had developed tensions with Alexander and Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler concerning the escalating production budget and production schedule. Donner responded by claiming he was never given a budget. In July 1977, Richard Lester —who had previously directed The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) for
10595-583: The Lester footage she looks thinner. Before the film's release, Warner Bros. had appealed to the Directors Guild of America to arbitrate the appropriate co-director credit, in which they argued Lester could not be credited unless he shot 40 percent of the film. Although Lester had earlier thought he would not be credited, he approached Donner to see if he wished to be credited as co-director. Donner replied, "I don't share credit". Composer John Williams
10758-517: The Magician (1939), The Shadow (1940), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Batman (1943), The Phantom (1943), Captain America (1944), and Superman (1948). Between 1941 and 1943, Fleischer Studios produced a series of animated short films based on the Superman comic book . In the following decades, the decline of Saturday matinee showings of serials along with turmoil in
10921-522: The New 52 present day, with the current fortress once more in the Arctic. In the New 52, Supergirl also has her own fortress, known as Sanctuary, and located in the depths of the ocean. This fortress first appears in Supergirl (vol. 5) #12 with its purpose explained in Supergirl (vol. 5) #13. In Action Comics (vol. 2) #15, Superman is revealed to have a fortress which he refers to as his " Yucatan base",
11084-647: The No. 38 place of Lex Luthor ) in 2007. Pop culture website IGN placed General Zod at No. 30 on their list of the 'Top 50 Comic Book Villains' while commenting "Stamp is Zod" (emphasis in original). The film opened on 19 screens in Australia and grossed A$ 287,072 in its first four days. On its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, Superman II broke box office records with a first day gross of $ 4.3 million. The next day, it grossed $ 5.5 million, which at
11247-433: 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, Tess Mercer , as she searched for
11410-550: 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. In Superman and its sequels (except for Superman III , in which it did not appear),
11573-482: The Phantom Zone through its projector. In "Welcome Back, Kara!", following the rescue mission of Kara and her father Zor-El from the Phantom Zone, Kara and her father go to the Fortress to find a data about Kryptonian's oceans from the past to solve the pollution in the Earth's oceans caused by the garbage consisting of DEO's ruins which were dumped by Lex Luthor. Their robot Kelex approaches and Zor gets idea to use him for this mission. In "The Gauntlet", Kara and Lena go to
11736-433: The Phantom Zone. 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
11899-834: The Pieces ," which appears both in the restaurant in Idaho and during Clark's second encounter with Rocky in the Alaska diner. The music was performed at the CTS Studios, Wembley, London in the Spring of 1980 by a studio session orchestra (rather than the London Symphony Orchestra , which had played for the first film). The soundtrack was released on Warner Bros. Records , with one edition featuring laser-etched "S" designs repeated five times on each side. A complete score
12062-559: The Salkinds—came onboard the project as an uncredited associate producer and intermediary on Superman to mediate the relationship between Donner and the Salkinds, who were no longer on speaking terms. Prior to this, Lester had won a lawsuit against the Salkinds for money still owed to him from making the films, but the assets were held in legal entanglements in the Bahamas . The Salkinds then offered to compensate him if he would help on
12225-657: The Starro population through a boom tube back to the world where the original Starro came from. 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
12388-577: 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
12551-536: The Sun. After landing on the Moon and effortlessly killing a team of astronauts exploring there, they continue toward Earth with plans to conquer the planet. The Daily Planet sends journalist Clark Kent—whose secret identity is Superman—and his colleague Lois Lane to Niagara Falls . Lois suspects Clark and Superman are the same person after Clark is absent when Superman saves a child. Lois intentionally places herself in
12714-591: The Three-Headed Monster (1964). By the 1970s, Godzilla came to be viewed as a superhero, with the magazine King of the Monsters in 1977 describing Godzilla as "Superhero of the '70s". Donald F. Glut wrote that Godzilla was "the most universally popular superhero of 1977." The year 1966 saw the debut of the Ultra Series with the kaiju TV show Ultra Q . However, with the release of
12877-407: The United States and Canada on June 19—six months after its release in other parts of the world. To promote the film, The New York Times reported that Warner Bros. had licensees for 34 products including posters, Pepsi-Cola , pajamas, and T-shirts with Superman carrying the American flag. They had also enlisted their publishing division to produce calendars, pop-up books, a film novelization,
