Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis
In pre-Crisis continuity, Zor-El was a climatographer on Krypton, and one of the only scientists to believe his brother Jor-El's predictions about the impending destruction of Krypton. When the planet exploded, Argo City was blown safely into space with a life-giving bubble of air around it (a later version of the story has the city saved by weather dome that Zor-El had constructed). The explosion turns the ground beneath Argo into kryptonite, but Zor-El and the other survivors covered the surface with sheets of lead. The Kryptonians manage to keep alive for many years, and Kara was born a short time after the destruction of Krypton. The end for Argo came when a meteor storm punched holes into the lead sheeting, exposing the survivors to kryptonite radiation. Zor-El managed to build a rocket and use it to send his daughter Kara to Earth.
It was later revealed to Supergirl that her parents had teleported away into the Survival Zone (similar to the Phantom Zone) during Argo's final moments. Supergirl was able to rescue them, and Zor-El and Alura went on to live in Kandor. When the bottle city was enlarged, Zor-El and Alura resettled on New Krypton/Rokyn. [3]
Earth-Two
In the alternate universe of Earth-Two, Zor-L and Allura did not survive Krypton's destruction. This Zor-L was an expert in psychology and created a virtual reality chamber for Kara inside her spacecraft. As she aged inside the rocket on her way to Earth-Two, she experienced the type of life she would have had on Krypton. This version of Zor-L lived in Kandor and not Argo City. [4]
Post-Crisis and Zero Hour (Birthright) and Infinite Crisis timelines
In "The Supergirl from Krypton" story-arc in Superman/Batman #8-13 (May–October 2004), Zor-El rocketed his daughter away from Krypton before Kal-El left. It was expected that she would reach Earth first and could help raise Kal from his infancy. However, she stayed in stasis and her ship did not reach Earth until years later, so the infant she expected to help raise was a grown man when she arrived still in her teens.
In the Supergirl series, new information on Zor-El's history and relations are crucial with Zor-El was featured in issue #16 as he appeared as an apparition and explained what truly happened to Kara, and why she was sent to Earth to kill Kal-El, in a dream sequence. Zor-El was against the use of the Phantom Zone as a prison because he felt that it would become abused, since no blood was shed, it became a clean way to deal with criminals. In the Argo City area he lived in, he was a very trusted scientist like his brother Jor-El. He fought with Jor-El over the use of the Phantom Zone and tried to stop him from supporting it.
In Action Comics #869 it is revealed the Zor-El saved Argo City from Krypton's destruction by engineering a protective dome with his wife Alura. However, Brainiac, who was the culprit for Krypton's explosion, returned to finish the job. He merged Argo with the city of Kandor and killed those he considered to be duplicate information. Superman finds the city in Brainiac's ship. Zor-El and Alura are able to make contact with Kal-El to enquire about their daughter. He was later murdered by Reactron. [5]
In Blackest Night crossover, Zor-El is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. The scientists of New Krypton manage to place a forcefield composed of a counter-energy to the black ring's power source around the planet, cutting off Zor-El's right hand and preventing him from continuing his attack. [6]
The New 52
In The New 52 continuity reboot, Zor-El is Jor-El’s older brother instead of his younger one. In spite of his jealousy and resentment, Zor-El listened when Jor-El claimed Krypton was doomed. He built a dome around Argo City and a space rocket to send Kara to Earth in case Argo's force-field failed. However, Zor-El did not warn his wife and daughter about his plans, though. Minutes before the explosion, Zor-El blasted Kara into space. Without a way to sustain themselves, the city's seven million inhabitants ended up dying. Zor-El sent a distress signal, but less than a dozen people remained alive when Brainiac found the city. Brainiac turned Zor-El into a cyborg, erased his memory, and reprogrammed him to serve him. [7]
Zor-El is obsessed with achieving perfection and getting his lost memories back. Zor-El met and fought Supergirl - who gave him the "Cyborg Superman" moniker - several times. [8] Zor-El eventually rebels against Brainiac, but is defeated and left for dead. His systems reboot, restoring his memory in the process. Zor-El is appalled at what he had become and what he had done and becomes obsessed with bringing Argo City back and recreating Krypton, convincing himself it was for his daughter's sake. Zor-El is later taken to Dr. Veritas's lab, where he is placed in a pod as his cybernetic implants are removed.
Indigo nearly kills Supergirl, leading Zor-El to attack Indigo. Zor-El is captured by the Department of Extranormal Operations, taken to a clandestine base and locked up. Zor-El is visited by Mister Oz, who kills him by activating the red plasma failsafe in his containment tank, leaving him to drown. [9]
