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Quote1 I promise you this: I... will always... be your monster. Quote2
General Zod src

General Dru-Zod is a former Kryptonian military general and an enemy to Superman. Exiled to the Phantom Zone by his people for treason, he survived the destruction of Krypton and swore revenge against the son of Jor-El.

Early Life and Career

Childhood

Though the House of Zod was traditionally a house of warriors, Dru-Zod was the son of a pair Kryptonian scientists. One day, his family took on a scientific expedition to Krypton's wilderness where they were attacked by dangerous animals. After his mother was killed, Zod's father urged his son to escape. He does so, killing his father in the process to distract the creatures and give himself time to flee. For over a year, Zod managed to survive on his own until being found and rescued by Jor-El and Zor-El.

New 52 Origin

By adulthood, Zod became a distinguished soldier in the Kryptonian military and became concerned with Krypton's violent neighboring alien species, the Char. Although the Char had remained pacified for the last twenty-seven years, Zod was frustrated by his fellow Kryptonians' lax attitude towards them. In response, he forged a group of like-minded followers, such as his lieutenants Faora and Non, and engineered a false flag operation, creating and unleashing a Char-like creature on Krypton's populace to justify a war against the Char. However, Jor-El discovered Zod's deception and turned him over to the authorities. The Kryptonian Science Council found Zod guilty of treason and sentenced him and his followers to be exiled to the Phantom Zone.[1]

Following the cosmic upheavals of the Rebirth period, this character's history was revised.

Rebirth Origin

By adulthood, Zod became a distinguished soldier in the Kryptonian military, rising to the rank of General. Many years before the destruction of Krypton, he lead a defense of former Kryptonian colony Daxam against Dominion invaders. During the invasion, he witnessed a Dominion pulsar ray atomize an entire Kryptonian battalion from low orbit; the experience effected him deeply, and he would never forget the sensory experience, comparing it to ozone mixed with blood copper.[2]

Afterward, he made the choice to retire from Military service and returned to Krypton in time to attend Kara Zor-El's naming ceremony. During the ceremony, his keen senses and quick reflexes were instrumental in averting an assassination attempt on the heads of the House of El, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. He quickly determined assassin's employer to be Kru-El, Jor-El's cousin, and apprehended him before he escaped.

Two years later, Zod, still retired, was present for the end of a test of an inter-dimensional trajector Jor-El had created to enter what he called a 'Survival Zone'; the test failed, with the extra-dimensional refuge Jor-El and his brother sought turning out to be a maddening void and little else. Intrigued, Zod noted that their invention could have other applications.[3]

Two months later, following the conclusion of Kru-El's trial, Zod was declared head of Krypton's planetary security. He oversaw Kru-El's imprisonment in Jor-El's so-called 'Survival Zone', rechristening it the Phantom Zone. Turning the Zone into a prison and a punishment over Jor-El's objections resulted in a rift between the pair of lifelong friends, though the house of El would continue to publicly support Zod's actions for some time.[4]

The Fall of Krypton

As time passed, Zod's power grew. Mass arrests of dissidents and protesters by his hand and under his orders resulted in the world's prisons being filled to capacity. After Jor-El presented his apocalyptic findings to the planetary council and was advanced to a position as head of the Science Council, Zod reviewed his findings and approached Jor-El, presenting him with a plan that he believed could save Krypton.[5] Zod intended to use Krypton's planetary security forces to implement direct and immediate action. However, Jor-El thought that this option was unthinkable, and their dispute escalated into a fistfight before being interrupted by Lara.

Dru-Zod moved forward with his plan anyway; later, when Jor-El presented his findings to the Kryptonian public, Zod immediately put forward an order to relocate the entire population of Krypton's prisons to the Phantom Zone.[6] Over the next few months, he would drastically expand the remit of the Kryptonian planetary security forces, continuing to violently crack down on various protest movements. Still, it was never enough to achieve his aims, a fact that ate away at him. As he drowned his frustrations, he was confronted by Jor-El, who intended to stop him.[7]

Eventually, he would end up imprisoned within the Phantom Zone alongside his followers, including Faora, Non, and Ursa.

