What's your ideal FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE?

[Jokerz79]

My ideal Fortress is a hybrid combination of the All-Star Superman Fortress and the Post-Crisis Fortress with Kelex and the Krpytonian Warsuit and other artifacts.

[superduperman]

I always thought his Fortress should be in space! Like Supreme! I've always been partial to the pre-Crisis Fortress. Trophies, zoo, weapons armory, the whole bit. Although I'd probably substitute the zoo for a greenhouse. Alien plants from other worlds. Less maintenance. Maybe have it be an asteroid like Magneto's Asteroid M or the Justice League HQ on Young Justice. It would have a room for the Phantom Zone where an entire wall is a mirror into that world. And a holodeck type room. Depending on how big it is I might include an exact life-size replica of Smallville. A room for monitoring all news broadcasts on Earth. Humans would get there through a teleporter like the JL satellite. The giant train engine with the coal car is an absolute must! And the giant ship! Though it wouldn't hang from the ceiling, it would be on the floor. Maybe have a space shuttle hang from the ceiling instead! The trophy room would be at least three stories and have a staircase that goes up to each level. Finally, he would have an "observation deck" which would be a room with giant windows overlooking Earth and his floating chair from the post-Crisis Fortress. It would be at the top of the Fortress. Like the bridge of the Enterprise. The windows would be huge. Maybe the only other things in it would be his various costumes in glass displays. This is the "solitude" part of the Fortress. Kelex and other robots like him would maintain the place. It would have external weapons systems and an invisibility shield to block it from detection.

[Ascended]

Finally, he would have an "observation deck" which would be a room with giant windows overlooking Earth and his floating chair from the post-Crisis Fortress. It would be at the top of the Fortress. Like the bridge of the Enterprise. The windows would be huge. Maybe the only other things in it would be his various costumes in glass displays. This is the "solitude" part of the Fortress.

Make the windows force fields that he can pass through so he can just dive into orbit (and action!) without having to find an exit and Im sold on the idea.

[Jon Clark]

Think of a stable TARDIS. The actual police box never leaves the place it is in. Instead the Doctor would move the exit from any given room to a different location in space and time.

Now replace the Doctor with Superman and the TARDIS with his Fortress.

So we have the giant metal door camouflaged in the Arctic. But now even if you find the door and bypass the weaponized 50ft keyhole you still don't necessarily find anything behind that door but ice. That door is just a convenient marker for the transdimenional opening to the real Fortress. And once inside leaving by the same opening might lead to the Kent home, a specific asteroid orbiting between Jupiter and Mars, a Kryptonian embassy on Oa, a garden on New Genesis, or any of dozens of places across the universe.

Inside the Fortress we have areas (rooms) that are perfect replicas of Krypton down to the fact that inside Superman and Supergirl would be "powerless". These are not Kandor but more like miniature natural parks where Superman can visit the Scarlet Jungle, experience the Fire Falls, or perform certain Rao-ist ceremonies. We also have the Interplanetary Zoo consisting of similar rooms which duplicate native environments for various "last survivors" of dead worlds. With a little prep time Superman could modify certain rooms to allow alien visitors to feel perfectly at home.

Other areas include the Labs/weapons lockers where Superman can perform experiments (or have robotic helpers do so) without worrying about the consequences. If his anti-matter engine mix is a little off the explosion will be contained. If he accidentally unleashes a mutant strain of Virus-X it can't escape into normal space to threaten anyone. And there is no reason to worry that the Ultimate Nullifier even if someone activated it would affect anything outside of the Fortress.

There of course are the holo-chambers recreating Smallville, Legion HQ, The JLA Satellite, Jon's childhood "imaginary" adventures, the Daily Planet bullpen, and other memorabilia. But the major holo-chambers are the ones that house the Kandor project (an artificial city simulation designed by Brainiac- complete with simulated Kryptonian inhabitants) and the Phantom Room, where Superman is able to monitor the phantom Zone without actually entering it.

The entire place is controlled from the EL-central crystal chamber - a computer system using light and crystals to perform near instantaneous calculations and storing the known knowledge of the 38 known galaxies. The database at one point consisted of an artificial interface based on Jor-El and Lara, but both the intergration of the Coluan info-systems taken from Brainiac and Superman's discovery of Kryptonian bias in the original records led to the replacement of that system.

The computer systems and various "rooms" are monitored and maintained by both the central crystal chamber and various robotic caretakers. These vary from the Kryptonian droids modified by John Irons to the Superman robots based on Emil Hamilton's designs. Superman also has some special robots such as the combat trainer Muhali, the Kryptonian evaluation bit sent by Jor-El to monitor his son's maturity (since reprogrammed with artificial sentience), and the Superboy robot "Friday".

[Sacred Knight]

That's badass. Doctor Who, Star Trek, Rick and Morty, all rolled into one, haha.

[Jim Kelly]

I'm with Jon Clark on this, in that the Fortress--like the TARDIS and Snoopy's doghouse--is bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside. The virtue of this is that every iteration of the Fortress probably exists, we just see different parts of the Fortress in different stories. Also, like the Doctor, Superman is always changing things around.

