Imagine sacrificing everything you love to prepare for a coming invasion and when you finally get your hands on the man who you think invaded your world and killed your friends….and he’s a scared, confused kid crying in front of you.
To make matters worse, you've been torturing him for hours probably, and the _only_ reason why he's crying is because he thinks his people hurt _your_ people and sent him to do the same.
Imagine still having enough heart in you to understand the mistake you made. Hell, I call that a win considering what a lot of people do when they get it in their heads they've got an enemy.
Imagine preparing all your life, making many and every personal sacrifice and compromise, for the return of the beings who’ve lived in fear only to learn the man you’ve been hunting is the last last of his species.
Sam: you were here 22 years ago. Clark: dude, I'm the same age as your daughter. Sam: how do you know that? Clark:....................................... Sam: I want to hurt you for different reasons now.
From what I can piece together with all of the flashes of memories from both Clark’s pod and the generals memories, Zod and his loyalists were attempting to take over Krypton and those opposing him were planning to leave them powerless by changing their yellow sun into a red one. As the power struggle was getting more intense, the planet began sustaining too much damage to keep stable and it began to collapse. Knowing the planet being destroyed was inevitable, Jor-El and Lara decided to send Kal/Clark through the portal to Earth just before it was forcibly closed by the planets destruction and losing its connection to the portal obelisk. Zod most likely started trying to attack Earth so they could escape the disaster, but they didn’t realize how little time they had.
He was expecting a battle hardened soldier, someone unsympathetic to the death of earthlings. Someone that would take him time and effort to break, someone who after confronted with their past would hopefully let something slip that could prove useful. Instead he got a man that snapped like a twig, one that saw death and destruction his people brought and was horrified by it.
If he was a sleeper who was sent there to invade Earth, this is not the reaction that he would've given to the general. Psychologically based and from personal experiences, this isn't what a sleeper agent would've reacted with.
The enemy the general had been preparing for over 20 years. The enemy that would have invaded the earth. Wiped out humanity and killed his fellow soldiers. In this moment it’s nowhere to be found.
98% certain that was Braniac and the Eradicator. Kryptonians don't have superpowers in their galaxy because they orbited a red sun, so it couldn't have been Zod firing at them. When it comes to invading, Zod always trusts his own soldiers, and to my knowledge has never used a tech advance force (although the Kyrptonian army did). Given the precision and automation of the attack the odds are high it's Braniac.
Imma go with its zod, I feel like they’re setting up brainiac to be a later villain, either season 2 or 3. They could change his character a bit to have him use tech (keep in mind that they entirely changed multiple characters’ entire personalities) and the reason he’s using his powers is literally just because it looks more menacing than just a bunch of ships
@@disrespect9376 They could also just be fully aware that they get powers in yellow sun systems. Perhaps used as an invasion tactic on star systems with yellow suns. Giving them an extra edge against the yellow sun solar systems that they don't have in other systems.
@@jackson3475 not really, it's been shown twice now that red sun fields weaken his powers. There are versions of Superman which demonstrated an ability to control or manipulate electricity naturally (pretty sure Jon Kent can currently do that)
Looks to me like the invasion stopped when Krypton exploded…which makes me wonder, how exactly _did_ Krypton blow up in this universe? Because it’s normally due to an environmental disaster, but something about the framing makes this version of events feel more…deliberate. My personal theory is that the invasion force was led by Brainiac (who I believe to be a Kryptonian AI gone rogue here, much like in the DCAU), who was attempting to take over Krypton and Earth simultaneously so he could add them to his “collection.” Only Jor-El knows how to shut Brainiac down - the problem is, his AI is stored in the planet’s core, and shutting it down would threaten to destabilize the entire planet. However, with seemingly no other choice, Jor-El makes the greatest sacrifice of his whole life, destroying his own homeworld for the sake of protecting the universe from the monster he helped create.
I know this is a serious moment, but I just love the idea that Lois has known Amanda Waller her entire life as a family friend. It just feels weird to imagine The Wall having connections outside of threatening the lives of convicted criminals.
I imagine the extent of Lois's interaction with her is like 'Amanda coming over, giving Lois or Lucy a strained smile and awkward pat on the head before turning to Sam to ask if they can talk privately in his office'.
@@Andyjoe522 Pre N52, I recall that Amanda actually has something of a big family as a mother and worked 3 jobs to get them out of a bad poverty-crime ridden sport in Chicago and put them through education before her own college.
