Zod was created a whole 20 years before Superman 2.
And he was used alot of those 20 years before the movie.
No, dude, that ain't so!
Looks like you get your facts from **************.com or watching too many Billy Zane movies has gotten you confused a bit.
Let me clear things up.
First, the pre-Superman: The Movie , Zod, was a very minor, seldom seen character who never spoke, and never had a face to face encounter with Superman. He was bald and had a bare face, and looked like Lex Luthor wearing a gray military jumpsuit with an officers hat.
He first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 (1961) as General Zod, who tried to conquer Krypton through an army of imperfect (Bizarro) duplicates of himself, and was cast into the Zone.
After that first appearance, he appeared here and there amongst others, whenever the phantom zone appeared, as a nameless character floating around for one panel or two, never uttering a single word. In fact, if it were not that he is drawn in the military uniform worn in the first appearance, you would not know it was Zod at all.
In 1977, Action Comics #472-473, Faora is introduced and for the first time ever, General Zod fights Superman. But keep in mind, this story appeared in print just as Superman: The Movie began filming...so we don't know if Donner copied Faora and Zod from this story or Bates (the Superman comics write) was inspired by the Superman: The Movie and Superman II screenplays, which he or others at DC may have been privy to.
So we don't know which came first. ( I believe Faora and Zod's appearance in her story was inspired the Superman movie screenplays, because the screenplays had to have already been written for filming to have begun and actors casted... If Bates did indeed inspire Donner, I am sure he would have said something, or at least Elliot S! Maggin would have known and spoken....anyone want to ask these gentlemen, please locate them and do so!)
After Superman: the Movie, General Zod made a few minor appearances and after Crisis, a variety of Zods were introduced over the years by various storytellers , who no doubt (Byrne's pocket universe being the exception) were inspired by Donner, but for reasons unknown to me, did not directly invoke the movie version.
After Infinite Crisis, Richard Donner (the man himself) and Geoff Johns introduced the Zod, Ursa, and Non into DC Universe proper (Action #844).
Since being introduced into the comics in 2006, Donner Zod has been in a ****load of comics, which many of you are probably familiar with, particularly the lengthy World of Krypton storyline.
So Zod, as "one of Superman's most formidable enemies" has only been since 2006, and that just happens to be Donner Zod.
Had it not been for the success of Superman II and the general non-fanboy recognition of Zod's name because of that movie, Snyder would not have picked Zod as his movie villain, because no one except probably Kurosawa and a few others would know who the **** Zod was.
So that settles it.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary, not what some wayward fanboy wrote on wikipedia or his blog, post the panels from the comics in which Zod appears. A one or two panel appearance by a "phantom" character who looks like Zod and does not utter a word does not count.
