| Chris Kent | |
|---|---|
 Chris Kent asNightwing on the cover ofAction Comics #883 (January 2010). Art by Pere Pérez. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Action Comics #844 (December 2006) |
| Created by | Richard Donner Geoff Johns Adam Kubert |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Christopher Kent |
| Species | Kryptonian |
| Place of origin | Phantom Zone (place of birth) |
| Team affiliations | Justice League Superman Family |
| Partnerships | Flamebird (Thara Ak-Var) |
| Notable aliases | Nightwing |
| Abilities |
|
Christopher Kent (Lor-Zod) is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. The character first appeared inAction Comics #844 (December 2006) and was created byRichard Donner,Geoff Johns, andAdam Kubert.
As the biological son ofGeneral Zod andUrsa, he is aKryptonian and the foster son ofClark Kent (Superman) and his wifeLois Lane. He was later reinterpreted as asupervillain inDC Rebirth.
An adaptation of the villainous Lor-Zod appears in the animated seriesYoung Justice, voiced byPhil Morris. Another interpretation of the character appears in the animated filmJustice League: Gods and Monsters, voiced byBenjamin Bratt.
He first appeared inAction Comics #844 (December 2006), in the story arcSuperman: Last Son, and was created byRichard Donner,Geoff Johns, andAdam Kubert. The character has assumed the role ofNightwing. FollowingFlashpoint, DC revisited the concept of Zod's heroic son. On Earth-16, he succeeds Clark Kent as Superman and is best friends with the new Batman,Damian Wayne. On Earth-2, in the comicEarth 2, Zod's sonVal-Zod succeeds Kal-El as the pacifist Superman of his universe.[1]
A new version of Lor-Zod was introduced in 2017 duringDC Rebirth in theAction Comics series during the "Revenge" storyline, this time as a villain.
When a spacecraft falls towardsMetropolis, it is diverted to a relatively safe landing bySuperman. After its landing, Superman discovers aKryptonian boy inside, who is taken to the east coast lab of theDepartment of Metahuman Affairs for observation.
The boy is initially only able to speak Kryptonian and does not know his name or where he came from. After he is confirmed as a Kryptonian, the boy is immediately taken to the Department of Metahuman Affairs headquarters inWashington, D.C. without Superman's knowledge. He removes the boy from their custody, and decides to raise him withLois Lane.[2] Clark then contactsBatman, who names the boyChristopher Kent.[3]
Chris attends the Ellsworth School, an elite private school, where he has difficulty concealing his powers. Superman and Batman develop an implant concealed in a wristwatch that usesred sun radiation to block Chris' powers until he learns to control them.[4] However, the wristwatch fails due to being calibrated on the metabolism of an adult Kryptonian and explodes, wrecking Clark and Lois' apartment. Clark reassures Chris that he will not be sent away and that he would find a way to cope with his growing powers.[5]
Superman holds a press conference to inform the world that Chris was under his care. At that time,Bizarro, sent byLex Luthor, attempts to kidnap Chris. Later, it was revealed that Chris is the biological son ofGeneral Zod andUrsa. His arrival on Earth released Zod,Non, and Ursa from thePhantom Zone.[6] He was apparently conceived and raised in the Phantom Zone within a prison where time passed normally. In a battle with Superman, Zod and Ursa reclaim Chris, send Superman to the Phantom Zone, and invade Earth.[7] Superman escapes withMon-El's aid, then allies withLex Luthor to defeat Zod, who had captured a large portion of Earth's superhero population.[8] After Zod and his army are defeated, Chris pursues them into the Phantom Zone to ensure that they cannot escape, since the entrance to the Phantom Zone will remain weak as long as he is on Earth.
After returning to the Phantom Zone, Chris enters the Kryptonian prison where his parents had made shelter. There, he finds a piece ofBrainiac's technology that gives him a mental link toThara Ak-Var, security chief ofKandor.[9] When the citizens of Kandor createNew Krypton, which was placed in orbit around the Sun opposite Earth, Chris and Thara task themselves with bringing in the Phantom Zone Kryptonian criminals hiding on Earth as sleeper agents. Since the belligerent government ofAlura Zor-El and Zod had tarnished all Kryptonians' reputations on Earth, Chris and Thara decided to act as a newNightwing andFlamebird duo (sinceDick Grayson, the previous Nightwing, became the new Batman), at first with simple cloth masks, then with fake power suits, to obscure the origins of their powers.
