'Smallville's Best Villain Was Never Lex Luthor

Image via The CW Published Jul 25, 2026, 8:03 AM EDT Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family. Sign in to your Collider account Having aired for an impressive 10 seasons and 217 episodes, Smallville ended in 2011 with a bang as Clark Kent (Tom Welling) finally became Superman. In many ways, Smallville ushered in a new era of superhero television, proving that comic book heroes could in fact still work on the small screen in our modern age. Over a decade, Clark battled many enemies, including his former best friend Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). Still, despite Lex's destiny as Clark's greatest adversary, there is another who rose and took his rightful place as the Man of Steel's arch-enemy: General Zod. General Zod Remained a Villain All Throughout 'Smallville' Despite the character's often messy comic book history, General Zod has been one of Superman's most consistent rogues since his first appearance in 1961's Adventure Comics #283. Nearly two decades later, the character was re-imagined by director Richard Donner for Superman: The Movie and its immediate sequel, where he was played by Terence Stamp (who, coincidentally, voiced Jor-El on Smallville). Zod only returned to the big screen several decades later for 2013's Man of Steel, this time played by Michael Shannon, but before that, he made his mark on Smallville. Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one. 🚀Star Wars 💍Lord of the Rings 🧙Harry Potter 👑Game of Thrones 🖖Star Trek FIND YOUR UNIVERSE → 01 What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question. ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more. DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully. AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force. BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be. NEXT QUESTION → 03 How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul. AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road. CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count. NEXT QUESTION → 04 Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for. AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road. CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are. AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it. The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me. EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat. NEXT QUESTION → 06 How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map. AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it. CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying? AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act. BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you. AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try. CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be. REVEAL MY UNIVERSE → Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose. Star WarsYou believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast. You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance. You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources. Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story. The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is. Lord of the RingsYou understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost. Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate. You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival. Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance. Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world. Harry PotterYou believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise. The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle. You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete. Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying. That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely. Game of ThronesYou see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it. Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation. You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be. Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer. Winter always comes. You are already prepared. Star TrekYou believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation. Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear. You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is. The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better? You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ What's great about Lex Luthor, his father Lionel (John Glover), and his half-sister Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) is that they're all complex characters who teeter between good and evil. For the first half of the series, Lex fights his dark destiny, hoping that Clark can help him overcome his family's personal darkness. Ultimately, Lex succumbs to his dark side, and thus their eternal rivalry is born. By contrast, Tess and Lionel go from being antagonistic figures (and in Lionel's case, downright evil) to redeeming themselves as some of Clark's closest allies before their untimely deaths at Lex's hand. There's no denying that without the Luthors, Smallville wouldn't have been half as good as it was. They always had the best lines, monologues, and character arcs, and that was by design. On Smallville, just because you're a Luthor doesn't mean you're evil. But where the Luthors (and the Kents, in contrast) are portrayed as normal people navigating an extraordinary world, villains like General Zod possess incredible powers, have a deep hatred for our hero, and elevate Smallville to greater heights. From the first time Zod's name is uttered in Season 5 to his final appearance in the back half of Season 10, the Kryptonian general is entirely focused on turning Earth into his New Krypton and taking revenge on the famed son of Jor-El. General Zod's Villainy Goes Back to the Last Days of Krypton Image via The CW The way Smallville explains it, General Zod is actually the reason that Krypton was destroyed in the first place, killing not just Clark's entire biological family (save his paternal cousin), but his entire race as well. After going to war against the Kryptonian Council, Zod built himself an army of devoted followers, corrupted Jor-El's version of the Brain InterActive Construct (aka James Marsters' Brainiac), genetically engineered "the ultimate destroyer" Doomsday (later played by Sam Witwer), and, allied with Jor-El's brother Zor-El (Christopher Heyerdahl), ignited the planet's core and caused its destruction. In many ways, Zod is either directly or indirectly responsible for the biggest tragedies in Clark's life, including the famed meteor shower he arrived in. For someone who wants the Kryptonian race to thrive, Zod sure has a funny way of showing it. His ultimate goal was to create a New Krypton in his own image and slaughter his own people to do so, hoping that Earth would be a better template for his design. This meant that Doomsday's goal to wipe out humanity, Brainiac's mission to