We finally know what happened on zero day, particularly from the perspective of Sam and Amanda, but there are still many unanswered questions. Considering that the machines that attacked Earth have the symbol of Braniac, it's clear that the technology is from Braniac. However, we don't know who is the one they call Nemesis Omega. Odds are it's Zod, but there's the possibility that it might be the Eradicator, a Kryptonian AI. It sad to see Superman doubt himself and why Jor-El sent him to Earth, but on the positive side Sam does show signs of seeing Superman's humanity.
I have a theory that it's an Eradicator body, taken over by Brainiac, like he might have a similar origin to Brainiac from the DCAU, but changed to where he went Skynet on Krypton and decided to invade other worlds to gather information and data
@@ravenwraith1017 I don't recall seeing the Omega symbol on Nemesis Omega. They simply gave whoever it was who attacked them the codename Nemesis Omega. I'm not convinced with the theory that Darkseid is involved with zero day.
@ravenwraith1017 eh, that doesn't really hold much water, just because they called whoever it was "Nemesis Omega" doesn't tie them to Darkseid, Omega is a term in general to reference something extremely powerful, the end all, be all, Alpha and Omega, like if Nemesis Omega comes to earth, it's gonna be a big event
This does put the whole Cadmus thing in perspective and why he was desperate for weapons. The scientists thought making the world better would be enough, while the general thought they were on the brink of a war that they didn’t know the start date of. He called it a hard call not as a way to pass the blame but because he thought weapon production was the only way for humans to survive
Gonna be honest, he should have told them. We didn't hide what we were doing from the scientists working on the atomic bomb. They knew the stakes and went through with it. We can debate whether they were right or wrong but... The thing is they knew and put in extra effort because they knew. If you're going to ask people to do things the Cadmus scientists were being asked to do, they should know why.
If I had to guess, the explosion that took out the robots was probably krypton exploding. Meaning he's spent 22 years preparing for someone to return, not realizing he just witnessed their extinction.
At last, ALL the pieces of the puzzle in regards to the strange weaponry that was taken from Task Force X and unleashed upon the world has FINALLY come together in this crazy episode! Still, the way that Superman reacted to what he believed was the whole truth behind his arrival? Dude, if that wasn’t a true, organic expression of human emotion, then I don’t know WHAT is!
The colors of those ships and that one guys armor immediately points me to believe that that was an army led by General Zod, who more than likely just led an invasion without Krypton even knowing. The people on krypton probably learned about his unauthorized invasion and shot off the portal he opened before he went through.
@@nilo1178 Or Brainia, aware that Krypton was gonna blow was planning to flee to earth but overestimated the time it would take for krypton to blow up.
Wow,😮 imagine capturing the person who you thought was responsible for one of the most tragic events in your life only to see them cry and get the feeling that maybe this isn't the right one.
I like how Task Force X's interrogation room has a hologram generation on every wall, and that the General finds him calling his wife and getting chewed out by Waller to be important enough in his re-enactment.
Sam seemed like a care free, nice guy who wanted to be with his family but that all changed when zero day happened when all of his comrades died at the hands of that kryptonian. I bet when he got home he became harsher towards Lois and taught her to be tough
@@oceanberserkerhow are they supposed to know he was a infant, it’s not like they saw his pod crash down and the Kent’s take him in. In there eyes a alien male of the same build and with the same powers showed up one day and started saving people, for all they know it was the same male alien trying to earn the trust of humanity so they he could conquer them much easier
@@acediamond5373 Then let me rephrase, with such a discrepancy in time, wouldn't they think he'd have made a more significant move before now? Does the gap in between then and now mean nothing to them? Maybe if they spent less time kidnapping people off the streets and more on actual surveillance, they'd have gotten a clue much sooner. Hell, how long did it take Lois to figure it out?
@@oceanberserker I mean how says aliens are gonna age anything like us, in our own planet different species have different lifespans so it wouldn’t be that hard to believe/assume that a alien that can shoot lasers out of there eyes can also live a lot longer than humans, my point is that let’s say this alien that attacked can live to be 200 or even 300 years old due to a mix of advanced medical technology and genetics, if you can live that long what’s 22 years of waiting? Even if he didn’t want to wait they saw him on the other side of the portal when it exploded so they probably assumed it just took him 20+ years to find another way to earth and this time he wanted to take the more subtle approach
Maybe brainic successful took all of krypton tech including the eradicater and left the planet to explode as one version of brainic was created by Jor El and maybe Jor el mannaged to shut down or limit brainics influence and close the portal
@Nzosaba_Matenge different continuites, different set of rules, like Brainiac was once a Kryptonian AI that left Krypton to die and save himself in the DCAU, they can make changes like that
Scary to think how the only reason the General and frankly all of earth wasn't wiped out was because of an act of God. No wonder why the general was so paranoid. If they come back, they won't have krypton exploding to save them.