13040-788: The Universe (1987), Bollywood 's Mr. India (1987), Ultraman: The Adventure Begins (1987), Kousoku Sentai Turboranger: The Movie (1989), and The Punisher (1989). The success of Tim Burton 's Batman (1989) and its direct follow-up, Batman Returns (1992), spawned the DC Animated Universe . Superhero movies from the 1990s include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its two sequels , RoboCop 2 (1990), Darkman (1990), Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue (1992), RoboCop 3 (1993),
13203-403: The added footage was shot by Donner before Richard Lester became director. 17 of the 24 added minutes were utilized by ABC for its 1984 network premiere. Subsequent ABC airings of the longer version would be cut further for more advertising time. The full 146-minute extended cut was shown internationally, including parts of Canada. The added footage offers an alternative ending to the film. In
13366-560: The animated Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Kamen Rider ZO (1993), Kamen Rider J (1994), Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Movie , The Shadow (1994), The Mask (1994), Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The Movie (1994), Blankman (1994), Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: The Movie (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), Tank Girl (1995), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) and
13529-992: The arrival of General Zod & his comrades on Earth, following their release from the Phantom Zone (a prison that had been made by the people of Krypton). Zod seeks revenge for imprisonment by pursuing the planet's last son, Kal-El, alias “Superman.” As a result, Kal-El, who had unknowingly freed them, must now face threats from his long-dead home planet. Zod also allies with Lex Luthor , who still aspires to world domination. The hero also faces an internal conflict, torn between his duties as Earth's hero and his desire to live amongst them solely as Clark Kent, and especially with his love interest, Lois Lane . In 1977, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided that they would film Superman and its sequel simultaneously; principal photography began in March 1977 and ended in October 1978. Tensions rose between original director Richard Donner and
13692-523: The artificial intelligence of his mother Lara, Superman removes his superpowers by exposing himself to red Kryptonian sunlight in a crystal chamber, becoming a mortal. Clark and Lois spend the night together, then leave the Fortress and return from the Arctic. Meanwhile, Zod and his cohorts travel to the White House and force the President of the United States to surrender. Clark and Lois arrive at
13855-464: 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
14018-402: The bounty on Supergirl's head. She refused and attacked Supergirl with kryptonite daggers, nearly killing her. Mon-El interrupted and decided to go with his mother to save Kara's life. In "Resist", during Daxamite invasion on Earth, Cadmus and DEO propose an alliance to stop invaders and save Lena Luthor and Mon-El from Rhea. Kara, Lilian Luthor and Hank Henshaw enter the Fortress to activate
14181-436: The chamber to expose the trio to red sunlight while Superman was protected from it. Non falls into another crevice when trying to fly over it, and Lois knocks Ursa into a third. Superman flies back to civilization, returning Lois home and leaving Lex stranded in the Fortress. At the Daily Planet the following day, Clark kisses Lois, using his abilities to wipe her mind of the knowledge of her past few days. Later, he returns to
14344-457: The combined efforts of Green Lantern , Wonder Woman and Cyborg . 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
14507-600: The comic book industry slowed superhero motion picture production, with the exception of Superman and the Mole Men (1951) starring George Reeves , and Batman (1966), a big-screen extension of the Batman television series starring Adam West . Superman and the Mole Men served as a pilot for the TV series Adventures of Superman . Compilations of the series were later released theatrically. In 1957, Shintoho produced
14670-641: The comics. Another replacement happened when set designer John Barry suddenly collapsed on the nearby set of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and died from meningitis . Peter Murton was then hired in Barry's place. Before filming was to begin, Christopher Reeve was initially unavailable as he had agreed to star in the film Somewhere in Time , five months into the production shutdown by which time his contract to shoot both Superman films back-to-back had expired. Reeve had claimed that twelve hours after his casting
14833-567: The concept of " faster than a speeding bullet " on-screen. Inspector Gadget and Mystery Men would then follow to close out the decade for the sub-genre. Following the success of the Kamen Rider Kuuga television series, a new era of the Kamen Rider franchise began. This led to the production of annual Kamen Rider movies, starting with Kamen Rider Agito: Project G4 in 2001. The release of Iron Man in 2008 laid
14996-561: 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
15159-514: The diner and gets even with Rocky. Superman restores the damage done by Zod, replacing the American flag atop the White House, and tells the President he will not abandon his duty again. According to the 2006 documentary You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman , Sarah Douglas was the only cast member to do extensive around-the-world press tours in support of the film and was one of
