After 84 Years, DC Makes A Historic Change To Superman’s Fortress Of Solitude

DC changes Superman‘s early years with a mind-bending twist that shakes up the Man of Steel’s history. Superman is a constant across most timelines in the DC multiverse, with an easily recognizable story that repeats the same beats. Kal El crashes on Earth on a Kryptonian rocketship, is raised by the Kents on a farm, and gradually discovers his powers until he becomes the iconic Superman, based in the Fortress of Solitude, wearing a blue, red, and yellow costume.

Every version of Supeman presents a new take on the formula, but most traditional Supermen in the multiverse eventually build a similar superhero career. Even the drastically different Smallville Clark Kent and DCEU Man of Steel end up resembling the popular image of an experienced, lighthearted, costumed Superman.

Things get a little more complicated when time travel gets involved, as the delicate time-space continuum can fundamentally change the way Clark Kent becomes Superman.

Superman Discovers The Fortress Of Solitude As Superboy

Action Comics #1096; Written by Mark Waid; Art by Skylar Patridge & Ivan Plascencia

In Action Comics #1096, a young Clark Kent begins to notice cause and effect stop interlinking around him. Superboy can’t find the source of the paradoxes, but he can hear a voice calling to him. Before he finally finds the time-traveling Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter, and Mary Marvel looking for him, Superboy stumbles across a fully built Fortress of Solitude, fully complete but time-displaced, which makes him more confused than he already is.

Due to the time paradoxes taking place around Clark Kent in Action Comics #1096, Superboy’s accidental discovery of the Fortress of Solitude technically marks Superman’s first encounter with his iconic headquarters. In this continuity, it’s going to take some time for Clark Kent to understand what he just saw. That is, if Booster Gold and company don’t mess any further with the DC timeline.

Action Comics #1096 is now available from DC Comics.