I agree with most of the comments on that it was actually Zod himself going on his own to conquer the earth so that him and his people could escape but was stoped by the plant exploding, I don’t really think the krypton people or government approved what zod was doing
I think in this reality, Zod believed Jor-El 100% and took an army to capture earth for the Kryptonions but Jor-El stopped them some how on his end, but still managed to get Kal-El through to safety. I don't think it's Brainiac, unless they are going with STAS where Brainiac is from Krypton. Been loving the show completely!!
1. Pretty sure the Kryptonian who attacked was General Zod in a last ditch attempt to save his people by conquering Earth. However, the destruction of Krypton interrupted his plans and I’m betting the explosion made the wormhole they traveled through glitch Zod and his army (if not just Zod alone) into the phantom zone. 2. After someone in the comments pointing it out, it does look like the symbol for Brainiac from the STAS, which could potentially mean Brainiac once again originated from Krypton in this universe. 3. I believe the reason why Zod wears the full body suit during the invasion is because of its function to better channel the solar energy Kryptonians can absorb from the yellow sun, which is why he’s able to fly and fire lasers from his face. I’m betting Zod learned of Jor-El’s plan to use Earth as a new safe haven and instead learned of the potential power it could give Kryptonian’s should he conquer it. Superman’s power levels fluctuating throughout the series I believe further proves Superman is actually capable of being as strong as comics Superman, he just hasn’t learned to properly channel the solar energy stored within him to his fullest extent. First Edit: *properly the - properly channel the Second Edit: * throughout I believe - throughout the series I believe
@@theodorejao6281 I’m willing to say you’re both right and wrong because brainiac, like many comic book characters, has had his origins rewritten multiple times, so yeah 🤷🏻♂️
Now, this makes sense. Krypton knew they gained powers from the sun and used it to wage war. That would explain why other aliens hate them. Perfect storyline to introduce rogol zaar, doomsday, and lobo.
@@DesignIncase they might have had limited knowledge of earth's inhabitants to sent the mechs to clear them out to avoid risking their people who would not be used to their powers (maybe they were aware that the yellow sun could give kyrptonians power but not how much or the specific nature of that power).
I can’t wait for Clark to learn about Lara and Jor El. He deserves to know that he came from a family that loved him and sacrificed so that he could live
• Brainiac symbol on the robots: Brainiac is a Kryptonian military AI? • No identifiable symbol on the chest of the humanoid leader: possibly the Eradicator? Zod would likely wear the sigil of House Zod • The explosion that ended the attack was probably the destruction of Krypton
1:43 Notice how the Alien Invader has the diamond shape template on its chest (simliar to Superman) and forehead. But the robots also have the templates on there chest but with another symbol in them. And that symbol is associated with Brainiac as the same symbol is on his forehead or chest. So it has to be Brainiac who almost invaded Earth on Zero Day. Edit: So it may not be Brainiac because we saw Brainiac's design but I'm still betting its Brainiac's "true form" and the robots are merely his robotic self in merely a duplicate.
@@Brasswatchman What do you mean? Because if you're talking about Brainiac and Darkseid teaming up then I'm completely against that because it's too early for Darkseid to show up.
Sam is a fool. He never actually saw Superman on zero day. He saw a flying guy who had his face covered and dressed like an overlord. He didn’t see Superman. I do kind of wish that Sam didn’t change and became more of a villain because he’s a good guy in almost all his versions. The only time I’ve seen him be a real bad guy was in Superman secret origins. But I guess that’s why Waller is here. To represent the evils of the government so Sam can become a better man and mend his relationship with Lois
Arguably Sam hasn't changed, he just recognizes that Superman wasn't the guy that invaded with those robots; he did take into account that Clark ages like us.
Bro your judgement is clouded he had confirmed that superman was an alien And he also knew that aliens caused zero day not to mention superman has the same build as the guy in the armor as well as the same powers Sam was justified in the actions he took
@@emmanuelotiki1555 that's just racism, and a particularly stupid variant. if you are facing a dire threat and you have a guy with superpowers who might be persuaded to help you, or who might be an existential threat, especially if you piss him off, the last thing you do is attack him. you suck up to him, act like you think y'all are friends, and investigate him in secret. See the way cecil deals with omni-man in Invincible.
That HAS to be General Zod, but it's weird that the robots were wearing Brainiac's symbol. It's possible they're doing what Superman TAS did and have Brainiac be a Kryptonian super computer, instead of an alien.
Am I the only one who found it hilarious that scene basically cuts to general being lady's man on the phone :D It kinda reminds me of the Roy Mustang from Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood.