15322-429: The director, Lester re-shot most of the film: principal photography resumed in September 1979 and ended in March 1980. The film was released in Australia and most of Europe on December 4, 1980, and in other countries in 1981. It received positive reviews from film critics, who praised the performances of Hackman, Kidder, Stamp and Reeve, as well as the visual effects and the humor. It grossed $ 216 million worldwide against
15485-474: The entire building black and produces the symbol for "Doom" on the floor. Chloe is then brought back to the Fortress after Doomsday crashed her and Jimmy's wedding where Brainiac downloads himself into Chloe leaving the Fortress itself and began to physically download all the knowledge into himself via Chloe. Brainiac then places Davis Bloom, Doomsday's human form in a Kryptonian chamber where it will take days to permanently transform him into Doomsday. After Brainiac
15648-419: 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
15811-441: 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
15974-498: 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
16137-540: The episodes "The Stolen Costume" and "Superman in Exile". 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,
16300-430: The falls, but Clark saves her without exposing himself. That night, Clark trips, and his hand lands in a lit fireplace. When Lois sees that his hand is unscathed, Clark reveals that he is indeed Superman. He takes her to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic , showing her the traces of his past stored within energy crystals. Superman declares his love for Lois and his wish to spend his life with her. After conferring with
16463-498: The few actors who held a neutral point of view in the Donner–Lester controversy. Richard Donner briefly appears in a "walking cameo" in the film. In the sequence where the de-powered Clark and Lois are seen approaching the truck-stop diner by car, Donner appears walking "camera left" past the driver's side. He is wearing a light tan jacket and appears to be smoking a pipe. In his commentary for Superman II , Ilya Salkind states that
16626-580: The fifth season episode "Tremors", Kara and Lena go to the Fortress to find one of the Luthor's confiscated weapons to deal with alien being Rama-Khan, who comes to challenge Supergirl and Lena before he is defeated and escapes. Lena takes Myriad, revealing that she used Supergirl to get it and traps her in reprogrammed protocol defense while she escapes with transmatter portal in Lex's hideout Mount Norquay. In "Deus Lex Machina", Supergirl uses Myriad in Fortress to find
16789-493: The film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times , who gave the original film very high acclaim, also praised Superman II , giving it four out of four stars. He wrote in his review, "This movie's most intriguing insight is that Superman's disguise as Clark Kent isn't a matter of looks as much as of mental attitude: Clark
16952-834: The film in every part of the world during their peak movie-going period. The film premiered in Australia on Thursday, December 4, 1980, and opened at the weekend in South Africa, followed by France on December 10 with Christmastime releases in Italy and Spain . The film opened in the United Kingdom and West Germany in Easter 1981. On June 1, 1981, the film premiered at the National Theater in New York City , and received its general release in 1,354 theaters in
17115-420: The film rights to the property and was therefore not released theatrically or on home video . Alex Proyas ' The Crow (1994) became the first independent comic superhero film to establish a franchise. The film introduced a level of violence not seen in previous superhero films targeted at younger audiences and bridged a gap to the more modern action film . The success of The Crow may have influenced
17278-489: The film's original shooting script and shot, was to have Jor-El restore his superpowers by reaching out to him in a tableau reminiscent of the painting The Creation of Adam , but the younger Salkind felt it was over the top. The first scene was re-shot with actress Susannah York taking Brando's place while the restoration of Superman's powers would take place off-screen. Location shooting took place in Canada, Paris, Norway and Saint Lucia . The Metropolis scenes—in contrast to
17441-702: 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. The Fortress appears in the Supergirl episode " Solitude ". As in the comics, it is opened with a massive dwarf star matter key (about 1 metre (3.3 ft) long and 20 centimetres (7.9 in) thick) and appears to be built from either crystal or ice. It contains Kal-El's spaceship, his parents' statue,
17604-574: The first film serial featuring the tokusatsu superhero character, Super Giant , signaling a shift in Japanese popular culture toward masked superheroes in tokusatsu . Along with Astro Boy , the Super Giant film series greatly influenced later Japanese tokusatsu superhero films. Moonlight Mask also became popular around that time, with six films retelling the story of the TV series were made. Another early Japanese superhero film
17767-574: The first film where they were filmed on location in New York—were filmed entirely on the back lot at Pinewood. The East Houston, Idaho scenes were shot on Chobham Common in Surrey , 30 miles from London. Throughout filming, Lester opted to retain his directorial technique for the three-camera setup while shooting scenes, which frustrated the actors as they did not know from where they were being filmed for their close-ups. However, Reeve noted that it made
