Zor-El
From Smallville Wiki
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| Zor-El | |
|---|---|
| Family | Jor-El (brother, deceased), Lara-El (sister-in-law, deceased), Kara (daughter), Kal-El (nephew) |
| Occupation | Scientist / Kandor Mine Operator |
| Powers and Abilities | All Kryptonian powers under a yellow sun (demonstrated: Super speed, super strength, invulnerability, and flight) |
| Played By | Christopher Heyerdahl |
| Status | Deceased |
| Appeared In | Lara, Blue, Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton |
"Remember, Kara, a true Kryptonian embraces their destiny no matter what." – Zor-El, to Kara, Lara
Zor-El was a Kryptonian scientist directly responsible for the destruction of his own home planet, Krypton. He was a member of the House of El: the father of Kara, the younger brother of Jor-El and the uncle of Kal-El.
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[edit] Powers and Abilites
When exposed to solar radiation from a yellow sun, Kryptonians gain superhuman abilities that greatly surpass those of humans.
See Kryptonian Powers and Abilities
[edit] Vulnerabilities
Super-powered Kryptonians are vulnerable to kryptonite, highly radioactive fragments of their home world. Whilst some of these types of kryptonite affect them physically, other affect them emotionally. During the short time he was on earth, Zor-El was only exposed to green kryptonite, which temporarily but painfully weakened him.
See Kryptonian Vulnerabilities
[edit] Early Life
Zor-El was born and raised on the planet Krypton with his older brother, Jor-El. As an adult, he became a scientist like his brother, and had a daughter, Kara.
Zor-El and Jor-El never really talked a lot. His daughter Kara once described the House of El as a "dysfunctional family". Years later, Jor-El told his son, Clark Kent, that he never trusted Zor-El, and the Martian Manhunter later told Clark that Zor-El tried to kill Jor-El and was a traitor. Sometime after that, Jor-El told his son that Zor-El's experiments were motivated by greed and power.
Before the first meteor shower that befell Smallville, Zor-El traveled to Earth on several occasions. He first went to study the effects of kryptonite on Kryptonians and the effects of the yellow sun on Kryptonian's, so when he later goes to Earth to fulfill Rao's prophecy, he will have advanced knowledge of its effects. He later went to retrieve Kara, who had followed Lara-El, Jor-El's wife, there. After chastising his daughter for leaving Kandor and ordering her outside the Kents' house, Zor-El professed his love for Lara and suggested that they stay on Earth and rule the planet together, revealing that he tried to assassinate Jor-El so he could have Lara all to himself. Lara rejected Zor-El and his advances, revealing that she was pregnant with Jor-El's son. Zor-El vowed that one day he would have Lara through his science, revealing that he had stored Lara's DNA in a crystal. When he saw that Kara had witnessed the whole thing, Zor-El used a Crystal of El to erase the events of that day in his daughter's mind.
Sometime just before his attempt on Jor-El's life, Zor-El went into the Phantom Zone and built an escape route out so that he could escape if he was put there for his crime and also told Kara Kent about it so if she was ever imprisoned, she would be able to escape.
[edit] Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton
After his attempt to kill Jor-El, Zor-El was disgraced as a scientist, and so became the mining operator for Kandor's mine. He also became associated with General Zod.
Zor-El was a strong believer in destiny, and devoutly believed in Rao's prophecy. The prophecy was foretold years ago on Krypton and detailed the creation of the Brain InterActive Construct, the war with Zod, the destruction of Krypton, Zor-El's resurrection, and Kal-El's journey and destiny on Earth. Zor-El believed in the prophecy so much that he fulfilled it by igniting Krypton's already unstable core, thus starting Krypton's apocalypse.
Zod and his army took over all other mines on Krypton, with Kandor's mine the only one supplying the planet with defenses against Zod's forces with the mine working at full capacity. When Krypton started suffering from seismic disturbances, Jor-El suspected they were being caused by Kandor's mine and informed the Science Council about it. The Science Council confronted Zor-El, who denied that it was Kandor's mine and told them it was Zod who was causing the tremors. Zor-El then ordered for Kara's school to be attacked, and sent Augo to make sure Kara wasn't there to stop her from getting hurt. He also planned for several other key buildings to be attacked as well the Council's military headquarters and the government building among them.