I like the Fortress being in Canada's far north. It gives me some Canadian content and I'd like more to be written about the north, as climate change is rapidly altering the environment. I think comic books should enlighten, inform and educate, in addition to entertain the reader.

Superman did have a Fortress in outer space (on a planetoid). I know this from SUPERMAN No. 187/G-23 (June ’66): "An All-Star Collection Featuring Superman’s Inner Sanctum!"

He's also temporarily moved the Fortress to Metropolis and to the ocean floor. Plus, at different times, he's had a Fortress in a mountain eyrie and in the Antarctic.

I have no problem with these short-lived changes of address, but the Fortress of Solitude should be in the Arctic. I always got a kick out of Superman and Santa Claus being neighbours.

[Superlad93]

Well done Jon Clark!

I agree with the TARDIS analogy. I partly wanted to evoke that with the small unassuming basement door look. I'll probably post more later because that was a pretty abbreviated version of my idea, but I'd also add in that the rooms in the Fortress appear to be endless. I pitched it in the Jon thread a while ago, but I imagine a Jon and Jimmy adventure where they get lost in the Fortress. There's also a very special way that the "brainstem" of the Fortress powers the whole structure. I'll probably get into it later.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Lots of great stuff here, especially from Jon Clark and superlad93. superlad's brain setup and approach to the Fortress Zoo in particular, as well as the more action-figure style robots, are all stuff I'd like to see.

I'm in favor of the tesseract setup, both as a security measure and because of the DC One Million connection, though maybe the entrance could be more how Superlad or Ascended suggest it than the big puzzle. At the center is the classic Donner-esque crystal cave that stores the rocket, a heavily revamped Kandor, a flag of Krypton, Jor-El and Lara statues, maybe the Kryptonian sword and shield from Action Comics #329, and the data banks; that was the original Fortress in his earliest days, with the rest being built around it over time. The aesthetic outside of that area needs a rethink - while the Rebirth Superman's creepy prison-Fortress was by no means up my alley, the wide open spaces and greenery really worked for me. Maybe different areas could have different moods: the greenery feel for living quarters; more farmlike with holograms involved for the Zoo, the Superman Molecule taken from the Superman 2000 pitch, a hobby-area, and the workout space (I'd bring that back from the old comics, though with him struggling against black holes and the like rather than playing tug-of-war with robots); the bare-bones All-Star look for the armory and trophy room, which I'd have include all his old costumes (Classic, New 52, Rebirth, t-shirt, Blue, a Black suit whether from his resurrection or time in hiding, the All-Star solar suit, his "new uniform" from Action Comics #236, the costume of the deceased Hyperman of Oceania, etc.); the kind of Kryptonian-Earth technology hybrid feel we saw in Action Comics Annual #10 for the laboratory and 'command center'. The whole thing looks like he's kind of put it together piecemeal over time based on his mood at any given moment, expanding infinitely with nooks and crannies no one but him knows about. You could absolutely walk the wrong way and find yourself in the Fortress of Solidarity, or stranded in Qwewq. The trophy room gets a few more 'permanent' additions; a quill from Jimmy Olsen's time as the porcupine man, a dancing model Daily Planet brought to life by Mxyzptlk, a fully-detailed replica of Htrae, a Multiverse Map, a copy of Action Comics #1 (AND THE TERRIBLE SECRET IT HOLDS), all that. There'd also be a gigantic fridge, expanding infinitely thanks to the endless space allowed, where he'd put every letter and picture he'd receive from a kid. Secretly inside would be all the most dangerous artifacts in the universe that he's gathered over time, stuff he can never let lose, the equivalent of his own personal SCP Foundation; much of it can threaten or tempt even him, so the Fridge is to raise his spirits before entering. And last but not least, I'd go back to the original title of Fort Superman, with only the inner Kryptonian chamber being the "Fortress of Solitude".

[Crawford Crow]

Because of the rough economy, Superman decides to rent some space in the back of the Batcave. :-)

[JAK]

Wow! Great ideas by Superlad and Jon Clark!

The one idea I'd had was to make the key-and-door exterior lead to a sort of "semi-public area" that is visible and seems to have everything he'd need in general but nothing dangerous or specific. At the fortress (and various other places) would be hidden tesseract fortress entrances, leading to the actual private fortress (which I think has been covered much better than I could do, frankly).

This way Superman has a somewhat known "home base" that serves as a means of communication for those who need help and a sort of "false target" for villains (in the same way that Superman said in the past that the emblem and suit serve as a target for bad guys and an vision of relief and hope for those who need him. Not sure if that makes any sense, but there it is. lol

As far as looks on the inside, I love the '86 Fortress - but really love the idea that certain rooms would look like various fortresses we've seen in the past as a means of inclusion.

[Stanlos]

There really aren't many ideas I don't like. Locating in the arctic is cool because it's tough to find for humans (unless it's a big honking stack of crystals) , but south America is cool because that's just fitting for an alien temple.