17930-451: The following for content: Among the footage seen in the international/Canadian telecasts: In 2004, the fan-restored DVD known as Superman II: Restored International Cut was released through many Superman fan sites. It featured extended scenes pulled from international television broadcasts over the years. Warner Bros. threatened legal action over the bootleg release . During the production of Superman Returns , Warner Bros. acquired
18093-636: The footage shot by Donner in 1977 was recovered and transferred from a vault in England. The new edition, titled Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut , was released on DVD, HD DVD , and Blu-ray on November 28, 2006. In order to make Donner's vision of Superman II feel less incomplete, finished scenes by Lester that Donner was unable to shoot were incorporated into the film as well as the screen tests by Reeve and Kidder for one pivotal scene. The film also restores several cut scenes including Marlon Brando as Jor-El, an alternate prologue and opening sequence at
18256-423: The fortress seeking out Kal-El's whereabouts and the purpose of program Myriad. When Kelex refuses to give information to her, the fortress triggered a hologram of her mother of which she explained to her about Myriad's programming. In "The Last Children of Krypton", Superman and J'onn J'onzz visit this place to find information about Metallo . In " The Darkest Place ", Hank Henshaw /Cyborg Superman gains access to
18419-499: The future. 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. The Fortress has several appearances in the Super Friends animated series. The Super Friends version of the Fortress of Solitude is said to be located "in a deserted region of the frozen Arctic". In the episode "Terror at 20,000 Fathoms", Superman gives Aquaman ,
18582-405: The groundwork for the Marvel Cinematic Universe . A few months later, The Dark Knight released to widespread critical acclaim and became the first superhero movie to make over $ 1 billion at the worldwide box office. 2009 saw the release of Watchmen and X-Men Origins: Wolverine . The 2010s saw a continuation and expansion of the box-office success of superhero films from the 2000s, taking
18745-495: The highest-grossing superhero film franchises since 1967 include Tsuburaya Productions ' Ultra Series , Toei Company 's Kamen Rider and Super Sentai , New Line Cinema 's Blade , 20th Century Fox 's X-Men , Sony Pictures ' Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi , the Amazing Spider-Man duology directed by Marc Webb , Pixar 's The Incredibles , Christopher Nolan 's Dark Knight Trilogy ,
18908-457: 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
19071-511: The inclusion of his cameo in that scene is proof that the Salkinds held no animosity towards Donner, because if there were, then surely they would have cut it out. Conversely, Donner used his cameo to debunk praise heaped on Lester around the release of the film where Lester took credit for the intense nature of the "bully" scene in the diner, pointing out that he (Donner) filmed the scene and not Lester. Principal photography for both Superman films began on March 28, 1977 at Pinewood Studios for
19234-414: 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. The Fortress contained an alien zoo,
19397-490: The next three weekends, outpacing Raiders of the Lost Ark , but Raiders eventually overtook it and returned to number one in its sixth week of release. In its first month of release, Superman II had grossed $ 75 million, and went on to gross $ 108.2 million in the United States and Canada (with the gross rental coming to $ 65 million), the third highest-grossing film of 1981 . Internationally, it grossed $ 108.2 million for
19560-478: The now deceased Lex in Northern Greenland , Clark successfully rebuilt the Fortress to resume his training with Jor-El as well as to remove Brainiac from Chloe Sullivan. After completing this Jor-El told Kal-El that he was proud of him and will help in his fight with Doomsday. After Clark leaves Brainiac who has been hiding within the crystal console in his liquid form takes over the Fortress and changes
19723-461: The nuclear terrorists at the Eiffel Tower , Clark rescuing Lois at Niagara Falls, and a new ending in which Clark causes Lois to forget his secret identity through a hypnotic kiss. Furthermore, cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth had died before the release of Superman . Now director, Lester was not sympathetic to Donner's filmmaking style: "Donner was emphasizing a kind of grandiose myth. There
19886-486: 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
20049-614: The original Ultraman , the franchise started focusing on superheroes. The series was met with a 36.8% average audience rate, a success. In 1967, Ultraman started expanding to films. Early films, such as Ultraman: Monster Movie Feature , were compilations or theatrical releases of TV shows' episodes. The first original Ultraman film was The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army , a co-production with Thailand . This rise in popularity of television superheroes in Japan led to
