Publication history
He first appeared in Action Comics #844 (December 2006), in the story arc Superman: Last Son , and was created by Richard Donner, Geoff Johns, and Adam Kubert. The character has assumed the role of Nightwing. Following Flashpoint , DC revisited the concept of Zod's heroic son. On Earth-16, he succeeds Clark Kent as Superman and is best friends with the new Batman, Damian Wayne. On Earth-2, in the comic Earth 2, Zod's son Val-Zod succeeds Kal-El as the pacifist Superman of his universe. [1]
A new version of Lor-Zod was introduced in 2017 during DC Rebirth in the Action Comics series during the "Revenge" storyline, this time as a villain.
Fictional character biography
"Last Son"
When a spacecraft falls towards Metropolis, it is diverted to a relatively safe landing by Superman. After its landing, Superman discovers a Kryptonian boy inside, who is taken to the east coast lab of the Department of Metahuman Affairs for observation.
The boy is initially only able to speak Kryptonian and does not know his name or where he came from. After he is confirmed as a Kryptonian, the boy is immediately taken to the Department of Metahuman Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C. without Superman's knowledge. He removes the boy from their custody, and decides to raise him with Lois Lane. [2] Clark then contacts Batman, who names the boy Christopher Kent. [3]
Chris attends the Ellsworth School, an elite private school, where he has difficulty concealing his powers. Superman and Batman develop an implant concealed in a wristwatch that uses red sun radiation to block Chris' powers until he learns to control them. [4] However, the wristwatch fails due to being calibrated on the metabolism of an adult Kryptonian and explodes, wrecking Clark and Lois' apartment. Clark reassures Chris that he will not be sent away and that he would find a way to cope with his growing powers. [5]
Superman holds a press conference to inform the world that Chris was under his care. At that time, Bizarro, sent by Lex Luthor, attempts to kidnap Chris. Later, it was revealed that Chris is the biological son of General Zod and Ursa. His arrival on Earth released Zod, Non, and Ursa from the Phantom Zone. [6] He was apparently conceived and raised in the Phantom Zone within a prison where time passed normally. In a battle with Superman, Zod and Ursa reclaim Chris, send Superman to the Phantom Zone, and invade Earth. [7] Superman escapes with Mon-El's aid, then allies with Lex Luthor to defeat Zod, who had captured a large portion of Earth's superhero population. [8] After Zod and his army are defeated, Chris pursues them into the Phantom Zone to ensure that they cannot escape, since the entrance to the Phantom Zone will remain weak as long as he is on Earth.
Nightwing
After returning to the Phantom Zone, Chris enters the Kryptonian prison where his parents had made shelter. There, he finds a piece of Brainiac's technology that gives him a mental link to Thara Ak-Var, security chief of Kandor. [9] When the citizens of Kandor create New Krypton, which was placed in orbit around the Sun opposite Earth, Chris and Thara task themselves with bringing in the Phantom Zone Kryptonian criminals hiding on Earth as sleeper agents. Since the belligerent government of Alura Zor-El and Zod had tarnished all Kryptonians' reputations on Earth, Chris and Thara decided to act as a new Nightwing and Flamebird duo (since Dick Grayson, the previous Nightwing, became the new Batman), at first with simple cloth masks, then with fake power suits, to obscure the origins of their powers.
Chris, due to his birth in the Phantom Zone, undergoes uncontrollable growth spurts: when Thara saved him he was still the young boy raised by Lois and Clark, as Nightwing he is shown as roughly 15 or 16, and after another growth spurt of about seven years, he is about 23 years old. [10]
Chris's mother, Ursa, begins stalking him to exact revenge. Chris is shown denying his heritage and insisting Thara address him with his "human" name, despising her attempts to transliterate it as a Kryptonian name, and never going by his true Kryptonian name of Lor-Zod. [11] After a brutal attack by Ursa, Thara is left gravely wounded by a kryptonite knife and Chris is forced to bring her to Lois for medical assistance. [12]
Upon bringing Thara to Lois, Chris and Lois have a tearful reunion. Lois is happy to see him again but is concerned about his advanced aging. Lois calls Doctor Light for medical assistance while Chris goes back to the fortress and is again confronted by Ursa. Their conflict is cut short as UAVs sent by Sam Lane arrived at the scene, forcing both to flee. [13]
Framed for murder
Chris and Thara are teleported away, along with Supergirl. The three are attacked by Guardian and the Science Police, for apparently killing Mon-El. Chris tries to tell Guardian that they did not murder Mon-El, but Guardian ignores him. The three manage to escape to Paris. [14]
During a battle with Reactron, Thara is injured while attempting to protect Supergirl. As Reactron is about to kill Chris and Kara, Thara manifests her Flamebird powers and personality, and easily overpowers Reactron. Flamebird decides to kill Reactron but is swayed to show mercy after Reactron reveals that Mon-El is alive and is talked down by Supergirl. The Flamebird persona is once more submerged after sharing a kiss with Chris. [15]
Donning new costumes, Chris and Thara continue to save lives, despite their actions being twisted by the anti-Kryptonian media. Not long after, Chris experiences another aging spurt, becoming an old man. Doctor Light brings Chris to her colleague, Doctor Pillings, who, unbeknownst to any of them, is the Kryptonian sleeper agent Jax-Ur. [16] Jax-Ur cures Chris, reverting him to his young adult form and takes a sample of his DNA. [17]
Jax-Ur unleashes a replica of the Kryptonian deity Rao and banishes Chris to the Phantom Zone. Chris is contacted by Nightwing, another Kryptonian entity, opposite and lover of Flamebird. Nightwing reveals that while Thara is truly the host of Flamebird, so is he Nightwing's. Seeing that Thara and the others will not hold out much longer against Jax-Ur, Chris becomes Nightwing's avatar and returns to Earth. Nightwing absorbs Rao's heart into the Phantom Zone, then destroys the Rao construct.
During the War of the Supermen storyline, the Sun is turned red by the combined efforts of Sam Lane and Lex Luthor. Thara sacrifices herself to restore it to its yellow coloration, which disintegrates her body. Chris attempts to join her, but the Nightwing entity spirits him away. [18]
In the final confrontation between Superman and Zod, Chris pushes Zod back into the Phantom Zone. Once back in the Zone, Chris returns to being a young boy, and encounters Mon-El once again. [19]
Rebirth
Following the New 52 reboot, Chris Kent was erased from continuity. Later during DC Rebirth, a new version of Lor-Zod was introduced, this one more loyal to his father General Zod. [20] The House of Zod rules over Jekuul, a planet with two yellow suns. [21]
Powers and abilities
Chris Kent possesses the average abilities of a Kryptonian, including superhuman physical abilities, heat vision, x-ray vision, and ice breath. [2] [6] [8] [4] [12] Chris's time in the Phantom Zone gave him several powers not shared by other Kryptonians, including telekinesis and resistance to kryptonite. [12]
Chris is also immune to the effects of the Phantom Zone because he was born there. He has a solid body within the Zone and apparently ages normally while all other inhabitants are timeless and phantoms. For the same reason however, while living outside the Zone, he ages in sudden, debilitating, growth spurts, in which several years pass to him in mere minutes. [11] Jax-Ur, in his guise of Dr. Pillings, attached a device to Chris' arm that stabilized his growth. [22]
As Nightwing, Chris is able to manipulate shadows, allowing him to create shadow constructs and teleport via shadows. Additionally, Chris possesses a form of omniscience that allows him to see and know everything that occurs in darkness.