Chris, due to his birth in the Phantom Zone, undergoes uncontrollable growth spurts: when Thara saved him he was still the young boy raised by Lois and Clark, as Nightwing he is shown as roughly 15 or 16, and after another growth spurt of about seven years, he is about 23 years old.[10]
Chris's mother, Ursa, begins stalking him to exact revenge. Chris is shown denying his heritage and insisting Thara address him with his "human" name, despising her attempts to transliterate it as a Kryptonian name, and never going by his true Kryptonian name of Lor-Zod.[11] After a brutal attack by Ursa, Thara is left gravely wounded by akryptonite knife and Chris is forced to bring her to Lois for medical assistance.[12]
Upon bringing Thara to Lois, Chris and Lois have a tearful reunion. Lois is happy to see him again but is concerned about his advanced aging. Lois callsDoctor Light for medical assistance while Chris goes back to the fortress and is again confronted by Ursa. Their conflict is cut short as UAVs sent bySam Lane arrived at the scene, forcing both to flee.[13]
Chris and Thara are teleported away, along withSupergirl. The three are attacked byGuardian and theScience Police, for apparently killing Mon-El. Chris tries to tell Guardian that they did not murder Mon-El, but Guardian ignores him. The three manage to escape to Paris.[14]
During a battle withReactron, Thara is injured while attempting to protect Supergirl. As Reactron is about to kill Chris and Kara, Thara manifests her Flamebird powers and personality, and easily overpowers Reactron. Flamebird decides to kill Reactron but is swayed to show mercy after Reactron reveals that Mon-El is alive and is talked down by Supergirl. The Flamebird persona is once more submerged after sharing a kiss with Chris.[15]
Donning new costumes, Chris and Thara continue to save lives, despite their actions being twisted by the anti-Kryptonian media. Not long after, Chris experiences another aging spurt, becoming an old man. Doctor Light brings Chris to her colleague, Doctor Pillings, who, unbeknownst to any of them, is the Kryptonian sleeper agentJax-Ur.[16]Jax-Ur cures Chris, reverting him to his young adult form and takes a sample of his DNA.[17]
Jax-Ur unleashes a replica of the Kryptonian deity Rao and banishes Chris to the Phantom Zone. Chris is contacted by Nightwing, another Kryptonian entity, opposite and lover of Flamebird. Nightwing reveals that while Thara is truly the host of Flamebird, so is he Nightwing's. Seeing that Thara and the others will not hold out much longer against Jax-Ur, Chris becomes Nightwing's avatar and returns to Earth. Nightwing absorbs Rao's heart into the Phantom Zone, then destroys the Rao construct.
During theWar of the Supermen storyline, the Sun is turned red by the combined efforts of Sam Lane andLex Luthor. Thara sacrifices herself to restore it to its yellow coloration, which disintegrates her body. Chris attempts to join her, but the Nightwing entity spirits him away.[18]
In the final confrontation between Superman and Zod, Chris pushes Zod back into the Phantom Zone. Once back in the Zone, Chris returns to being a young boy, and encounters Mon-El once again.[19]
Following theNew 52 reboot, Chris Kent was erased from continuity. Later duringDC Rebirth, a new version of Lor-Zod was introduced, this one more loyal to his father General Zod.[20] The House of Zod rules over Jekuul, a planet with two yellow suns.[21]
Chris Kent possesses the average abilities of a Kryptonian, including superhuman physical abilities, heat vision, x-ray vision, and ice breath.[2][6][8][4][12] Chris's time in the Phantom Zone gave him several powers not shared by other Kryptonians, includingtelekinesis and resistance tokryptonite.[12]
Chris is also immune to the effects of the Phantom Zone because he was born there. He has a solid body within the Zone and apparently ages normally while all other inhabitants are timeless and phantoms. For the same reason however, while living outside the Zone, he ages in sudden, debilitating, growth spurts, in which several years pass to him in mere minutes.[11] Jax-Ur, in his guise of Dr. Pillings, attached a device to Chris' arm that stabilized his growth.[22]
As Nightwing, Chris is able to manipulate shadows, allowing him to create shadow constructs and teleport via shadows. Additionally, Chris possesses a form ofomniscience that allows him to see and know everything that occurs in darkness.
A son ofGeneral Zod appears inJustice League: Gods and Monsters, voiced byBenjamin Bratt.[29] This version is the genetically engineered child of Zod andLara Lor-Van who was rocketed to Earth as a child fromKrypton after Zod killedJor-El, adopted and raised by the Guerra family, a group ofMexican migrant farmers who named himHernan Guerra. After facing discrimination, Guerra became short-tempered and withdrawn from humanity and developed a deep contempt and resentment for authority. He later becomes his universe's version ofSuperman and the leader of theJustice League, but faces opposition due to his brutal methods. While foilingWill Magnus's plot to subjugate the world using nanites and learning his father was responsible for Krypton's destruction, Guerra realizes the consequences of his brutality, earns back public favor, and considers using less lethal methods.
TheGods and Monsters incarnation of Superman appears in theJustice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles episode "Bomb", voiced again by Benjamin Bratt.[29]
