General Zod

General Zod is a fictional character from the Superman comics published by DC Comics. He has also appeared in other Superman media spin-offs. Zod is one of Superman's more prominent archenemies.

Silver Age Zod

Dru-Zod, or simply Zod, was often portrayed as a megalomaniacal bald man. Zod was originally one of a number of Kryptonian villains trapped in the Phantom Zone. He first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961).

Once Military Director of the Kryptonian Space Center, Zod had known Jor-El when he was an aspiring scientist. When the space program was abolished after the destruction of the moon Wegthor (caused by Jax-Ur), he attempted to take over Krypton. Zod created an army of robotic duplicates of himself, all bearing a resemblance to Bizarro. He was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his crimes.

Zod was first released by Kal-El (during his Superboy career) when his term of imprisonment was up. However, he attempted to conquer Earth with powers gained under the yellow sun. Zod was sent back into the Phantom Zone, occasionally escaping to target Superman.

Later versions of Zod

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote much of the history of the DC Universe and its characters, it was initially established that there were no Kryptonian survivors other than Superman. Consequently, the four different incarnations of General Zod that have since appeared have had different origins from the original.

Pocket Universe Zod

This Zod came from a Krypton in a pocket universe created by the Time Trapper. He, along with companions Quex-Ul and Faora, devastated the Earth of that universe following the death of its Superboy, eventually forcing the Superman of the main universe to execute them with Kryptonite. This version of Zod is based closely on the Pre-Crisis version.

Return to Krypton Zod

This incarnation of General Zod was introduced in the 2001 storyline "Return to Krypton." He was the head of the Kryptonian military in an artificial reality created by Brainiac 13.

Like the Pre-Crisis version, Zod held the Kryptonian equivalent of fascist beliefs. He sent aliens to the ghetto city of Kandor and planned a military coup. Zod was defeated by Superman and the Jor-El of that Krypton.

Russian Zod

This General Zod is a Russian who was affected prior to his birth by Kryptonite radiation because he was the son of two cosmonauts whose ship was too close to Kal-El's rocketship. This Zod is unnaturally weak under a yellow sun but superpowered under a red sun (the opposite of Superman). He grew up in a KGB laboratory under the name "Zed."

Apparently spoken to by the spirit of the Pocket Universe Zod, Zod created a suit of red armor that filtered the sunlight and declared himself ruler of the former Soviet state of Pokolistan. After several inconclusive encounters with Superman, he revealed his long-range plan to turn the sun red and take Superman's place. This was temporarily successful until Lex Luthor rescued Superman, gave him a blast of yellow solar radiation to regain his powers, and worked to restore the sun. Superman returned to battle Zod, but refused to kill him. When the sun turned yellow again, the now vulnerable Zod still struck Superman with all his power, and was killed.

Phantom Zod

Introduced in the twelve-issue For Tomorrow (Superman #204-#215) storyline, written by Brian Azzarello and penciled by Jim Lee, this Zod resides in the Phantom Zone alone and resents Superman for tampering with it. Supposedly, he comes from the same Krypton as Superman, and was exiled to the Phantom Zone by Superman's father Jor-El.

It is possible that this Zod is not a real Kryptonian, however. He appeared in Metropia, a version of the Phantom Zone created by Superman to resemble a living world including the seemingly living beings.

One Year Later

Template:Spoilers One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Lex Luthor used a shard of sunstone, which had the word "doomsday" engraved upon it in the Kryptonian language, along with a stockpile of Kryptonite to reactivate the Kryptonian battle cruiser, Doomsday, which had been dormant within the earth for an unknown period of time.

