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"I was the first human to set foot on what's left of Krypton. To lay eyes on the Jewel Mountains, to endure the endless torturous deliberations of the High Council, and I have to write about it."
Argo City, also known under the designation ARGO 139-65, was the last surviving piece of the dead planet Krypton. The city, along with a majority of its inhabitants, was destroyed by an antimatter wave during the Anti-Monitor Crisis.
When Krypton exploded, Zor-El built a fail-safe for Argo City; fearing it wouldn't work, Zor-El and Alura Zor-El sent their daughter Kara away in a pod. The Fail-Safe ended up working, saving Argo from Krypton's destruction, and making it the last remaining city of Krypton. However, Zor-El lost his life due to the tainted air within the Fail-Safe; Kryptonite was also created below the surface.
Argo City after the destruction of Krypton.
Supergirl's return to Argo[]
When Lena Luthor needed more Harun-El to make an antidote for Samantha Arias, Winn Schott used the Harun-El's radiation signature to try to find more of it, and discovered that there was more on a meteor 5 light years away from Earth.
Kara and Mon-El find the meteor.
Kara and Mon-El borrowed J'onn's ship and followed the Harun-El's radiation signature to the meteor, which was revealed to be a domed city.
Kara speaks to the High Council.
During their search for the Harun-El, Kara recognized the city as Argo City; her hometown on Krypton. Just before they could locate the Harun-El, Kara encountered a familiar face: her mother Alura. They spent time together before Kara ultimately convinced the High Council to give her the Harun-El.
After Kara seemingly defeated Reign on Earth, she returned to Argo City accompanied by Mon-El. Kara was overwhelmed to reunite with her childhood friend Thara, who had become one of Argo's leading security officers. The next day, a building began to crumble onto Kara. Although Alura and Thara hailed Kara's uneasiness of her safety as her being on guard during her time on Earth, Mon-El understood Kara's concerns and gave her his Legion ring so she can fly. Later, Kara and Mon-El were attacked in a garden and flew up to see that the person who attacked her was also present at the time that the building had nearly collapsed on her. She and Thara captured the suspect who revealed that she is a dark priestess and Selena is their high priestess. Alura then sent a message to Thara, who brought Kara and Mon-El to her, only to find that J'onn's ship was stolen by Selena and two other dark Kryptonian witches; leaving Kara and Mon-El stranded on Argo.
The four of them investigated Selena's house and through a hologram, discovered that Selena and the dark Kryptonian witches were intending to revive Reign and use her to terraform Earth into a New Krypton. The house then exploded, leaving Thara injured. Kara then realized that Selena could not have known that Kara would return again after giving her the Harun-El, and said that she had to have had another plan of getting to Earth. Alura then led her and Mon-El to a transmatter portal in Zor-El's lab. Kara used Alura's hologram on Earth to contact Winn to get him to help link the D.E.O.'s portal to theirs so they could return to Earth. Before Winn could activate his portal, the dark Kryptonian witches attacked the D.E.O., but Kara used Alura's hologram to trick a Kryptonian witch into activating the portal. Kara and Mon-El then returned to Earth to join the fight, accompanied by Alura.
After the final defeat of Reign, Kara decided to stay on Earth, and Alura returned to Argo with the Kryptonian witches to serve them justice. Before leaving Earth, Lena gave Alura the remaining piece of Harun-El and provided her with the recipe to make more of it. Alura then stated that the Harun-El would continue to help Argo survive.
Superman's visit to Argo City[]
Sometime after its discovery, Clark Kent and Lois Lane took a sabbatical period on Argo City, and conceived their child there. Lois's pregnancy resulted in them moving there, as they feared that the pregnancy would strain Lois's health the longer they stayed on Earth.
In an attempt to kill Superman once and for all, Lex Luthor planned to destroy Argo. However, this attempt was stopped by Supergirl.
Anti-Monitor Crisis[]
Brainy discovers that the antimatter is heading straight towards Argo City.
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, the entire universe of Earth-38 was engulfed in a wave of antimatter. On Earth, Brainy and Alex discovered that the Earth's presumed self-destruction was not caused by anything on Earth, but by something in outer space, known as antimatter. During his assessment of the antimatter, Brainy noticed that it was heading towards Argo City, with J'onn and Kara noting that Clark, Lois, Jonathan, and Alura were there.
Jonathan's pod flies away from Argo as the city is destroyed by anti-matter.
With limited time before the city's demise, Kara used a hologram crystal to contact Clark and Lois and warned them of Argo's impending doom. Moments before the city perished, Clark, Lois, and Alura were able to get Jonathan into an escape pod and sent him to Earth. The pod took off just before the city perished.
Kara, Alex, and J'onn watch helplessly and in horror as Argo gets wiped out by antimatter.
Meanwhile, at the D.E.O., Kara, Alex, and J'onn watched in horror as the city was destroyed. When Harbinger arrived at the D.E.O., Kara, Alex, and the D.E.O. agents confronted her, asking if she had destroyed Argo. She then reveals that she had rescued Clark and Lois just seconds before Argo's destruction. However, Clark informed Kara that Alura had perished with the city, and that Jonathan's whereabouts were unknown. With the help of Brainy and Sara Lance, Lois traveled to Star City of Earth-16 and retrieved Jonathan, whose pod had flown into a wormhole to Earth-16; he had been saved by Oliver Queen of Earth-16.[1]
There was an estimated number of 4.53 billion people on Argo when it was destroyed.[3]
Argo City is protected and also serviced by caretaker robots who resemble the Kelex robots in the Fortress of Solitude.
Argo City is also equipped with a tractor beam that holds approaching ships.
Zor-El created a force shield that protected Argo City when Krypton exploded, after Kara had been sent into space.
Zor-El found a way to use Harun-El in conjunction with his domed force-field to shield Argo City from outside detection while purifying the air and generating heat.
Thalonite Lung is a Kryptonian/Daxamite disease. It was nearly eradicated before Krypton's destruction, but reemerged in the children of Argo City. It requires the patient be hooked up to an oxygen tank at all times.
Argo City has artificial gravity powered by some kind of synthetic gravity manipulator. Since gravity can be used to bend space-time, Mon-El can use that to send a message to the future.
This Kryptonian city has a few side buildings used as templates for Argo.
As seen below ground or inside, the aesthetic of Argo City sometimes references older Superman films, such as the 1977 release.
Behind the scenes[]
In the comics, Argo City was Kara Zor-El's original birthplace. She was born and raised on Argo after Krypton's explosion and was sent to Earth as the city was struck by a meteor shower and destroyed. Subsequent reboots in the DC Comics continuity then established that Kara and Kal-El were sent from Krypton simultaneously, as depicted on Supergirl.
Argo being located ~5 light years from Earth may imply that it was located in the Alpha Centauri system (located 4.37 light years away).
This is somewhat supported by Argo being in the orbit of a planet with a considerable ring system, as Proxima Centauri c, an exoplanet in orbit of Proxima Centauri.
This location would also explain why the residents of the city did not have powers, as Proxima Centauri c is a red dwarf star.