20212-552: The original green crystal that Lois left on the floor, sparing it when the control module and all the other crystals are destroyed after Superman becomes human. Lex Luthor escapes from prison with Eve Teschmacher's help. They infiltrate the Fortress of Solitude, and Luthor learns of Superman's connection to Jor-El and General Zod. He finds Zod at the White House and tells him Superman is the son of Jor-El, their jailer, and offers to lead him to Superman in exchange for control of Australia . The three Kryptonians ally with Luthor and go to
20375-407: The original theatrical version of the film. Before the destruction of Krypton , the criminals General Zod , Ursa and Non are sentenced to banishment into the Phantom Zone . Years later, the Phantom Zone is shattered near Earth by the shockwave of a hydrogen bomb , thrown from Earth by Superman . The three criminals are freed and find themselves with superpowers granted by the yellow light of
20538-479: The pause in filming, the Salkinds agreed to a negative pickup deal with Warner Bros. Pictures , granting the studio rights to foreign distribution and television airings in exchange for more financing. Following the release of Superman in December 1978, Spengler encountered Variety columnist Army Archerd at a Christmas party at which he confirmed that while there had been tension between him and Donner, he
20701-509: 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. In
20864-428: The people who are stuck in virtual reality, but is incapacitated by Sun-Eater, which is released by Morae, an Leviathan operative who infiltrated under the orders from Lex Luthor. Morae is later captured by Supergirl and her friends. Lex later comes into the Fortress by using transmatter portal when finding its coordinates, which is later revealed in "The Missing Link" that he stole rings for Rama Khan to kill Supergirl. In
21027-444: The producers, as a result of which a decision was made to stop filming the sequel, 75 percent of which had already been completed, and simply finish the first film. After the release of Superman in December 1978, Donner was fired as director (a controversial decision) and replaced by Lester. Several members of the cast and crew declined to return to complete the sequel in the wake of Donner's firing. In order to be officially credited as
21190-401: The production move at a faster pace. Filming was completed on March 10, 1980. Due to budgetary reasons and actors being unavailable, key scenes filmed by Donner were added to the final film. Since the Lester footage was shot two years later, continuity errors are present in the physique and styling of stars Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. In Donner's footage, Reeve appears less bulked as he
21353-570: The release of a film version of Spawn (1997), Image Comics ' leading character. After Marvel bought Malibu Comics (the company that owned The Men in Black comic series), Marvel and Columbia Pictures released the Men in Black film in 1997. This film was the first Marvel property to win an Academy Award and, at the time, was the highest-grossing comic book adaptation. While commercially successful, Joel Schumacher 's Batman & Robin (1997)
21516-617: The renegotiation of his contract, Reeve agreed to the financial terms, but demanded more artistic control. Filming for Superman II re-commenced in September 1979 at Pinewood Studios. The remaining sequences left to be shot included the scenes of the super-villains in Midwest America and the battle in Metropolis . With Brando cut from the film, the decision was made to re-shoot the scene in which Clark confesses his love for Lois and surrender his powers. Another scene, as written in
21679-418: The rights from Marlon Brando's estate to use the late actor's footage from Superman in the film. Shortly after, Ilya Salkind confirmed that Donner was involved in the project to re-cut Superman II using Brando's unused footage. Editor Michael Thau worked on the project alongside Donner and Tom Mankiewicz , who supervised the Superman II reconstruction. Despite some initial confusion, Thau confirmed that all
21842-423: The season six premiere, "Rebirth", Kara uses the Fortress as a distraction for Lex Luthor, while her friends attempt to destroy his satellites with the program that enables the citizens around the world to follow and love him. After destroying the satellites by J'onzz and M'gann, they confront the super-powered Lex in the Fortress. Lex is ultimately defeated after his powers were drained, but not before sending Kara to
22005-439: The sequel titled Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow premiered. In 1998, Marvel released Blade , a darker superhero film blended with traditional action elements, featuring a title character with the powers of a vampire and an arsenal of weaponry. The success of Blade is considered the beginning of Marvel's film success, and a catalyst for further comic book film adaptations. The popularity of
22168-409: The sequel. Gene Hackman declined to return for re-shoots, which necessitated the need for a stand-in actor and a voice double for several scenes. To replace Mankiewicz, Superman co-screenwriters David and Leslie Newman were then brought back to re-tool the script constructing a new opening and ending. The new script featured newly conceived scenes such as a new opening involving Superman thwarting
22331-451: The ship is revealed to have crash-landed in the Arctic Circle. Task Force X , led by Amanda Waller , scavenge the ship to collect its technology, until they are defeated by Superman, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, the events of which turn the ship into the Fortress of Solitude. 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