Luthor revealed that the vessel was in fact the flagship of the Kryptonian fleet, had belonged to an Admiral Dru-Zod and scoured entire planets clean of life. Template:Endspoiler

Donner Zod

Template:Spoilers In October 2006 film director Richard Donner, noted for his work on the first two Superman movies, began to write Action Comics in collaboration with Geoff Johns. After a unidentified Kryptonion boy crash lands in Metropolis and is taken in by Lois and Clark he is followed by three more Kryptonians in identical vessels: General Zod and Ursa, who claim the boy as theirs, and Non. These are the three villains from Superman II. Template:Endspoiler

Zod in other media

Movies

At the beginning of Superman: The Movie, Zod (who is played by actor Terence Stamp) is introduced as one of three Kryptonian criminals on trial. Zod was originally a member of the Kryptonian military, who was entrusted with the defense of Krypton by the governing council. With co-conspirators Non and Ursa, Zod was planning to overthrow the Kryptonian government and replace it with his own. The three were captured, and the council unanimously agreed to cast Zod, Ursa, and Non into the Phantom Zone. Their Phantom Zone portal is launched into space shortly before Krypton's destruction. This serves only to set up the premise of the sequel, as nothing further of the three is seen in the film.

Before they are imprisoned, Zod tries to persuade Jor-El to join him or suffer his wrath. As Jor-El silently refuses him, Zod shouts, "You will bow down before me, Jor-El, I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity! You will bow down before me! Both you, and then one day, your heirs!"

Superman II opens with a brief recap of Zod's imprisonment in the Phantom Zone along with Ursa and Non, with Zod bellowing a variation on his line from the first film: "You will bow down before me, Jor-El! Both you, and then one day, your heirs!" as he is taken away into the Phantom Zone itself. In Superman II, the detonation of a hydrogen bomb that Superman throws into space destroys the Phantom Zone portal that trapped Zod and his cohorts.

They arrive on Earth and, after discovering that their Kryptonian physiology gives them each the same powers as Superman under Earth's yellow sun, subdue the US Army and the President of the United States. This occurs shortly after Superman, unaware of these events, has stripped himself of his powers to be with Lois Lane as an ordinary human. Only after Clark is beaten up by a bully in a diner does he watch with horror a televised announcement by the President surrendering all global authority to Zod. When the President suddenly tries to call for Superman's help, Zod takes the camera to issue a challenge to this mysterious enemy to face him. Realizing the terrible mistake his inattentiveness has caused, Clark must regain his powers to fight Zod and his minions.

While Clark treks back to the Fortress of Solitude and, against all hope, regains his powers, Lex Luthor approaches the trio and offers a way to lure Superman to them by leading them to Lois to be their hostage in return for becoming the ruler of Australia. The villainous trio accept the offer and invade the Daily Planet' to capture Lois. At the moment, Superman, now back to full power, arrives to accept Zod's challenge. What follows is a highly destructive battle throughout downtown Metropolis where Zod has the advantage of numbers, and also with the fact that Superman is easily distracted by threatening the city's citizens. Eventually, Superman realizes that he needs to rethink his strategy and withdraws to the Fortress.

In a final showdown at his Fortress of Solitude, Superman strips Zod, Non, and Ursa of their powers. He does this by tricking Luthor into revealing that a molecule chamber in the Fortress would take away his powers. This was the chamber's original purpose, but Superman had modified it so that the radiation used to strip a Kryptonian of his or her powers would be projected throughout the Fortress, but anyone inside the chamber would be protected.

When Superman stepped out of the chamber, Zod told Superman to take his hand and swear eternal loyalty to him. Suddenly, Zod finds himself screaming in pain as Superman crushes his hand. He and his cohorts are apparently killed as they fall into the crevasses cracking in the ice and disappearing under the misty water. A scene deleted from the movie (but shown in some TV versions) shows the trio alive and in custody, implying that they lost their powers permanently and were captured.

Terence Stamp portrayed Zod as a pathologically arrogant aristocrat. When Zod is told that "the whole planet" is watching the broadcast, his head motions suggest narcissism. At times he seemed almost bored with his incredible power, as new as they may be: "I win! I always win. Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?!" When a bored Ursa flatly observed that, "You are master of all you survey," Zod replied, "And so I was yesterday, and the day before."

It is almost certainly Stamp's portrayal that has led to Zod becoming one of Superman's best known villains. Zod's line "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!" has become part of pop culture.