Kara unknowingly went to see Zor-El about it, and went his office while he was having a conversation via hologram with Aethyr and Nam-Ek, revealing both his association with Zod's campaign and that he had advance knowledge of the recent attacks to Kara. The two disciples of Zod planned to begin their final assault on Kandor, now that the city's defenses have been weakened. When confronted by Kara, who asked him why he would try and kill his own daughter, Zor-El said he made sure that she never got hurt and told her that Augo is his disciple and that she was never in danger. He then explained that he did it all for Rao's prophecy that the end is near and that she should fulfill her destiny. After Kara ran away and hid in the mine, Zor-El and Augo chased after her and eventually found her.
Zor-El then went back into Kandor's mine control room and began activating the mine to full capacity in order to ignite Krypton's core. The countdown was nearly complete when Jor-El contacted him and told him that the Science Council had ordered him to stop the mining as Zod had been captured and sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Zor-El agreed to stop the mining, but then learned that Jor-El knew about his trips to Earth to study the effects of the yellow sun on Kryptonite and Kryptonians and also how he tried to seduce Lara. Jor-El also told him him he knew of his ties with Zod, but did not know of the extent; until he did, Zor-El was under arrest and the control room locked down.
Before Krypton was destroyed, Zor-El sent Kara to Earth in a spaceship along with the blue crystal, which he told Kara would lead her back to all she cherished. After Kara departed Krypton, Zor-El died along with the rest of his people.
[edit] Season Seven
More than twenty years later, Zor-El tricked his nephew Clark Kent into inserting the blue crystal into the Fortress of Solitude's console, recreating himself as a replicant along with Lara. After his rebirth, he approached Kara and convinced her to trust him, claiming he had changed his ways.
Zor-El then went to LuthorCorp and threatened Lionel Luthor, his brother Jor-El's vessel, to convince Clark to follow him in dominating Earth. Before Zor-El could kill Lionel, Clark arrived and punched Zor-El, sending him flying out the window of Lionel's office, but Zor-El flew away.
[edit] Season Eight
Kara tells Clark that Zor-El built an escape route out of the Phantom Zone for his family presumably just before his attempt on Jor-El's life.
[edit] In the Comics
Zor-El was a climatographer on Krypton, and one of the only scientists to believe his twin brother Jor-El's predictions about the impending destruction of Krypton. Somehow during Krypton's explosion, the area containing Argo City, Zor-El's hometown, remained intact, and its people were able to survive for many years. Kara was born in the city and grew up there before a meteor shower wreaked the city's crude anti-kryptonite defenses. Zor-El managed to build a rocket and use it to send his daughter to Earth. Fearing that Superman would not recognize her because he had left Krypton as an infant, Kara's parents provided a costume based closely on the Man of Steel's own. Many times through older comics, Zor-El appeared, such as the trips Superman made to Kandor and the time Kal-El researched his family history.
In the modern comics, Zor-El was believed to be a enemy of his brother's who sent Kara to Earth with the intention of killing Kal-El. These events were in fact false and a ruse. Zor-El has been shown in the current continuity as a Kryptonian police officer whose wife, a scientist named Alura, designed the ship that carried Kara to Earth. Kara was sent to protect Kal-El and to be the only person who remembered life on Krypton. In the comics, Zor-El is very different from his Smallville incarnation; he was even seen getting along well with Jor-El. Zor-El and wife Alura are reaveled to be alive in the bottle city of Kandor that Superman discovered. He and his wife saved a number of Kryptonians before their capture by Brainiac, he is told his daughter is alive but is unfortunately murdered by a villian named Reactron. His death provokes an abrupt change in Alura, who become a domineering fascist, who instigates the creation of a new Planet Krypton, and begins plotting against Earth.
[edit] Trivia
- Christopher Heyerdahl previously portrayed Dr. Arthur Walsh in The Chloe Chronicles.
- Zor-El would have travelled to earth in the same ship as Kara did in 1986 had he not been injured after Kara pushed him onto the hologram crystals. Kara did not know of this as he wiped her memory using a Crystal of El.
