Supervillain Origins: General Zod

Supervillain Origins: General Zod

This Kryptonian is one of Superman’s most iconic foes! Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of General Zod.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline, which unfolded in 1961’s Adventure Comics #283, and was then expended upon in the first two live-action Superman movies.

In his debut appearance, Zod was introduced to Superboy through the use of a special memory helmet, which he had discovered in a crate full of Kryptonian technology sent to Earth by his father for safekeeping.

In the memories presented by the helmet, Superboy witnessed recounts of Kryptonian criminal trials. These records revealed that those who judged to be guilty were chained to a wall and zapped with a punishment weapon, which banished to the Phantom Zone. This meant that they were forced to live as ghosts, unable to interact with the world in any way for the duration of their sentence.

Prominent among these trials was that of the megalomaniacal Kryptonian General named Dru-Zod, a traitor who had create an army of robot replicas in order to seize planetary control.

With the jury bringing down the guilty verdict, Zod was sentenced to the Phantom for 40 years.

This caused Superboy to realize that because Krypton had exploded soon after the trial, Zod remained alive and trapped in the eternal state of limbo.

Now in possession of the Punishment gun, Superboy decided that he would eventually make contact with the banished criminals and grant them a pardon.

Eventually freeing Zod, the superhero realized that he had made a grave mistake. The power-hungry General discovered his newly acquired super powers endowed by Earth’s yellow sun, and attempted to conquer the Earth. This led Superman to re-banish him to the Phantom Zone, from which he would occasionally return to cause further chaos.

Despite his comic appearances, the character has become best defined by his role in the first two Superman movies.

It was in this portrayal by actor Terrance Stamp that Zod took on his iconic facial hair and the boisterous sense of pride and entitlement for which he is known.

At the beginning of the first film, Zod is one of three criminals on trial for conspiring to overthrow the Kryptonian government.

With the final decision resting in the hands of Superman’s father Jor-El, the trio are again banished to the Phantom zone, in this case depicted as a mirror floating through the vastness of space.

In the second film, Zod and his accomplices are finally freed when a nuclear bomb that Superman had tossed into space shattered their mirror-prison.

First arriving on the moon, they discovered their newfound powers and the nearby planet. Venturing to Earth, they began a planetary take over and launched a vendetta against the son of Jor-El.

Despite their strength in numbers and ability to capitalize on Superman’s weaknesses, Zod and his team were tricked into unwittingly relinquishing their powers within Superman’s fortress of solitude.

Over the years, General Zod has appeared in various other media, such as a hilarious exercise video parody in Robot Chicken, and as a major villain in the Television series “Smallville”.

Ultimately, he finally returned to the big screen in 2013, this time portrayed by actor Michael Shannon in the franchise reboot “The Man of Steel”.

Are you a devoted fan who willingly kneels before Zod? For more exciting comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.