General Dru-Zod is a fictional supervillain in DC Comics and significant adversary to Superman.  Formerly a general in the Kryptonian Army he was banished to the Phantom Zone after attempting a coup to take over the planet Krypton.  There have been a number of characters who’ve played the character and in this post we’re ranking them.

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Although dedicated to his soldiers, I didn’t particularly care for the character.  Smallville‘s attempts to make him a deep character just made him pretty bland and unremarkable.  Callum Blue does a good job with the character but as a commanding presence in the show, actually see him more of a young cadet.

Terrence Stamp is definitely one of the major players that made Zod such a prominent figure in films, and Stamp does a good job of making him a commanding presence.  However, the reason why he isn’t higher on this list is because of how cartoony his character is.  He’s selfish, he’s greedy, and an all around douchebag. But I guess that’s what makes him so iconic and Superman II such a great movie.

After Brainiac releases Zod’s Phantom wraith form from the Phantom Zone, he possesses Lex’s body.  I was thoroughly impressed with Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal of the character.  He was more serious, more stoic, much closer to the Stamp version but less vocal.  He even kicks Clark’s but in a pretty impressive battle in the show.  Why couldn’t this version of the character be more prominent in Smallville?

And ranking as my top choice for live action portrayal of Zod is Michael Shannon in the Man of Steel film.  Why is the character great? Because for as much of a douchebag as he is, he’s actually pretty sympathetic.  He’s doing all of these terrible things because he wants his species to live and not because he’s power hungry.  This is all the more emphasized when he realizes that Clark’s actions have effectively made the two of the them the last of the Kryptonians.

Thanks for checking out the post and in the comment section below let us know how would you rate the live action portrayals of Zod.