22494-517: The spaceship, while staying behind to confront Rhea. In "Nevertheless, She Persisted" Kara and Kal-El are taken to Fortress by Alex to be healed after their fight when Superman was poisoned with silver kryptonite by Rhea, hallucinating and thinking that he was fighting against General Zod. Kal-El then enters database to find a way to stop Daxamite war and finds it in the form of fighting ritual called Dakkar-Ur. The Fortress also appears in season four episodes where Nia Mal uses this place for her training. In
22657-523: The start of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises by famous manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori in 1971 and 1975, respectively. Similarly to Ultraman , many early Kamen Rider and Super Sentai episodes were released as films. Original Kamen Rider films released before 1978 include Kamen Rider vs. Shocker , Kamen Rider vs. Ambassador Hell , Kamen Rider V3 vs. Destron Mutants, and Five Riders vs. King Dark . Original superhero characters emerged in other, more comedy-oriented films , such as
22820-466: 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
22983-721: The sub-genre's success and ubiquity to new heights. Matthew Vaughn 's adaptation of Kick-Ass was released in 2010, followed by Iron Man 2 a month later. 2011 releases included The Green Hornet , Green Lantern , and X-Men: First Class . After referencing the " Avengers Initiative " in the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk , Marvel released Thor on May 6, 2011, followed by Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, 2011. While Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (February 17, 2012) had little audience interest, superhero films dominated
23146-543: 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. This version of the Fortress physically resembles the movie and television depictions, and Superman communicates with Jor-El via crystal constructs as in
23309-556: The superhero film, setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century. John Kenneth Muir , in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television , describes The Matrix as a revolutionary re-imagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films. He credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip", and notes that its bullet-time effect effectively demonstrated
23472-406: The theatrical cut, it is implied that Superman has killed the three Kryptonian villains (going against the strict code that Superman does not kill). In the extended ending, a U.S. "polar patrol" is shown picking up the three Kryptonians and Lex Luthor, after which Superman, with Lois standing beside him, destroys the Fortress of Solitude. Among the other "lost" scenes: Some telecast versions remove
23635-404: The three into the crystal chamber to depower them. However, Luthor reveals the chamber's secret to the villains. Zod forces Superman into the chamber and activates it. Afterwards, assuming him deprived of his powers, Zod tells Superman to kneel, take his hand and swear eternal loyalty to him; instead, Superman crushes Zod's hand and tosses him into a crevice. Luthor deduces that Superman reconfigured
23798-406: The time was the highest-single box office day, surpassing the record previously set by Star Wars (1977) with $ 4.5 million. It also recorded the highest-grossing weekend up to that time with $ 14.1 million, surpassing the record $ 11.9 million set by Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and the $ 13.1 million 4-day weekend set by Superman in its third weekend. The film remained number one for
23961-454: 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
24124-420: Was Ōgon Bat (1966), starring Sonny Chiba and based on the 1931 Kamishibai superhero Ōgon Bat . The kaiju monster Godzilla , originally a villain, began to transition into a superhero role in subsequent films. He has been described as "the original radioactive superhero," due to his nuclear origin story predating Spider-Man's 1962 debut, although Godzilla did not become a hero until Ghidorah,
24287-670: Was a critical and commercial success. The same year, Toei Company 's Spider-Man reimagining and the first Super Sentai crossover film, JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger , were released. Other successful entries emerged throughout the 1980s, including Eight Riders vs. Galaxy King (1980), Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie (1981), Richard Lester 's Superman II (1981), Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge (1981), and Paul Verhoeven 's RoboCop (1987). These were followed by Kamen Rider Black: Hurry to Onigashima and Kamen Rider Black: Terrifying! The Phantom House of Devil Pass , both released in 1988. Other superhero films released during
24450-401: Was a kind of David Lean -ish attempt in several sequences, and enormous scale. There was a type of epic quality which isn't in my nature, so my work really didn't embrace that...That's not me. That's his vision of it. I'm more quirky and I play around with slightly more unexpected silliness." Lester then brought on cinematographer Robert Paynter to have the film evoke the garish color scheme of
