How come Superman the Animated Series had no General Zod?
- Thread starter indolover
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You have the Trasks provide the "character".Pfft, the Sentinels do have character. Big stompy "Halt Mutant" character.
I sort of wonder if he even could be. I mean, Luthor can go back to his jail cell or his penthouse or his lair, Brainiac can just dick around in space for years on end if need be (and they don't mind killing Brainiac as much, because it's more believable when he revives and Superman can hide behind an asinine ethical code which permits the destruction of machines), but Zod has nowhere to go* and nothing to do, Superman can't kill him (unless it's John Byrne writing it), and putting him back in the Phantom Zone makes Superman look like a monster as well as ineffectual.
*I guess you could throw him on Daxam. Although this is probably the most logical possible thing you could do with a Kryptonian criminal, the comic-book outcome of that is probably having to deal with an army of Daxamites the next time you see him.
So long as they can get Ian McKellen and/or Michael Fassbender back, they'd be stupid not to.
EDIT: And so far as Luthor's concerned, it'd be worth dipping into that well again if we could finally see him done right in the movies.
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The Phantom Zone is a Kryptonian jail. Its no different than sending Luthor to Strykers.
It's more merciful than Stryker's because nobody can stick a shiv in Zod's back or a dick in his asshole.
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Depends on the version of Phantom Zone.
Of course there's the old stories where people actually served real sentences and got actual due process, and sometimes got out and lived in Kandor or got gold kryptonited and became productive citizens and/or reoffended and the process began again.
Fine, let's roll with that one, since it's the most humane. What if the projector's disabled? Earth blown up? Someone drops Kandor on the floor? Or if Superman just, you know, deems it fit to never let you out?
Because, he never came up with the cure. He never let Mon-El out.
You're immortal in the Phantom Zone. Even if you discount the versions where it's hellish for other reasons, it's still conceivably one of the most barbaric forms of slow torture ever.
There's never any chance that you'll live forever trapped in a cell at ADMAX. There's a very good chance that's what will happen to you in the Phantom Zone.
That's monstrous.
I wish there were a comic fan on the USSC. Who wouldn't love to read a mock opinion applying the Eighth Amendment to the Phantom Zone? It'd be priceless. Although, according to the Furman test, it could be done in one, because it's "patently unnecessary," at least in any universe where gold kryptonite's lying around.
A lot of what ifs.
Kryptonian crimes. Kryptonian rules. You cant really worry about the what ifs there anymore than worrying about the what ifs for Strykers. Is there a plan for the Strykers prisoners if Metropolis disappears? Or the entire mainland of the US goes up in a puff of smoke?
Kryptonian crimes. Kryptonian rules. You cant really worry about the what ifs there anymore than worrying about the what ifs for Strykers. Is there a plan for the Strykers prisoners if Metropolis disappears? Or the entire mainland of the US goes up in a puff of smoke?
They die. That's the point. People would starve and die, and it would be awful, but it wouldn't be infinitely bad.
The Phantom Zone offers the prospect of something infinitely bad happening.
The Phantom Zone offers the prospect of something infinitely bad happening.
They should be kissing Superman's feet then. Because until he showed up with a projector they were pretty much in that situation because Krypton had blown up and with any chance of parole.
Plus you get to hang out with Mon-El!
I really like the old comics where it's not the soul-destroying boredom and isolation for a thousand years that bothers Mon-El. It's getting teased by all those mean, hardened Kryptonian criminals!
It's actually passing amazing that he can even understand them. Daxamite is Kryptonese? Or they all speak English? What?
I also like, as pointed out by the Super Future Friends in their excellent (if sadly defunct) podcast, the implication that Superboy died long ago, having never developed a lead-poisoning cure.
Seriously, if I were Superboy, and knew there was a good chance I was immortal or at least very long-lived, it'd sort of freak me out that all these Legion dudes never mention where I was "now," you know? To the point that, after polite inquiries were refuse, I'd probably beat the time and nature of my death out of, say, Brainiac 5 or Triplicate Girl, since they're the weakest. This is why I'm not qualified Superboy. But at least I never consigned someone to living death with a meteor full of lead.
Superboy: liable for massive damage in tort to Mon-El. They should do a comic where he's ordered to be Mon-El's butler.
That's the thing, though. You're still not free. I think in some versions can't even touch other people in the Zone. At the very least, in all versions you cannot touch things outside it (otherwise not a very effective prison, right?). In many versions, during imprisonment there is literally nothing to do--it's just a big inkless page, or a weird fog. Plus, at least in the Byrne conception of them, Zod, Faroa, and Quex-Ul didn't even really seem to like each other. Granted, I doubt I'd like someone I'd spent every day of the last thirty years with, either.