I like the tesseract fortress because it's ultra sci fi and more practical. Losing the classic hallmarks isn't needed, but I don't find them a big loss.



But I like the 1989 interior. The cold, spacious crystal and ice interior doesn't feel to me like a place someone would actually enjoy. That seat is a must.

Wow @ the visual interpretation of SuperMAN in those scans. Yes please more of that

[Atomic Man]

Think of a stable TARDIS. The actual police box never leaves the place it is in. Instead the Doctor would move the exit from any given room to a different location in space and time.

Now replace the Doctor with Superman and the TARDIS with his Fortress.

So we have the giant metal door camouflaged in the Arctic. But now even if you find the door and bypass the weaponized 50ft keyhole you still don't necessarily find anything behind that door but ice. That door is just a convenient marker for the transdimenional opening to the real Fortress. And once inside leaving by the same opening might lead to the Kent home, a specific asteroid orbiting between Jupiter and Mars, a Kryptonian embassy on Oa, a garden on New Genesis, or any of dozens of places across the universe.

Inside the Fortress we have areas (rooms) that are perfect replicas of Krypton down to the fact that inside Superman and Supergirl would be "powerless". These are not Kandor but more like miniature natural parks where Superman can visit the Scarlet Jungle, experience the Fire Falls, or perform certain Rao-ist ceremonies. We also have the Interplanetary Zoo consisting of similar rooms which duplicate native environments for various "last survivors" of dead worlds. With a little prep time Superman could modify certain rooms to allow alien visitors to feel perfectly at home.

Other areas include the Labs/weapons lockers where Superman can perform experiments (or have robotic helpers do so) without worrying about the consequences. If his anti-matter engine mix is a little off the explosion will be contained. If he accidentally unleashes a mutant strain of Virus-X it can't escape into normal space to threaten anyone. And there is no reason to worry that the Ultimate Nullifier even if someone activated it would affect anything outside of the Fortress.

There of course are the holo-chambers recreating Smallville, Legion HQ, The JLA Satellite, Jon's childhood "imaginary" adventures, the Daily Planet bullpen, and other memorabilia. But the major holo-chambers are the ones that house the Kandor project (an artificial city simulation designed by Brainiac- complete with simulated Kryptonian inhabitants) and the Phantom Room, where Superman is able to monitor the phantom Zone without actually entering it.

The entire place is controlled from the EL-central crystal chamber - a computer system using light and crystals to perform near instantaneous calculations and storing the known knowledge of the 38 known galaxies. The database at one point consisted of an artificial interface based on Jor-El and Lara, but both the intergration of the Coluan info-systems taken from Brainiac and Superman's discovery of Kryptonian bias in the original records led to the replacement of that system.

The computer systems and various "rooms" are monitored and maintained by both the central crystal chamber and various robotic caretakers. These vary from the Kryptonian droids modified by John Irons to the Superman robots based on Emil Hamilton's designs. Superman also has some special robots such as the combat trainer Muhali, the Kryptonian evaluation bit sent by Jor-El to monitor his son's maturity (since reprogrammed with artificial sentience), and the Superboy robot "Friday".

This is brilliant, but I have one nit to pick: the Ultimate Nullifier is a Marvel creation...although Superman did have that crossover with the FF back in the day.

[Jon Clark]

This is brilliant, but I have one nit to pick: the Ultimate Nullifier is a Marvel creation...although Superman did have that crossover with the FF back in the day.

Yes, Marvel has shown it's local Ultimate Nullifier. In fact it has shown versions of it spread through the local omniversal neighborhood. Either the DCU has a similar device native to it or one was brought to the DCU. However it occurred Superman has one in his local Fortress- along with the skull of a T-800, a speck of Supremium, half the skeleton of a Zrfffian, Multiple rockets designed by Jor-(E)L which carried his son to Earth, a seed from a X-O Manowar armor and for yet unexplained reasons a handful or jelly babies preserved in stasis.

[llozymandias]

Yes, Marvel has shown it's local Ultimate Nullifier. In fact it has shown versions of it spread through the local omniversal neighborhood. Either the DCU has a similar device native to it or one was brought to the DCU. However it occurred Superman has one in his local Fortress- along with the skull of a T-800, a speck of Supremium, half the skeleton of a Zrfffian, Multiple rockets designed by Jor-(E)L which carried his son to Earth, a seed from a X-O Manowar armor and for yet unexplained reasons a handful or jelly babies preserved in stasis.

Is the Ultimate Nullifier Originally from the Earth-616 When first seen it was in Galactus' world-ship Taa II. It was never established where/how he got it. Did he create it? Was it given to him? Also it occurs to me that the nullification field it emits is virtually identical to the "anti-matter" wall used by the Anti-Monitor in COIE.

[llozymandias]

My ideal fortress is a cross between the silver/bronze age version & the tesseract. As I imagine it; its duties include being a cosmic fort knox. The exterior could be about the size of the Silver/bronze age version, While the interior is basically a pocket universe. The armory could have a secret section known only to him & his robots, where he stores doomsday weapons from throughout the DC Multiverse. And maybe some from beyond.