ZOR-EL

'Zor-El' is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the brother of Jor-El, husband of Allura In-Zee, father of Supergirl and uncle of Superman. Zor-El first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #252 (May 1959).

Contents

Pre-Crisis

Earth-One

Earth-Two

Post-Crisis

Other media

References

Pre-Crisis

Earth-One

In pre-Crisis continuity, Zor-El was a climatographer on Krypton, and one of the only scientists to believe his older brother Jor-El's predictions about the impending destruction of Krypton. When the planet exploded, Argo City was somehow blown safely into space with a life-giving bubble of air around it (a later version of the story in ''Action Comics'' #316 (September 1964) has the city saved by weather dome that Zor-El had constructed). The explosion had turned the ground beneath Argo City into Kryptonite, but Zor-El and the other survivors covered the surface with sheets of lead. The Kryptonians managed to keep alive for many years, and Kara was born a short time after the destruction of Krypton. The end for Argo City came when a meteor storm punched holes into the lead sheeting, exposing the survivors to the deadly kryptonite radiation. Zor-El managed to build a rocket and use it to send his daughter Kara 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.
It was later revealed to Supergirl through Zor-El induced dreams 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 in ''Action Comics'' #310 (March 1964), and Zor-El and Alura went on to live in Kandor. When the bottle city was enlarged, Zor-El and Allura resettled on New Krypton/Rokyn.

Earth-Two

In the alternate universe of Earth-Two, Zor-L (note different spelling) sent Kara to Earth Two where she became Power Girl. This Zor-L was 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. Zor-L and Allura were killed when Krypton exploded, as this Argo City was not blasted into space. Zor-L only made one appearance, in ''Showcase'' #98 (March 1978).

Post-Crisis

In "The Supergirl from Kypton" 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.
After Lex Luthor uses Black Kryptonite to split Kara into good and evil parts, the evil Kara claims that Zor-El actually sent his daughter to Earth to kill his nephew, since he resented his younger brother and hated the idea of Jor-El's lineage continuing past Krypton's destruction. Regardless of the truth or falseness of this, Kara has rejected this aspect of herself.
In the new ''Supergirl'' series, new information on Zor-El's history and relations are ongoing.
Zor-El was featured in issue 16 as he 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, and was working at this time on Sun Stones. He fought with Jor-El over the use of the Phantom Zone and tried to stop him from supporting it. Zor-El began to see that each time someone went in, something was also coming out, in the form of Phantoms. Using his Sun Stones, he could stop a Phantom.
As the story ended, the reason for sending Kara to Earth to kill Kal-El was revealed. The house of El was cursed by the phantoms as they saw them as the Jailors. Wherever one of the El blood line went, the Phantoms would follow. To save Earth, he needed to send Kara to remove Kal and stop the El blood line from ever growing.

Other media

In the 1984 ''Supergirl'' movie, Zor-El was played by Simon Ward.

References

★ Zor-El and Argo City at the Superman Thru the Ages website

★ Zor-El at Supermanica