24613-464: Was announced, he received a letter from the producers to be available for Superman II on July 16, which was only five days after he was to finish filming Somewhere in Time . In March 1979, the Salkinds filed suit against Reeve alleging he had breached his contract by walking off the sequel. Furthermore, Reeve had reservations with Lester and the Newmans' script following the departure of Donner. During
24776-491: Was controversial amongst the cast and crew. Creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz was approached by Terry Semel , then a Warner Bros. vice president, to return for the sequel, but he declined out of loyalty to Donner. Mankiewicz recounted, "I have a lot of respect for [Lester]. Friendship is more important than anything. And Dick [Donner] brought me on the picture and my loyalty was with Dick and I couldn't believe that they fired him." Editor Stuart Baird also declined to return for
24939-432: Was critically panned for its campiness and deviation from the darker style of the series' first two films directed by Tim Burton. Some have cited it as a factor in the temporary decline of the superhero film sub-genre. Starting with the 1990s, original Ultraman films became more common. In 1996, Tsuburaya released Ultraman Zearth , which parodied the original TV series and later installments. The following year,
25102-488: Was defeated by Clark and the Legion of Super Hero's Brainiac's connection to the Fortress was terminated and all the knowledge he stole returned as well as the Fortress turning back white. A few months after Jimmy was killed Clark was able to repair the Fortress and his connection to Jor-El to resume his Kryptonian training. Although fully repaired there were still a number crystallized pillars that were still black after Brainiac
25265-453: Was defeated. However, it was discovered that the Fortress was repairing itself and by the following year, after Clark defeated Zod, all the black crystal pillars were destroyed with Fortress of Solitude fully repaired and purged of corruption ready to serve Clark in his quest to become Superman. During the series' tenth and final season, the Fortress became home to a Martha Kent -crafted, classic Superman costume, which Clark would go on to don in
25428-491: Was originally slated to score Superman II , whereby he was given a screening with Ilya Salkind and Richard Lester. When Salkind left the projection room, Williams and Lester fell into an argument; when Salkind returned, Williams told him that he "could not get along with this man." To take his place, Richard Lester's frequent composer Ken Thorne was selected to score the sequel. Thorne wrote minimal original material and adapted source music, such as Average White Band 's " Pick Up
25591-495: Was promoting Superman in Europe, the Salkinds approached Guy Hamilton to take over directional reins for Superman II since Lester was filming Cuba (1979) at the time. Hamilton was unavailable, but by the time Superman II was ready to begin filming, Lester had completed Cuba and was available to direct. Eventually, on March 15, 1979, the Salkinds decided to replace Donner with Richard Lester. Donner recalled, "One day, I got
25754-415: Was proud of the film and looked forward to working with him on the sequel. Archerd then contacted Donner who responded "If he's on it—I'm not." Two days after the first film's general release, Marlon Brando had sued the Salkinds for $ 50 million claiming he had never received his percentage of the film's gross and filed a restraining order to prevent the use of his likeness. While his restraining order request
25917-469: Was released in 2008, as part of Superman: The Music--1978-1988 , an 8-CD box set released by Film Score Monthly, with a limited edition of 6,000 units. As part of Superman's 80th anniversary, La-La Land Records released Thorne's expanded orchestral scores for the second and third film into the expanded archival collection in October 2018. During a preview of the finished film, Warner Bros. executives had hoped to maximize its box office returns by releasing
26080-468: Was removed due to creative differences, in which he suggested to his father: "What if it's the mother [instead]? She talks about love to her son. And it kind of made sense creatively....Jor-El had done his thing if you want." Donner publicly lambasted this decision, in which he told Variety , "That means no games... They have to want me to do it. It has to be on my terms and I don't mean financially. I mean control." As Donner had become unavailable because he
26243-424: Was still gaining muscle for the part. Kidder also has dramatic changes throughout; in the montage of Lester–Donner material, shot inside the Daily Planet and the Fortress of Solitude near the movie's conclusion, her hairstyle, hair color, and even make-up are all inconsistent. Kidder's physical appearance in the Lester footage is noticeably different; during the scenes shot for Donner she appears slender, whereas in
26406-404: 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
26569-415: Was thrown out, Brando received $ 15 million from the settlement. Following this, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind announced that Marlon Brando's completed scenes for Superman II would be excised from the movie to avoid having to pay the actor the reported 11.75% of gross U.S. box-office takings he was now demanding for his performance in the sequel. In addition to this, Ilya Salkind had also claimed Brando
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