| “ | Look at this. We could have built a new Krypton in this squalor, but you chose the humans over us. I exist only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I take, no matter how violent or how cruel, is for the greater good of my people. And now, I have no people! My soul... that is what you have taken FROM ME! | „ |
| ~ Zod before his battle with Superman. |
| “ | If you love these people so much... you can mourn for them! | „ |
| ~ Zod to Superman as he attempts to kill some innocent humans - his most famous quote. |
General Dru-Zod is the main antagonist of the 2013 DC Extended Universe film Man of Steel and the overarching antagonist of its 2016 follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
He was the former leader of the Kryptonian Warrior Guild and the commander of the Sword of Rao who was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for attempting a coup against Krypton's leadership. Awakening after the destruction of Krypton, Zod attempts to use Earth to resurrect his homeworld at the expense of humanity. However, his plans were thwarted and he met his demise at the hands of Kal-El, better known as Superman.
He was portrayed by Michael Shannon, who also played the White Death in Bullet Train.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Viewing that the Kryptonian Law Council of Five was weak and foolish to lead Krypton, he and the Kryptonian Warrior Guild launched a coup d'etat to ensure the survival for the Kryptonians.
- When Jor-El was talking to the Council about how to ensure the survival of Kryptonians, Zod and his soldiers broke at there, killing guards in the process.
- When he entered at there, he declared that the Council is disbanded under his authority, and shoots Ro-Zar, killing her.
- He orders his soldiers to subdue the remaining members of the council.
- Seeing Jor-El's refusal to join his coup, he orders his soldiers to take him away.
- During his coup, many Kryptonians would die for it.
- When he reunited with Jor-El, despite telling him that he would spare his life if he gave him the Codex.
- When Jor-El refuses and tells him what he is doing is a second chance for all Krypton and not only the bloodlines that Zod considered worthy, adding that his son Kal-El is the first natural childbirth of Krypton, Zod, indignant, furiously accuses Jor-El and Lara of heresy.
- He then orders his soldiers to destroy Kal-El in his ship, but Jor-El manage to kill his men and the two start a fight.
- After Lara launched Kal-El's ship, Zod kills Jor-El by stabbing him in the abdomen.
- Already when Kal-El's ship was leaving Krypton, he asks Lara where she sent him because he planned to go to his destination and kill him.
- Already when Kal-El's ship was about to escape from Krypton, he orders his soldiers to destroy it and kill him.
- When he and his soldiers were about to be sentenced and given the opportunity to say a few last words,he menacingly approaches the Council and Lara, calling them fools and that they are not going to dirty their hands by sending them to the Phantom Zone forever, spitting them out at the end, then stalks towards Lara, threatening her to find Kal-El.
- After 33 years on finding more surviving Kryptonians and Kal-El, Zod makes a message to Eath, telling Kal-El to surrender in 24 hours or the earth would suffer the consequences.
- When Superman arrived to the Black Zero, Zod was behaving politely and affable, but was actually faking it.
- This is evidenced when Kal-El begins to vomit blood upon rejecting the Black Zero's atmosphere, he is not worried, and does not calm Lois when she was nervous about what was happening to him. However, Kal-El manages to survive in the end.
- When he and his soldiers land in Smallville and find Martha Kent, Kal-El's adoptive mother, he asked Martha where the ship was, and seeing her refusal, he ordered Faora to grab her by the neck.
- Upon learning that the Codex was not inside the ship, he angrily throws the red truck at Martha's house, destroying it, and attempts to attack her after she told him that she didn't know where the Codex was, but he doesn't manage to do that, since Superman arrives on time, saving her.
- He, with his soldiers, activated the Phantom Drive in the Black Zero and in the World Engine. With this, they were going to terraform the Earth and convert it with a new atmosphere.
- When they finally activated the Phantom Drive, they began to severely destroy much of Metropolis, killing a large number of people in the process.
- Among the several people killed by the activation of the Phantom Drive, there was a man with his son who got caught by rubble before floating and being thrown to the ground. His child survived thanks to the efforts of a rookie Barry Allen, but being unable to save the man in question worsened Allen's trauma over losing his mother to a killer and his father to prison back when he was a child.
- When he arrived to Scout Ship 0344, he put the command key and activated the Genesis Chamber. When Jor-El's hologram tries to convince him to stop his plans, he refuses and purges the ship's systems and flies it to Metropolis, despite the hologram telling him that the Kryptonians and humans can co-exist.
- He ignores Jor-El's hologram's words, telling the intelligence to delete it, but when the hologram insists, Zod tells him that he will extract the Codex from his son's body, and rebuild Krypton atop his bones, and when he finishes his threat, he erases the hologram.
- After Superman manages to save Metropolis, and all the Kryptonian soldiers are sucked by the Phantom Zone, he starts a fight with him, trying to kill him. During the fight, great destruction is caused, collapsing buildings, causing explosions, and killing a large number of other people in the process.
- Already at the end of their fight, when Superman was already holding him back, Zod tries to kill an innocent family with his heat vision, telling Superman if he loves humans so much, he can mourn for them.
- The latter begs him not to, but Zod refuses. This would force Superman to kill him.
- His actions would have a posthumous result, since due to the great destruction he did to Metropolis, many people ended up dying, and they ended up putting up giant walls for the victims, there were people who ended up paralyzed. He would also be the reason why Batman initially hated Superman and see him as a threat. It would also cause Wallace Keefe to join Lex Luthor, the latter would cause the explosion of the Capitol, and a large part of the humans would hate Superman. Luthor would also use Zod's corpse and spaceship to create a Kryptonian monster called Doomsday to kill Superman, making Zod indirectly responsible for Superman's death.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He genuinely cared for his people, the Kryptonians. While he killed the council, he did it so he could ensure his people survive in his point of view. Also, when Faora was shedding tears over the destruction of Krypton, Zod comforted her, and when Superman made the Phantom Zone suck out all that was left of the Kryptonians, he got very angry, and his attempt to kill Superman was an act of revenge for his people.
- He really cared for Jor-El, being his closest friend. When he launched his coup on the Council, he wanted Jor-El on his side as he didn't want him to be his enemy, and had a sad look when he refused to join him. Even when he kills him, even when Zod claims he would be willing to do it again if he had a chance, he isn't remorseless either, as he says it himself that murdering Jor-El haunted him for the rest of his life.
Trivia[]
- The Zod appearing in The Flash is of the Flashpoint timeline Barry Allen/The Flash accidentally creates making him effectively an alternate counterpart. However, the Flashpoint timeline's version of Zod has not been approved as Near Pure Evil as of now.
- Interestingly, both Michael Shannon and Joey King portrayed a DC Near Pure Evil villain, those being Zod of Man of Steel and Talia al Ghul of The Dark Knight Rises respectively, before appearing together in Bullet Train as the White Death and the Prince respectively, who are likewise both Near Pure Evils.
- Whiplash from the fanfiction The Glory Of Redemption is similar to this version of General Zod.
External Links[]
- Zod on the Villains Wiki
- Zod on the DC Extended Universe Wiki
- Zod on the Wikipedia
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 Near Pure Evils
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Live-Action Features See Also | ||
 Near Pure Evils
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Zod | The Enchantress | Incubus | Ares | Doctor Poison | White Dragon | Kalypso | ||