List of locations in Superman: The Animated Series
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The following is an overview of the locations depicted in Superman: The Animated Series and the rest of the DC animated universe. Apokolips Jack Kirby's Fourth World was featured heavily in the final season of Superman: The Animated Series with Apokolips as the primary setting in a few episodes. In the final episode "Legacy", Superman faced Darkseid in battle and actually dethroned him as ruler and freed the people of Apokolips, only to watch the citizens help Darkseid recover from his wounds out of divine loyalty. In the successful series Justice League and its continuation, Justice League Unlimited, Apokolips plunged into civil war after Darkseid's death, between two of his generals, Granny Goodness and Virman Vundabar. The League hopes that both sides would destroy each other, so that neither of them can threaten Earth or the universe. But when Darkseid was resurrected by Lex Luthor, he returned to Apokolips to reaffirm his rule, ending the civil war. He then orders his forces to attack Earth, so as to get revenge on Superman and later to head to New Genesis. The Apokolipian forces then came upon Earth via boom tubes. The Justice League, temporarily allied with the Secret Society of Super Villains, fought against them. When Darkseid and Luthor seemingly perished when they clasped their hands on the Anti-Life Equation, the Apokolipian forces retreated back to their home and will possibly be either attacked by the forces of New Genesis for violating the Highfather's pact with Darkseid, or without Darkseid to unite them, will return to civil war for control of Apokilips. Belle Reve Belle Reve appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Task Force X". In this version, the Suicide Squad is called Task Force X; their headquarters, like their comic book counterparts, are in Belle Reve Penitentiary. Bizarro World In the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Bizarro's World", Bizarro finds the Fortress of Solitude, where he interacts with Brainiac and discovers his "origin". Soon he creates his own Krypton on a section of Metropolis and uses a theater as the House of El. Later, Superman gives Bizarro his own world to protect, a moon with vegetation and a green sky showing a Saturn-like planet, and several other moons. The episode is based on the comic book Superman (vol. 2) #87. In a followup episode, "Little Big Head Man", Bizarro had populated his world with mannequins he made of boulders and twigs, and pretended to "protect" the populace. In his own "Fortress of Solitude", there are twig mannequins of his "mama" and "dada" holding a large cube-shaped boulder. Mr. Mxyzptlk appears and tricks him into returning to Earth and attacking Superman. Bizarro is eventually returned to his world with his new sidekick -- Mxyzptlk, who had been temporarily stripped of his powers. Cadmus Labs Project Cadmus (also called Cadmus Project or simply Cadmus) was featured as an adversary of the Justice League in the first season (third overall) of animated series Justice League Unlimited. It is described by Emil Hamilton as "Power brokers, politicians, criminals, and black-ops mercenaries with one thing in common, they're humanity's last hope against your kind". This version is a combination of the comics version of Cadmus, the Suicide Squad (which appeared in the series as Task Force X, its real name in the comics), and Checkmate. In the series, Cadmus is a government project designed to take precautions against the League going rogue. The project was started when Superman was brainwashed by Darkseid into invading Earth at the end of Superman: The Animated Series where the project (called "Project: Achilles") was designed to deal with the Man of Steel if he were to attack the Earth again. It was created by Lex Luthor, and a mutual, bigoted General Nathaniel Hardcastle (voiced by Charles Napier of Rambo: First Blood Part II). The project's goals extended to the Justice League as well after the Justice Lords incident. Members of this version of Cadmus include Amanda Waller, Professor Hamilton, Tala, General Wade Eiling, Professor Milo, Maxwell Lord, Hugo Strange, and Doctor Moon. For a short while, they also had turned Captain Atom to their cause., but returned to the League. In addition, they also had Task Force X, which is the official name for the organization known in DC Comics as the Suicide Squad, for use in risky field missions. Cadmus was later shown to be backed by Lex Luthor, who only financed the project in a grab for superpowers of his own; a new AMAZO robot with Luthor's conscious mind implanted in it. After taking what he needed to build it from Cadmus and learning the League had figured out his link to the organization, Luthor attempted to destroy the organization by hacking into an immense laser built into the League's Watchtower. Although the building was destroyed, Waller "had the facility scrubbed as per standard protocol" after Superman and Huntress broke into to rescue The Question from Moon's captivity. It was then revealed that Brainiac was living inside him at the time, improving upon his physical health and strength while "subtly influencing actions". After they were confronted by Batman and then the rest of the founding members of the Justice League, which Waller had released from custody, Luthor and Braniac escaped to Washington, D.C. to a Cadmus building that looked similar to NSA headquarters in order to merge with the Dark Heart, a nanotechnology-like alien being in which the League defeated thanks to Ray Palmer The Atom. After both of them were defeated, Cadmus ceased operations against the League and the Justice League announced the establishment of a planetside base to improve their public relations. However, there were a few former members of Cadmus who were still against the Justice League, such as Tala or General Eiling. They were responsible for creating Galatea (a clone of Supergirl who resembles Power Girl), Doomsday, the Royal Flush Gang, Volcana, the Ultimen (a team of genetically engineered heroes who are a pastiche of several heroes created