Arrival on Earth

Zod, Non, and Ursa arrived on Earth at some point early in Superman's career, coming into conflict with the paragon of the House of El. This encounter ended with the trio restored to their imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.[8]

Later, During a hallucinatory episode following a Red Kryptonite injection, Kal-El would briefly believe that the trio had escaped the Phantom Zone yet again.[9]

New 52

Escape From the Phantom Zone

During their time within the Zone, Zod and Faora became acquainted with the Warworld, a humongous alien war machine and planned to use its endless armies to conquer the outside worlds. Their plan also involved the Kryptonian monster known as Doomsday, also a prisoner within the Zone. Zod and Faora released the beast from his captivity and threw him across the boundaries of the Phantom Zone, weakening them and allowing for their eventual escape.[10]

Zod's plan worked, and Doomsday's actions allowed Zod's escape from the Phantom Zone. Zod traveled to Earth, landing in the Sahara Desert. There, Zod's Kryptonian powers began to manifest for the first time, brutally slaughtering a group of travelers.[11] Zod was soon attacked by the Justice League of America until Superman and Wonder Woman arrived, the latter restraining him with her magic lasso. Zod recognized Superman as Kal-El, the son of Jor-El. Superman decided to keep Zod in the Fortress of Solitude's menagerie. While there, he reveals to Superman that another Kryptonian, Faora, also traveled to Earth with him, who vows to track her down.[12] But Zod had lied; much like himself, Faora was also trapped within the Phantom Zone. Zod tricks Superman into giving him access to his Phantom Zone Projector and frees himself from the shipping container Superman had placed him in, alongside all the other creatures in the Fortress' menagerie. With Superman busy fighting the alien animals, Zod uses the projector to release Faora from the zone.[13]

Grabbing her ally, Zod leaves the fortress and flies to a forest. Initially, exposure to Earth's atmosphere had caused Faora to become aggressive and incoherent, but as soon as her obtained her powers, her sanity returned. Suddenly, Superman catches up to the two criminals and engages in combat. Knowing their opponent cares for the humans, Zod and Faora initiate a forest fire that puts a nearby town in danger. Superman saves the village but leaves himself defenseless, until Wonder Woman arrives, evening the odds. Seeing Wonder Woman is willing to kill Faora to protect Superman, the General threatens Superman's life unless Wonder Woman lets him and Faora leave. Wonder Woman is forced to comply.[14]

With Superman and Wonder Woman in retreat, Zod and Faora construct a Phantom Zone portal in the South Pacific, using stolen human technology. In all of a sudden, Superman and Woman return, wearing magic armor and seeking a rematch. Zod reveals his plan was that Doomsday would break the barrier between normal space and the Phantom Zone, facilitating an invasion from the Warworld. Although the heroes initially defeat Zod and Faora by detonating their armors at point-blank range, Zod and Faora are empowered a direct beam of sunlight, sent by the Greek god Apollo, who sought revenge from an earlier defeat by Superman, even if it was by proxy. Zod and Faora brutally defeat their opponents and throw them into a nuclear reactor, believing they would no longer be a threat. But while Zod and Faora enter the Phantom Zone in order to liberate the Warworld, Superman and Wonder Woman manage to set off a large nuclear explosion that destroyed the portal, trapping Zod and Faora in the Zone once again.[10]

Following the cosmic upheavals of the Rebirth period, this character's history was revised. While it is possible that some version of this incident still occurred, Zod's original arrival on Earth is significantly earlier in the Infinite Frontier era.

Much later, Batman and Wonder Woman travel to the Phantom Zone, hoping to a find a cure for Superman, who had become a new iteration of Doomsday. They stumble upon Non, who revealed Zod and Faora had mysteriously vanished after Doomsday was released from the Phantom Zone.[15]

Rebirth

Time on the Squad

Sometime after his capture by the Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller had a brain bomb made out of Kryptonite implanted into Zod's head. When Zod returned to consciousness, he was inducted into the Suicide Squad by Waller.
Suicide Squad Vol 5 17 Textless

Zod on the Squad

Zod and the Squad were given the mission of heading to the secret hideout of the Annihilation Brigade, a group of terrorist Russian superhumans. Breaking into the fortress, Zod attacked Tunguska, one of the Brigade's members who could control the power of the sun. However before he could execute the warrior, his ally Cosmonut bashed into Zod, temporarily disorientating him. Eventually Zod got back up and crushed the head of Tunguska. This action caused Tunguska to become unstable, as he began to leak out energy. Recognizing that an explosion was imminent, the Enchantress used her arcane abilities to teleport the entire team out of the base as it exploded.[16]

After escaping the base, Zod and the team returned home from his fist successful mission on the Squad. Zod was given free reign of the penitentiary, so he headed to the Black Vault. Zod began communicating with his family on the other side of the veil, feeling their pain and anguish at being trapped in the cruelty of the Phantom Zone. Knowing he must free himself of his restraints, Zod found his way to a mirror. Using the mirror Zod fired his heat vision at his own head, cutting a hole in his skull to get to the bomb.[16]

The Green Lantern Corps

After freeing his family from the Phantom Zone, Zod headed to the far reaches of space. Eventually he came across a primitive world named Jekuul. This world sported two yellow suns, and so Zod made it his family's new home.
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol 1 37 Textless

Zod battles Hal Jordan

Zod planned to make Jekuul into the new Krypton, where his people could flourish as Gods. He quickly enlisted the help of the indigenousness species to start building Kryptonian architecture for the new civilization, as the people of Jekuul believed the House of Zod were gods and so worshipped them.[17]

