The following contains spoilers for Batman: Fortress #4, on sale now from DC Comics.
Batman: Fortress sees the world under siege by alien invaders searching for Superman, and only the Kyprtonian weaponry in the Man of Steel's Fortress of Solitude stands a chance against them -- but, unfortunately, the Fortress is now located in the Mariana Trench.
Batman: Fortress #4 of the limited series by writer Gary Whitta and artist Darick Robertson opens with the Dark Knight and Lex Luthor, who is the president of the United States in the world of Batman: Fortress, visiting the Arctic. Hoping to find the Fortress of Solitude, the two men are greeted with an empty crater and approached by a trio of aliens. An attempt at diplomacy quickly goes sour after Lex orders his bodyguards to snipe one of the aliens from afar and, in the aftermath of the incident, a frustrated Batman decides to seek out Detective Chimp for more information on where Superman's hideaway might be.
Detective Chimp, the smartest primate on Earth who was most recently seen in the pages of Justice League Dark, has retired to a secluded cave in Nepal. Batman teleports there with assistance from the Green Lantern D'ayl and, after a bit of banter with Detective Chimp, the chimpanzee genius triangulates the Fortress' last known coordinates to the trench, the deepest place on the planet. "Getting down there...forget about it," Detective Chimp murmurs. "Pressure that deep'll crush you like a bug. Good luck with that."
Why Was The Fortress Of Solitude Moved?
Little is known about the Fortress' mysterious location swap at this time, but Batman speculates that the Man of Steel may have lifted the entire structure wholesale and deposited it to its new home in the Mariana Trench. While Batman: Fortress is an out-of-continuity series, there is precedent for Superman placing the Fortress in the ocean, and Brian Michael Bendis' run on Superman in 2018 featured Clark reconstructing the Fortress in the Bermuda Triangle.
The Fortress of Solitude, which first appeared in 1958's Action Comics #241, is usually presented as a sanctuary located in the frozen tundra far from civilization. It contains not only various Kryptonian technologies and alien specimens but also the trophies that Superman has acquired on his adventures across both Earth and the wider galaxy.
Batman: Fortress #4 comes from Whitta, Robertson, colorist Diego Rodriguez and letterer Simon Bowland. The issue's cover was composed by Robertson and Rodriguez, and a variant cover is available from Mico Suayan and Romulo Fajardo Jr. The issue goes on sale Aug. 23 from DC Comics.
Source: DC