@@maybeimrambling9401I mean, they do. 22 years ago would've been 2001, not fucking 1960 lmao. Besides, Waller being a grunt makes so much more sense than being an "amoral pencil pusher" considering she's supposed to be intimidating and the head of a black ops unit.
The way those robots just.... deleted Abrams Main Battle Tanks.... yeah, I get why they're scared. Even one of basic robots can break a 1st class MBT with their dynamic insertion. Let alone the laser blasts or the more advanced ones. And that's to say nothing of what the ships might have been packing.
Starting to think that it isn’t Zod as suspected. The invader could be Brainiac. Those three bolts are consistent with his crest. Probably trying to get away from Krypton after abandoning it. Tracked Kal to Earth and was trying to muscle his way in, but miscalculated and was taken out by the red sun explosion that destroyed the planet- obviously before he could fully get here through that wormhole. He seemed surprised. Either that or it’s Eradicator looking for Kal-El (he’s not human either, but he would level Earth to protect Krypton’s last son), maybe he tracked Kal’s ship to Earth.
My theory is that the Kryptonian that attacked them is either General Zod or the Eradicator. You can also see that all those robots have Brainiacs logo on them so Im assuming Brainiac was also involved somehow, maybe he was a Kryptonian AI, similar to how Superman: The Animated Series depicted him.
I feel funny how Goku and Superman are similar to each other. They are both aliens escaping from thwir destroyed planets. They have doubt about themselves and traumas as well. While they are expected to dominate the Earth, they eventually become its greatest defenders through effort and persevation.
Interesting. I look forward to find out if this was an attack by Braniac as some suggest, or, an option I quite like: an escape attempt by prisoners/military in the Phantom Zone, which would liekly turn into an invasion. Not to mention, what exactly caused the explosion that disrupted the whole thing.
@@Ozinarg Perhaps, but it'd be just as interesting to see what else it could be, a malfunction in the portal technology, which both resembles phantom zone tech, but also boom tubes from father/mother boxes, there's loads of opportunities in this verse, so I'm not ruling anything out.
The leader was did seem to have kryptonian powers but the robots were definitely Brainiac. Maybe Zod and Brainiac were working together before the destruction of krypton or Brainiac has a brainwashed kryptonian under his control
Jesus Christ! No wonder General Lane and Waller wanted Superman so badly. However they were mistaken about this one cause he had absolutely no idea about this Zero Day disaster.
They're idiots, especially Waller. It's clear he knows nothing about Zero Day; he looks way to young to be the guy that attacked everyone. Plus, why would they assume that the aliens that invaded and Clark are one in the same. All they saw was a metal man, potentially robot, with no facial features. How could they possibly assume Superman and that guy were one in the same or even the same species; for all they knew masked man could have been squid alien for all they knew.
It’s completely unfair of that general labeling Superman as a threat to the Earth just because a small armada of Kryptonian warships, probably being led by the vicious General Zod, launched an unprovoked attack on US armed forces. Not all Kryptonians are evil.
And how would the general know that and do you think that the risk would be worth it if the episodes jave shown us anything it's that evil supermen exist
@@emmanuelotiki1555 since he doesn't know what's going on, that only makes it all the more imperative that he not make an enemy out of a dangerous person who might not be an enemy yet.
I'm watching the same thinking "Wait you have holographic technology that includes all these past details even when it wasn't there? With head bobbing heavy metal musical accompaniment?!"
@@redfire1186 I dunno, you think that Sam Lane would have a good reason for hating aliens, and for that we show how horrible his first encounter was, so If it's not sad or traumatic, then what's the reason for his fiscation?
@@boiledcrap I guess it was all made by Lane, in actuality he fainted at the first sight of aliens then to not to embarrass himself even more he came up with a better story that shows him to be a badass😂
I actually like this change for Superman’s character. The fact that he was bioengineered to be a weapon used in invasions likely to terraform planets actually makes his whole nice guy personality that is just so important for the character of Superman all the more interesting
I'm gonna say that the Kryptonian on Zero Day is General Zod himself and imagine that in season 2 Zod sends a message to the whole world like the scene from Man of Steel and starts to turn Earth into Krypton
I'm hoping it's Zod and Brainiac working together. As bad as Man of Steel was, I like the idea of Zod invading Earth and announcing it to the world and I'd love to see it done right. Plus Brainiac got all the love and attention in STAS and JLU, meanwhile Zod doesn't even exist in that continuity. The only other thing I can think of him being in is Young Justice, but that's years after the world is first introduced to Superman. It's time for some Zod attention.
