The Phantom Zone is a timeless prison dimension created by the Kryptonian scientist Jor-El.

Before Krypton's destruction, many of the universe's worst criminals from the 28 galaxies were imprisoned and confined to the Zone by Jor-El. Some of the prisoners, like General Zod, were stripped of their physical bodies and turned into non-corporeal phantom wraiths. Phantom wraiths roam freely, as do physical entities banished to the Zone.

The Phantom Zone is a desert-like wasteland under a blue sun that never sets. It appears to have no indigenous lifeforms, either animal or plant. It has a river of blood flowing through it and rocky roads, as well as several caverns and caves.

People are sent to the Zone by portal created by the Phantom Zone Bracelets, or Crystals. Once trapped, the personal is incased inside a square crystal shard that has the faces of its victim(s) on it. From the outside, it seems as if person trapped is somehow stuck within the crystal pane; however, from the inside, these constructs are more like a transparent room from which the person sealed inside can observe the outside world. Once in space, the 'floor' of this construct drops, and the prisoner inside falls through a tunnel, eventually landing in the true Phantom Zone.