Wizard City was what locals called the derelict Kryptonian City that fell to Earth - a blazing Green Kryptonite meteorite full of deadly high-tech weaponry.
History
Discovery, Burial and Re-Burial
Before Kandor or Argo, the first Kryptonian city known to have survived the cataclysm more-or-less intact, was Wizard City. It was observed falling into the African country of Kurtiswana, and the throw-back tribe of crusaders called it the Wizard City, because as far as they were concerned, it was full of deadly "magics".[1] Its original Kryptonian name was lost to time.
Mark Olsen was the first westerner to investigate the meteorite, and when he failed to return, Superboy followed, but quickly fell ill when he entered the crater due to the Kryptonite bedrock under the city. Mark Olsen's earlier guide, Vedders, had discovered a cache of super-scientific weapons - which were now indestructible due to the yellow sun - and the View Panel which operated them. [1]
Superboy used various means of trickery to make Olsen appear to be Superman, and defeat the better armed Vedders. Fearing the weapons would be sought by evil-minded individuals, Superboy buried the relic in its crater, returned to Smallville, and all but forgot about Wizard City.[1]
Decades later, Vedders returned to Kurtiswana when the local government excavated enough of the city to reach the armoury, and he lead another man, Desmond Dexter, to the site. Dexter captured Vedders and imprisoned him, as he did Jimmy Olsen when the younger Olsen visited Wizard City to investigate it, as his father had almost thirty years earlier. And rather than just using the View Panel, as Vedders had, Dexter donned the telepathic helmet and learned enough about Kryptonian technology to build a suit of armour that had the power to defeat Superman.[2]
Remembering Wizard City, Superman tried to come prepared, wearing a lead-glass suit[3] to protect him from the Green Kryptonite - though this was not enough to defeat the fearsome armour that Dexter had built. Only by using a Kryptonian discipline himself — Klurkor -— could Kal-El defeat Vedders creation of the "Wizard City Warrior".[2]
Seeing that his earlier burial of Wizard City was not enough, Superman used a Kryptonian Repulser-Projector to blast the city deep into the core of the Earth, where it remained in a lava stream.[2]
Technology and Weapons
The city housed a collection of weaponry from around Krypton, and Vedders had specifically found technology collected from Bokos Isle — the Isle of Thieves. Unfortunately, no one on Krypton had thought to deactivate the weaponry and stored it, prêt-à-porter.
The first to find it was Vedders, who controlled a giant Super-Tank made impervious by Earth's yellow sun, but which was still drawn to a magnet; as well as a Multi-Catapult, Rocket Plane and Proton bomb.[1]
Vedders lead a second man, Desmond Dexter, to Wizard City and he used the Telepathic Helmet to build what Lana Lang called the "Wizard City Warrior".[2] The warrior armour was impervious to Superman and his X-ray vision, and contained multiple armaments:
- Heat Rays: able to scorch even Superman's Costume and blister his skin.
- Power Nullification: in some unknown manner, the armour weakened Superman's invulnerability and kinetic attacks
- Gravity Ray: holding Superman down with the weight of ten planets
- Flight
- Chain Reaction Grenades: hand-held grenades capable of destroying the Earth
Points of Interest
- Armoury of Kryptonian Weaponry
- View Panel
Residents
- None
Notes
- Kryptonian materials are impervious to Superman's X-Ray vision.
Trivia
- Both Wizard City and the Bottle City of Kandor have also been called Krypton City.[4]
- "Kurtiswana" is a possible homage to Curt Swan, former Superman penciller.
See Also
- Appearances of Wizard City
- Location Gallery: Wizard City
- Catalogued images related to Wizard City
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Adventure Comics #216
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Action Comics #565
- ↑ Superman's lead-glass suit was last seen in Action Comics #377
- ↑ World's Finest #100