@@nagger8216se me ocurre una dinámica tipo starcream megatron en donde zod trabaja para brainiac pero en secreto planea traicionaron para conquistar el universo
I'm going to say that it's both Zod and Brainiac. Brainiac at this point is just an AI, and Zod during Zero Day could be wearing an Iron Man-esque suit. Because even through a portal there is no way a Kryptonian would immediately gain heat vision and such. Although this really does make me wonder if this Superman _is_ getting his powers through tech unlocks, so to speak. Not as a weapon, just maybe Kryptonians as a species were integrating themselves with nanotechnology for daily use.
My hopes for the series is that Nemesis Omega be Brainiac. Afterwards Superman saves the bottled city of Kandor and the show adapts the New Krypton saga. Where Zod is released to act as the leader for the last remaining Kryptonians and an all out war between the humans and the Kryptonians occur with Superman in the middle.
To be honest I think general do have a point in his POV. He even admitted the possible errors in his judgment and considered the alternative options. I hope we can see him and Clark forming an agreement in s2
The explosion behind the portal was probably Krypton going boom. The robots have Brainiac's symbol, and Clark is in his twenties in this I believe, so the timeline matches up with Krypton's destruction.
@@scottmatheson3346 i think it could use the invincible idea but spin it differently, Superman isn’t Omniman which is an interesting idea since most modern media that critiques super hero culture, like Invincible, has used the Evil Superman trope. I think there’s a story there.
3:58 Kal-El: Why would they do this? Me: Why, indeed. Some of his kind are rogues. General Zod is the one who prepared this invasion AND destroy ANYONE who gets in his way.
Please notice that inviders leader helmet don't aline with laser vision from eyes. Combine this with Brainiac symbol and that's why I think that it is not person but a robot. I also think that Brainiac went Skaynet and try to eradicate life in universe. Jor-El blow up Krypton to stop it and save univers.
Zero Day is either the day Brainiac tried to invade Earth or it's Zod using Brainiac's tech. The military always give fancy names to someone, like Patient Zero etc; Nemesis Zero is just another, but this time its for the suited fella. It's possible that this attack coincides with the destruction of Krypton and that's why Clark's ship apparenty came through the portal too, it would be cool if this was indeed Zod in league with Brainiac.
I got 2 theories about this Zero Day and the General. I think that's Lois Lane's dad. Cause I googled this earlier I found out that General Lane's first name is Samuel Lane. And Amanda Weller said his name is Sam. Plus a Military General would have to lie a lot to his family about military stuff, just like Lois said his dad lied a lot. Now about the invasion force being mechanical with so many robots. Brainiac and his weapons and robots. Zod isn't a guy who used robots, he would've lead Kryptonians.
Okay, I watched earlier parts of the episode and how much do you wanna bet that the guy in the scary-looking armor and visor was General Zod, or even the Eradicator? Because General Lane thinks that was Superman himself. He thinks he's always been an adult and never a kid. Maybe once he sees he was, he'll realize Superman was telling him the truth.
Crazy idea: What if Nemesis Omega is actually Zor-El/Cyborg Superman? If it really is Brainiac we're dealing with, maybe he turned Zor-El into a cyborg and made him into his herald?
Oh my God after seeing the massacre that happened to their platoon I honestly can't blame Sam and Mandy for being the way they are towards Superman but Clark had nothing to do with all that after all he was just a baby when he was sent there my guess is it was definitely general Zod that led that attack.
Amanda waller is an idiot for specifically going after the superpowered people trying to save people instead of kill them Congrats dumb dumb u stopped the protectors of earth Goodluck with darkseid 😂
I think it would be interesting if when the army from krypton comes, they come for kal-el only having found out about him via the tech the general created via reverse engineering the kryptonian tech. Meaning that the general was preparing for a war that was never coming, and only happened as a sort of self fulfilling prophecy, the army only came because he reactivated their tech and let them know about Kal-el.
0:44 "I'll be home soon. I promise." The General was talking to his daughter on the phone. It was on Zero Day (22 years ago), so Lois must've been a little girl at the time.
I predict that Nemesis Omega will be Brainiac under the command of Zod. Kryptonians usually don't have superpowers on their own planet so it's possible that Brainiac will be similar to drone warfare program waging Krypton's distant wars with Zod as the commander overseeing the program. It's even possible that it's reason for coming to Earth was a retrieval mission from Zod to collect Jor-El's son.
Gonna go ona whim and say that was Zod and that this was either the event that got him banished or he was banished alredy and he was still trying to conquer a planet to allow the Kryptonians to settle it before it was too late, except it *was* too late...
