LITTLE BIG SCREEN - KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

'Franklin & Bash'

"Kershaw vs. Lincecum"

"Everyone who hears the name of Infeld Daniels Franklin and Bash

 will kneel like Superman before Zod."

Jared Bash

'Franklin & Bash'

It's long been established in the Toobworld Dynamic that after Superman's death in the early 1960s, all of the details of his life - as both Superman and as Clark Kent - were revealed in a tell-all biography by Jimmy Olsen, Superman's "pal".

The official version of Superman's life in Toobworld will always be the George Reeves series 'The Adventures Of Superman'.  Unfortunately, the show never got beyond the Krypton/Smallville origin story for the Man of Steel and never featured any of the villains from the comic books of that era.  

Toobworld Central has speculated in the past about who would have played those villains had they appeared on the TV show - RG Armstrong as Lex Luthor, Michael Ansara as Brainiac, Billy Barty as Mr. Mxyzptlk.  But I never thought to include General Zod, mainly because his first appearance in the comic books came in 1961.  However, now we know he definitely existed in Earth Prime-Time back in the 1950s, although his confrontations with Superman were never seen on the screen.

Since Jared Bash never referenced the movies or the comic books, Toobworld Central will always take the position that he was talking about an actual person within the "reality" of Earth Prime-Time.  And so General Zod did exist in the TV Universe.

There is no connection to the details of Zod's life to be found in the comic books or the movies, both separate fictional universes from Toobworld.  Although "life" for Zod began in the comic books, they have to be looked on from an Earth Prime-Time perspective as being fictionalized stories based on events from Toobworld.  (The fact that he didn't make his first appearance in the comic books until after the death of Superman helps to foster that claim.)

As I mentioned, 'The Adventures Of Superman' really dropped the ball when it came to depicting characters from the comic books.  I mean, there's only so many times you can watch a different Ben Welden character throw his empty gun at the Last Son Of Krypton!  An appearance by Zod would have made for a welcome change of pace.

But who would play General Dru-Zod?

Keeping it within the timeline of the Trueniverse because we're dealing with actual actors, my Number One choice would be Michael Rennie, best known in Toobworld for playing the televersion of Harry Lyme from "The Third Man".  And I think the look he would sport nearly a decade later on 'Lost In Space' would be perfect for the Kryptonian warlord.

What do you think?  Do you have any other actors in mind from that time period who might have been better as Zod?  Let me know!

BCnU!