Eventually Zod's activities on Jekuul caught the attention of the Green Lantern Corps, who sent two Green Lanterns, the humans Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, to survey the reasoning behind missing resources. When the Green Lanterns made touchdown on the planet surface, Zod went to greet them with open arms, as he wasn't ready for an open conflict with a force such as the Green Lantern Corps. However, recognizing him from Earth, Hal and Kyle immediately attacked Zod.[18]

Zod tasked the Eradicator with the goal of analyzing a Lantern ring enough to understand its power, keeping Hal Jordan as a prisoner while he did it. A rescue attempt was made for Jordan by the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. [19]

The Unity Saga

Roy Harper Cry for Justice
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Powers

  • Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Zod possesses the same potential powers as an average Kryptonian. These include:
    • Solar Energy Absorption: Under optimal conditions, this is the main source of Zod's super powers as they are contingent upon exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun star system. His biological make up includes a number of organs which lack analogues in humans and whose functions are unknown. It is believed that between one or more of these and his bio-cellular matrix, "yellow" solar energy is stored for later use. This allows for the use of these powers to fade when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
    • Heat Vision: Zod can, as a conscious act, fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it. He can vary the heat and area affected.
    • Super-Hearing: Zod's hearing is sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, he can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
    • Enhanced Vision: Zod's vision processes the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as allowing vast control over selective perception and focus.
      This umbrella ability includes the following:
      • Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision: Zod can see well into most of the electromagnetic spectrum. He can see and identify radio and television signals as well as all other broadcast or transmitted frequencies. Using this ability, he can avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods. This also allows him to see the aura generated by living thing.
      • Telescopic Vision: This is the ability to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. Though limited, the exact extent of the ability is undetermined. In function, it is similar to the zoom lens on a camera.
      • X-Ray Vision: This is the ability to see through any volume of matter except lead. Zods can see things behind a solid, opaque object as if it were not there. He can focus this ability to "peel back" layers of an object, allowing hidden image or inner workings to be observed. The exact type of energy perceived—such as x-rays, cosmic rays, or some other energy invisible to normal humans—is unclear. This ability perceives an ambient energy source though, it does not involve the eye projecting a concentrated, possibly toxic, beam to be reflected back from objects.
      • Microscopic Vision: This is the ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level.
      • Infrared Vision: Zod can see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness.
    • Flight: Zod is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.
    • Invulnerability: Due to the interaction of his dense molecular structure and supercharged bio-electric aura, Zod is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. In addition, his extends this protection against toxins and diseases.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Zod is able to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for an indefinite period of time. This based on his body converting yellow solar radiation directly to energy, but is limited by physiological and psychological needs to eat, drink, and sleep.
    • Superhuman Strength: Zod's strength is augmented by yellow solar radiation interacting with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of his musculature. His strength is more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. It is this act of conscious will that enables him to perform physical feats that are beyond the mere application force, such as moving a mountain top without said rock crumbling under its own mass.
    • Superhuman Speed: Zod is able to move at incredible speed by sheer force of will. This extends to his perceptions and allows for feats such as catching bullets in mid flight as well as covering vast distances in little or no time.
      This also confers:
    • Super-Breath: Zod is able to create hurricane force winds by exhaling air from his lungs. He can chill the air as it leaves his lungs to freeze targets. He can also reverse the process to pull large volumes of air or vapor into his lungs.
    • Longevity: Zod can live longer than regular humans, remaining at his prime as long as he was under the exposure of the "yellow" sun.

Abilities

  • Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): General Zod has trained in the ways of combat for many years. He has fought creatures twice his size and armored men with only his hands. He is a trained soldier and is not above killing.[1] Zod has mastered a number of Kryptonian Martial Arts and is a deadly and ruthless combatant.[20]
  • Science: Ever since Zod was a child he was trained to have an analytic mind, growing and raising small genetic animals. He used this knowledge to fool Krypton into a war.[1]
  • Survival: When Zod was a child, his parents were killed on a scientific expedition into Krypton's wilderness. He was forced to survive on his own for a year before being rescued.[1]
  • Weaponry: Zod is as trained with his fists as he is with weapons. He used primitive bows and arrows as a child, small arms as a soldier and various other Kryptonian weapons throughout his military career.[1]
  • Multilingualism: Zod can speak fluent Kryptonian and English.

Weaknesses

  • Solar Energy Dependancy


Related

Footnotes



Villains-secret-files
Superman Villain(s)
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This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category."

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Green Lantern Villain(s)
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This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Green Lantern of Earth, or the Green Lantern Corps as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Green Lantern Villains."

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Suicide Squad member
This character is or was a member of the Suicide Squad, a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Suicide Squad members" category.

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