In the scene in which the President of the United States surrenders to the three Kryptonian criminals, he utters, "Oh God." He is quickly corrected by the general with a curt rejoinder: "Zod."

General Zod was to appear in the 2006 film Superman Returns. Director Bryan Singer had Jude Law in mind for the role of Zod, but after Law declined the role on three occasions, Singer eventually dropped the character from the script. Bryan Singer has said that the sequel to Superman Returns will include an alien villain, sparking speculation of Zod returning to the franchise. However, any of Superman's alien foes could be used.

Animation

A Phantom Zone villain named Zy-Kree, who resembled the movie-version of Zod, appeared in the Super Friends animated series.

Zod was featured in the Ruby-Spears animated Superman series.

Zod was not featured in Superman: The Animated Series, although a similar villain named Jax-Ur did. Jax-Ur had been featured previously in some Silver Age stories of Phantom Zone criminals. In the animated series, he appeared along with a new character called Mala, who was seemingly based on Faora/Ursa. However, in the accompanying Superman Adventures comic book series (#21, which was also titled Supergirl Adventures), Zod was portrayed as an Argosian (like the animated Supergirl) who co-opted Jax-Ur and Mala as his lieutenants (essentially giving Jax-Ur the Non/Quex-Ul role). This character looks physically like the Terence Stamp version from Superman: The Movie and Superman II.

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "For the Man Who Has Everything", while under the influence of an alien plant, Superman has a dream in which he has a wife and son on Krypton. His wife briefly mentions her son will be attending a birthday party for "little Zod."

Legion of Superheroes

File:Draxlosh.jpg

Drax, from the Legion of Superheroes animated series.

Though Zod himself does not appear in the show, a very similar character named Drax appears in the Legion of Superheroes animated series. A young man who Clark accidentally frees from the Phantom Zone, Drax has the typical array of Kryptonian powers, in addition to an immunity to Kryptonite. His origins are unclear, but the Phantom Zone criminals are capable of contacting him, prompting him to attempt to free them from the Phantom Zone. The Z-emblem on his chest, and the fact that Drax refers to these individuals as his "parents" alludes to the fact that Zod himself may have created him. Drax has a hatred of Superman, as well an aire of superiority about him, and taunts the young Clark with the fact that he has no idea of his future or what he will become.

The Pre-Crisis version of Zod can be seen as a cameo as one of the many Phantom Zone villains attacking the Legion members when they were temporarily trapped there, but it doubtful that this is actually Zod, and rather, a visual throwback paying homage to him.

Television

Lois and Clark

While Zod does not make an appearance in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, there is a character named Lord Nor, who has much in common with Zod. He is a ruthless figure who seeks to rule New Krypton, a Kryptonian colony, by killing Kal-El.

Smallville

File:Zod symbol.jpg

Zod's symbol

In Smallville, the voice of Jor-El is provided by Terence Stamp. This, combined with the apparent difference in character from other versions of Jor-El, led to some fan speculation that Jor-El was really Zod. Series creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough denied this rumor, and it is later revealed that Jor-El's characterization was misinterpreted. Recent portrayals of the character are somewhat closer to his normal characterization.

In the series' fifth season, General Zod has been featured as an off-screen presence. The episode "Arrival" featured two Kryptonian disciples of Zod searching for Clark shortly after their arrival on Earth following the recent meteor shower that bombarded Smallville in the previous episode, "Commencement."

In the episode "Solitude", Milton Fine, the human identity of the Kryptonian artificial intelligence known as Brainiac, persuades Clark to take him to the Fortress of Solitude. After arriving at the Fortress, Fine tricks Clark into freeing Zod from the Phantom Zone, temporarily opening a vortex in which the image of a figure similar to Terence Stamp's Zod can be glimpsed. It is also insinuated that Zod was a fascist leader on Krypton and ruled with an iron fist, and apparently considered Jor-El as his primary nemesis.

