Fall of the Fortress

As we near the end of the second Act of Post-Crisis Superman, we've been losing a lot of the distinct landmarks that make the Superman world what it is.  First, we lost the Daily Planet, then last month Superman destroyed LexCorp, and this month Superman's Fortress of Solitude is destroyed in retaliation.  While all the pieces would be reset in the first months of Act III, Superman would still be without a headquarters for a full year.

Superman: The Man of Steel #88

At the Fortress of Solitude, Lois tries to persuade her husband to stand down from his uncharacteristic authoritarianism.  Emotionally moved for the first time in a long time, Superman kisses Lois which triggers a flashback.  Back in Smallville, he had an intimate moment with the girl who had been used as the vessel to hide Kismet from Dominus, and she had planted a memory in his mind to remember that Dominus can only use his mind against him while he's awake.  

Back in reality, Dominus no longer has no reason to conceal himself so makes his presence known to Lois and Clark and calls in Superman's robots to attack them.  Dominus nearly defeats Superman, but Lois drops a power crystal on them, which causes an explosion.  Superman and Lois are both knocked unconscious and out of the reach of Dominus' powers, but he gloats that Superman's robots are already programmed to create and enforce his reality.

Superman #144

Superman robots attack the United Nations building and other facilities around the world that were resisting the Man of Steel.  Lex Luthor convinces Outburst that his idol has fallen and Lex uses Outburst to help him get to a space shuttle to fly to the wreckage of the LexCorp building, now in Earth's orbit.  Lex makes Outburst space walk to use his magnetic powers to throw the tower back down to Earth, targeting the Fortress of Solitude in the arctic.  Outburst completes the mission for Lex, but they find themselves under attack by Superman robots.  

Lois regains consciousness only to see Dominus is already fooling Superman with his illusions again.  Dominus regains control of Superman's mind, but none of robots or defenses are able to stop the LexCorp from crashing into the Fortress and completely destroying it!

Adventures of Superman #567

Superman wakes up in the ruins of the Fortress and desperately searches the area for Lois, but his powers start to fail him due to the synthetic Kryptonite that had been in the LexCorp tower.  Superman's loyal Kryptonian robot Kelex heroically tries to stand up to Dominus, but Dominus totally destroys him except for his head.

In space, Lex cuts off the oxygen to Outburst's spacesuit, planning to leave him to a hero's death.  But without Outburst, Lex finds himself surrounded by Superman robots who don't intend to take prisoners.  The JLA starts to investigate who fired the mysterious projectile that destroyed the Fortress.

A Superman robot programmed with protecting Lois had evacuated her from the Fortress before it was destroyed.  She discovers this robot will do anything she asks, but it won't put her in danger so it won't take her back to the Fortress until the radiation returns to human tolerance levels.

Inside the Fortress, Dominus discovers the Man of Steel hid inside the Kryptonian battlesuit and then went to sleep.  The battlesuit fights Dominus but Dominus can't control Superman while he's not awake.  Using a trick Batman had taught him, Superman put himself in a meditative state but his plan is foiled when the robot brings Lois back.  However, this turns out to be an illusion and Superman finds his mind is under Dominus' control again.  Dominus opens a doorway to the Phantom Zone and disposes of Superman in it.  When the real Lois returns to the Fortress, Dominus has taken Superman's place.

Action Comics #754 

In the Phantom Zone, Superman meets other beings who look like Dominus.  After several months we finally get an origin story for Dominus, and it's dense with years of continuity.  Like another 90's villain, Doomsday, Dominus seemed to have been created to serve a specific story purpose and his origin was just an afterthought.  In their telling of the story, five of the beings on Dominus' home planet had been selected by their people as custodians of their faith, but only one of them would rise to the mantle of Kismet.  Dominus was insanely jealous when his female partner was selected instead of him, and Kismet banished him to the Phantom Zone.  Kal El's ancestor who discovered the Phantom Zone, Kem-El, tried to help Dominus, giving him the body he has now.  When the Eradicator created the Fortress of Solitude, Dominus was inadvertently freed from the Phantom Zone, and he took revenge and destroyed all life on his home planet.

Wonder Woman regains consciousness in the ruins of the Fortress, and Batman tells her to go to space to investigate where the missile came from.  In orbit, she rescues Lex and Outburst from the Superman robots. 

Superman meets Kem-El in the Phantom Zone, which seems to be a violation of the Post-Crisis rule of no other Kryptonians.  Kem-El builds a backpack for Superman that helps him escape from the Phantom Zone, and Superman flies off to face Dominus again.