for the Super Friends series) and ultimately Terry McGinnis (Batman II). When the Joker took the Royal Flush Gang from Cadmus, he also stole some technology he would later use to overwrite his DNA into Tim Drake during Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker as explained in Epilogue. Daily Planet In Superman: The Animated Series, in the episode "," it is mentioned that the Daily Planet has offices in Gotham City, as well when Lois Lane says she is transferring "to the Planet ' s Gotham City bureau." Fortress of Solitude Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited present a slightly altered version, with the Fortress located in the ocean underneath the Arctic tundra; access was gained by diving into the Arctic water and emerging in an opening inside the Fortress. This version contained an alien zoo housing alien life-forms saved from The Preserver's ship and some computer equipment, along with a Brainiac information sphere stolen from his hijacked spacecraft just before it was destroyed, which is used by Superman to access information about Krypton. The fortress also contains massive sculptures of Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara, serving as monuments to Krypton. The Fortress of Solitude is also a major setting for the Justice League Unlimited episode "For the Man Who Has Everything". A fight with the warlord Mongul took place there, after he delivered a parasite capable of hypnosis to Superman and was detected by Batman and Wonder Woman. In this version, the name "Fortress of Solitude" was given by Professor Emil Hamilton in a sarcastically humorous remark while he visited the Fortress in one episode. Kandor Kandor is mentioned by Brainiac in Justice League Unlimited. This is not the real Brainiac, but a simulacrum created for as part of a dream world for Superman by the alien creature known as the Black Mercy. Krypton In Superman: The Animated Series, "The Last Son of Krypton", the first part of a three-part pilot episode, depicts Krypton as being basically similar to the pre-Crisis version (it was scientifically advanced, Kal-El appeared to be about one to two years old as in the Silver Age comics, there are depictions of peculiar animals) although with elements of the John Byrne version (such as the appearance of the characters' wardrobe). Krypton's climate is shown to have both temperate and Arctic conditions. According to commentary on the DVD collection for the show's first season, part of Krypton's appearance was influenced by the artistic style of American comic book artist Jack Kirby. This version depicted the villain Brainiac as responsible for the destruction of Krypton's people. Brainiac as well as Jor-El discovered that the planet would explode after several weeks of earthquakes. Brainiac knew that if the Kryptonian elders learned of it, Brainiac would be tasked with formulating an evacuation plan. This would leave Brainiac with no time to escape itself, so it told the elders that Jor-El was mistaken and that the earthquakes were the result of a polar shift and secretly downloaded itself and all of Krypton's culture and knowledge onto a satellite. Argo City Krypton had a "sister planet" named Argo, colonized by people of Kryptonian descent. On a journey into space, Superman found that the explosion of Krypton pushed the planet from its orbit away from its sun, making the planet gradually become colder. Its people went into cryostasis to survive, but an accident left Supergirl the only survivor. Another notable Zod was also an Argonian war criminal who was banished to the Phantom Zone. LexCorp LexCorp has been shown in the DC Animated Universe. It's been seen or referred to in episodes of Superman: The Animated Series and . Phantom Zone Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited have made use of the Phantom Zone at various times. The Phantom Zone is first mentioned in the first episode of Superman: The Animated Series, "The Last Son of Krypton, Part 1", where Jor-El attempted to convince everyone to enter the Phantom Zone to be saved from Krypton's destruction, and one man would be sent via spaceship to re-establish Krypton's population on a new world. Since this idea was not accepted, Jor-El sent his son in the spaceship to Earth along with the Phantom Zone projector. In the episode "Blasts from the Past", Superman discovers the Phantom Zone projector, which also has a communication function that allows him to converse with the inmates. Making contact with the convicted traitor Mala (a loose adaptation of Superman IIs Ursa) and upon further research, learning that her sentence is finished, he releases her. Unfortunately, Superman learns that Mala is arrogant and power-hungry badly enough to possibly require returning her to the Phantom Zone. When she learns that Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) prefers the company of a certain Terran named Lois Lane, Mala turns against Superman and later releases General Jax-Ur (a version of General Zod, although named after another villain from the Superman comics) to take over Earth. Banished once again into the Phantom Zone at the end of the story, Jax-Ur and Mala are later accidentally released on another remote planet, and ultimately sent into a black hole. In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Superman and the Justice League send the nearly unstoppable Doomsday into the Phantom Zone after his capture. This usage of the Phantom Zone, effectively sentencing Doomsday to life imprisonment without trial, presented massive arguments about the Justice League's right to make such judgments. Batman was especially troubled by this move. S.T.A.R. Labs In Superman: The Animated Series, S.T.A.R. Labs served much the same purpose as it did in Lois and Clark, let alone that the recurring scientist was Professor Hamilton. S.T.A.R. has also made appearances in Justice League Unlimited (although the role it serves in the ongoing story has changed with the darkening tone of the series), and was briefly mentioned in Batman: The Animated Series (its name was shown on one of Batman's monitors).
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