At the end of the episode "Oracle", Chloe deciphers a Kryptonian message which Clark reads as, "Zod is coming." In the following episode, "Vessel", Jor-El reveals that Zod was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for crimes that resulted in Krypton's destruction. Zod's physical body was destroyed to prevent him from escaping from captivity, and therefore, he now required a vessel to inhabit on Earth. Brainiac had earlier injected Lex Luthor with a vaccine that granted him Kryptonian superpowers, and therefore, Lex was to be the vessel for Zod's consciousness. Through the actions of Clark and Brainiac, Zod is freed. After inhabiting Lex's body, Zod imprisons Clark inside the Phantom Zone, leaving no one to stop him, and begins his plans to conquer Earth as the trapped Clark is sent flying into space.

In the sixth season premiere, "Zod", Clark makes his escape from the Phantom Zone after a brief sojourn, with the help of a Kryptonian woman claiming to have been Jor-El's aide. She gives Clark a crystal bearing the sign of the House of El. By feigning surrender when Zod issues his infamous command, "kneel before Zod", Clark is able to press this crystal into Zod's hand and evict him from Lex's body and back into the Phantom Zone. Lex returns to normal once again, with no memory of the situation. Lex then discovers a shard of a Kryptonian device that Zod left on his laptop. It should be noted that this echoes the last moments of Zod in Superman II, and the face of Zod's spirit as it is separated from Lex strongly resembles that of the Zod portrayed by Terence Stamp in Superman II.

Popular culture

• Zod is perhaps most popularly quoted as a Superman villain with the phrase, "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!" For example, Jay does so in the Kevin Smith film Mallrats.
• Zod's peculiar mannerisms and catchphrases from Superman II, especially his penchant for demanding that people "kneel", has led to the creation of a number of websites dedicated to the General, such as PlanetHouston.com, GeneralZod.net, and, humorously, General Zod for President in 2008.
• Various Zod scenes from Superman II were sampled and used in TeknoZod, a techno dance record by Samplesonic released in 1996 in the UK on Samplesonic Records.
• A running joke on many comic book websites is when a picture of artist Neal Adams is featured, it is always placed next to a picture of Terence Stamp as Zod. When looked at literally, it is "Neal before Zod."
• Neal Bailey, resident reviewer for the Superman Homepage, once joked that he was considering changing his last name to "Beforezod".
• Zod, as well as his two henchmen, have appeared in the Family Guy episode "Lethal Weapons". When Peter finds that Lois can fight extremely well, he walks into a local bar to start fights by saying insulting things, including "Krypton sucks." Zod and his minions are then thrown into the phantom zone mirror and sent into space.
• Zod appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "The Munnery" as the host of "Bod by Zod," in which he commands all to "kneel before Zod." After the camera zooms out to reveal he is in fact doing a workout video, he begins to command the viewer to do various aerobic exercises "before Zod."
• Both Superman: The Movie and General Zod are mentioned on an episode of the ESPN show Cheap Seats. Both the Sklar Brothers poke fun at a man who resembles both Zod and Non, and quote the famous "kneel before Zod" line.
• In an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Dr. Forrester practices his "world takeover speech", which includes the line "You will bow down before me, son of Jor-El, bow down!"
• Russell Brand's Got Issues, a UK comedy discussion show on Channel 4, included a sidekick named Andrew Zod, who was supposedly Zod's nephew in its first few episodes.
• The video game review show X-Play, the disembodied head once said "They kneel only before Zod".
• The sixth Fedora Core distribution is called Zod. [1]
• In one of Stephen Colbert's Formidable Opponent sketches President Bush is described in terms of Superman and now he must act as Zod has been released fromt he phantom zone, the losing Stephen is then shot with heat ray vision as the winning Stephen says the line "Kneel before Zod"

External links

• Alan Kistler's Profile On: ZOD! - Comic book historian Alan Kistler of www.MonitorDuty.com does an in-depth article reviewing the long history of Zod from 1961 all the way to 2005, going into detail on the various incarnations and changes in the character. Includes several artwork scans of the different versions of Zod and a discussion of the show Smallville.
• Supermanica: General Zod Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis General Zod