Superman: Last Son #[nn]
"Chapter One" of *Superman: Last Son* (2008) kicks off with Superman trapped in the Phantom Zone, watching Earth from afar as Zod, Ursa, and Non hold Chris hostage and clash with Supergirl and the Justice League. With help from Mon-El—a friend he once projected into the zone to save him—Superman learns the Zone’s strange reality: Fort Rozz, a prison accidentally transported during a riot sparked by Dev-Em, is solid and habitable, allowing time to pass normally inside. As Superman ventures into the fort to confront Dev-Em, Mon-El is reinfected by lead poisoning, forcing Superman to send him back. After launching another ship, Superman returns to a devastated Metropolis, where Kryptonian crystals sprout amid the ruins, and the defeated heroes are brought to face their captors. When Ursa prepares to kill Lois, Lor-Zod intervenes—mirroring Superman’s compassion—prompting Zod to declare he must reassert his authority. With no direct path to victory, Superman turns to Luthor, asking to borrow his anti-Kryptonian weapons—only to be met with a
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Superman's trying to adjust to being in the Phantom Zone, and sees the events back on Earth. Zod, Ursa, and Non have Chris, and Supergirl and the Justice League are fighting the Kryptonians. Mon-El (a friend Superman projected into the zone years ago to save him from lead poisoning) appears, and helps Superman adjust to the zone. Mon-El describes how it started, with Zod finding Fort Rozz, a prison that had been accidentally transported in when a projector exploded during a riot started by Dev-Em. As the circumstances were unusual, the fort is actually solid, and people can be normal inside of it, and time passes. That's how Zod and Ursa had their son Lor-Zod (Chris), but they abused him. Superman goes into the fort, confronts Dev-Em, and is about to be knifed, but Mon-El joins and rescues him. But Mon-El is affected by the lead poisoning again, so Superman has to push him back into the regular zone. Superman finds another ship, and launches it, leaving the zone and returning to Earth. He arrives to find a destroyed Metropolis, with Kryptonian crystals growing in one area. The defeated heroes are being brought there, and Ursa wants to kill Lois, but Zod wants to find out why Superman "settled" for her. However, Lor-Zod attacks Zod with his heat vision to stop him, as that's what Superman would do. Zod then says he needs to remind Lor-Zod of who is father is. Superman knows he can't confront the criminals directly, so he finds Luthor, and "asks" to borrow his anti-Kryptonian weapons. Luthor laughs, and has Parasite, Bizarro, and Metallo attack Superman.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).