corrupt our technology, and even Zor-El's plan to use cloning as part of the means toward repopulation were all by Zod's design. While the Smallville mythos can be a bit confusing at times, everything relating to Krypton and alien invaders always finds its roots in the original General Zod. Because of his crimes, Zod was stripped of his physical body and was sent to the Phantom Zone by Jor-El and the Council. At the end of Season 5/beginning of Season 6, Zod is unwittingly released by Clark, only to possess Lex's newly superpowered body. Michael Rosenbaum's performance as Zod is powerful and commands a type of respect that would make even Lex kneel. Up to this point on the show, everything had been leading to this. Two meteor showers, Zod's disciples, and Brainiac all pave the way for the General to arrive on Earth. Had Clark not been able to defeat him, he would've taken over right then and there. Season 7's "Apocalypse" emphasizes this when Jor-El shows Clark what the world would look like if he never arrived on Earth. Here, Lex (now the President of the United States) still becomes Zod's vessel via Brainiac's influence, though with Clark's cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoort) as his bride. Thankfully, Clark expelling General Zod from Lex and sending him back to the Phantom Zone stops all that. Zod's Personal History With Superman's Family Is Intense Image via The CW While Clark and Lex's story starts that miraculous day on the bridge, Zod's rivalry with the House of El extends further into Kryptonian history. Back when Zod was just a Major (Callum Blue), he and Jor-El (Julian Sands) enjoyed a friendship that paralleled the Clark and Lex dynamic. As allies in the war against the terrorist group Black Zero, Jor-El and Zod were part of a cloning program meant to be the salvation of their species if an extinction-level event ever occurred. But the war followed them home. After Zod's wife and son are murdered in the destruction of Kandor, the Major asks Jor-El to bring them back through cloning, but the scientist refuses on ethical grounds. This apparent betrayal fractures the relationship between Zod and Jor-El, and sets the former on his dark path that ultimately leads to Krypton's destruction. So, when a clone of Major Zod arrives in Smallville during the show's Season 9, he attempts to forge a similar bond with Jor-El's now-adult son. Hoping to see good in this younger Zod, who had yet to commit the same atrocities that his counterpart did, Clark tries to befriend the clone and lead the Kandorians on a better path. Unsurprisingly, Zod's militaristic ambition and quest for power lead to a similar falling out between these Kryptonian blood brothers, which comes to a head in the epic Season 9 finale "Salvation." But rather than making the younger Zod a one-note villain, Season 9 expands on the character's personal history and complex morality. At times, it seems like there may be good in Zod after all, even if most of the time his choices are questionable at best and horrific at worst. The Kryptonian clone may not be as menacing or powerful as his original counterpart, but Blue plays a mean Zod that surpasses what Rosenbaum was able to do with his limited screen time as the character. After all, Blue had a whole season to explore Zod's motives, while Rosenbaum only got two episodes. Each Version of Zod Impacted 'Smallville' Image via The CW While alternate takes on characters via parallel universes, timelines, and even through the use of drugs, Red Kryptonite, or shapeshifting doppelgängers were commonplace on Smallville, rarely did the series ever introduce two versions of the same distinct person, especially not characters who made a serious impact on the show. Clones on the show usually only got an episode or two, with all their development crammed into a single story. The Zod clone, on the other hand, was granted Smallville main cast status upon his first appearance and made his mark on thirteen episodes of the series in its final two seasons. Both versions of General Zod be it the phantom from the series' middle years or the clone from Season 9 have an air of authority to them that they take everywhere. The character's trademark phrase, "Kneel before Zod," commands respect, submission, and attention. It's no wonder then that his actions always enforce those words. To make things even more interesting, after a whole season of wondering what would happen if the clone Zod and the original phantom met, Season 10 merges the two of them together. As a merged entity, General Zod retains the knowledge and memories of two lifetimes, which means that the original's rivalry with Jor-El and the clone's with Kal-El are both at the forefront of his mind as he sits trapped in the inescapable Phantom Zone. The original Zod's combat and leadership experience paired with the younger version's physical body, knowledge of Earth, and hatred for Clark makes this Smallville villain one of the show's best. Unlike Lex, who loses all his memories in the series finale (an odd choice indeed), Zod's dual memories only fuel the fire of this alien tyrant. If there's one villain from Smallville you don't want to mess with, it's General Zod. His ruthlessness, competence, and single-minded rage are powerful motivators in his quest to rule his own domain. No wonder his "son" Doomsday is a literal "rage monster." 'Smallville' Opens the Door for General Zod To Return to Face Superman in the Future Though Smallville often introduced Superman villains long before Clark officially took flight, there was always hope that many of those antagonists would return again once our hero was sporting a red cape instead of a jacket. Doomsday being buried beneath Metropolis seemed to imply a potential return in a Death of Superman-like story, while Toyman's (Chris Gauthier) knowledge of Clark's secret made him a formidable opponent worth revisiting in the future. Others such as Brainiac, Parasite (Brendan Fletcher), Livewire (Anna Mae Routledge), and Bizarro (Tom Welling) were either reformed, killed off, or disregarded in a way where it would be unlikely if they ever fought a suited-up Superman. Thankfully, General Zod falls into the former. In Zod's final appearance in Season 10's "Dominion," he and two of his new Phantom Zone lackeys (likely Ursa and Non from Superman II fame) are last seen trapped in the Zone, floating off into space in a manner that echoes the original Christopher Reeve Superman films. While the continuation comic book Smallville Season 11 doesn't revisit Zod and his companions, given that the merged Kryptonian now has twice the hatred for Kal-El, it's unlikely that he won't return down the line seeking revenge. "Dominion" sets up the conflict between Superman and General Zod made famous by the source material and Superman II, a film which Smallville took clear inspiration from throughout its run. It's clear that while Smallville developed the Luthors as antagonists, General Zod's hatred for the Man of Steel remains strong, and the show wouldn't have been the same without his presence.