And on the other hand, their grand scheme was to kill everybody in their universe, so being alone together with nothing to do didn't seem to bother them--but also their grand scheme was retarded. Maybe they planned on taking turns making babies with Faora? I mean, that might make sense for an immortal. If you've got forever, and a woman, and no inbreeding depression, you can basically create your own civilization. Which would be cool.
Anyway. In some versions you can see outside of the Zone, i.e., the true reality. This is better, but watching people masturbate and pick their noses has got to get old. And it must be a pain in the ass to find the one house where someone's watching that Mama's Family rerun you wanted to catch.
One question I've always had--how did Zod and company actually get to Earth? Does the projector open up a doorway to another "dimension," or is the Zone actually contained inside the projector, like a TARDIS? Does the Zone map to our universe on a 1:1 basis? If you can observe our universe in a comfortable manner, doesn't that necessarily imply that it maps? And it's a long way from Krypton to Earth. Morrison addressed this a bit in JLA, where the Phantom Zone was a really busy place, and it functioned a lot like hyper- or subspace, which is to say, as a plot device for moving objects without worrying about Einstein.
It's actually passing amazing that he can even understand them. Daxamite is Kryptonese? Or they all speak English? What?
I also like, as pointed out by the Super Future Friends in their excellent (if sadly defunct) podcast, the implication that Superboy died long ago, having never developed a lead-poisoning cure.
Seriously, if I were Superboy, and knew there was a good chance I was immortal or at least very long-lived, it'd sort of freak me out that all these Legion dudes never mention where I was "now," you know? To the point that, after polite inquiries were refuse, I'd probably beat the time and nature of my death out of, say, Brainiac 5 or Triplicate Girl, since they're the weakest. This is why I'm not qualified Superboy. But at least I never consigned someone to living death with a meteor full of lead.
Superboy: liable for massive damage in tort to Mon-El. They should do a comic where he's ordered to be Mon-El's butler.
Admiral James Kirk said:
That's the thing, though. You're still not free. I think in some versions can't even touch other people in the Zone. At the very least, in all versions you cannot touch things outside it (otherwise not a very effective prison, right?). In many versions, during imprisonment there is literally nothing to do--it's just a big inkless page, or a weird fog. Plus, at least in the Byrne conception of them, Zod, Faroa, and Quex-Ul didn't even really seem to like each other. Granted, I doubt I'd like someone I'd spent every day of the last thirty years with, either.
And on the other hand, their grand scheme was to kill everybody in their universe, so being alone together with nothing to do didn't seem to bother them--but also their grand scheme was retarded. Maybe they planned on taking turns making babies with Faora? I mean, that might make sense for an immortal. If you've got forever, and a woman, and no inbreeding depression, you can basically create your own civilization. Which would be cool.
Anyway. In some versions you can see outside of the Zone, i.e., the true reality. This is better, but watching people masturbate and pick their noses has got to get old. And it must be a pain in the ass to find the one house where someone's watching that Mama's Family rerun you wanted to catch.
One question I've always had--how did Zod and company actually get to Earth? Does the projector open up a doorway to another "dimension," or is the Zone actually contained inside the projector, like a TARDIS? Does the Zone map to our universe on a 1:1 basis? If you can observe our universe in a comfortable manner, doesn't that necessarily imply that it maps? And it's a long way from Krypton to Earth. Morrison addressed this a bit in JLA, where the Phantom Zone was a really busy place, and it functioned a lot like hyper- or subspace, which is to say, as a plot device for moving objects without worrying about Einstein.
Guinness Book of World Records said:
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Last Son kind of brought back the prisoners teasing Mon-El and also the intriguing idea that General Zod began to organize some kind of uprising in the Zone which led to his, Ursa and Non's escape to kick off Johns run. Johns did a lot of fun stuff 
But he was... That's because he's more than an X-Men villain. He's an X-Men supporting character. Could you imagine a Superman movie with out Lois? Or a Spider-Man movie without Aunt May? That's the role that Lex fills. Even if he's not the main villain, I feel like he's such a strong foil for Superman that any film without him would worse for it.
I don't disagree about the charisma of either Lex or Magneto, but I think this problem with the other villains is one of approach. Both the X-Men and Superman have a lot of cool villains, maybe they would need a tweak here or there, to work in a movie, but I think they could replace either Lex or Magneto no problem.
With Supes, you got Metallo, Parasite, Maxima, Intergang, Live Wire, Silver Banshee, Eradicator, Hank Henshaw, Doomsday. One or two of these guys working in tandem could prove very tough for Superman in a movie. With X-Men, Apocalypse, Cassandra Nova, Trask, Bastion, Mr. Sinister, Phalanx, Shi'ar, Vulcan, various Hellfire Club members, could all be good villains.
As much I love both Lex and Magneto I think it does a disservice to health of the franchises to keep going back to them. Both need a vacation so that other villains can get some air time.
I've always thought the Parasite had promise if used correctly.
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