The Disciples of Zod, Aethyr and Nam-Ek, were two Kryptonian soldiers loyal to General Zod and recurring antagonists in the WB/CW Television series Smallville.
They appeared in the Fifth and Sixth Seasons and were the main antagonists in the Season 5 premiere "Arrival".
They were portrayed by Leonard Roberts, who also portrayed Kaman Scott in Criminal Minds and Forrest Gates in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Alana de la Garza.
Biography[]
Past[]
The Disciples were Zod's closet allies during the civil war against Black Zero on Krypton. While General Zod was head-strong and very calculating on planning attacks, his disciples acted as his counselors conversing with him on the best strategies of attack. When Zod was captured, the disciples contacted the Brain InterActive Construct who informed them that Zor-El planned to destroy Krypton and to flee the planet immediately.
The Brain InterActive Construct told them to follow Jor-El's son, Kal-El, to Earth where they would use him to free Zod and transform the planet into a new Kryptonian paradise. Aethyr and Nam-Ek fled Krypton in the Black Ship, along with Brainiac but it stayed motionless in the dark part of the cosmos awaiting a sign.
Commencement[]
After Lana Lang, who was possessed by her ancestor Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, killed Genevieve Teague with the Crystal of Air, it was stained with blood and alerted the Black Ship that the Stones of Power were on Earth and the ship headed to the planet. The Black Ship arrived in Smallville during the midst of a second meteor shower.
Arrival[]
Lana Lang had witnessed the Black Ship crash land in Lawson's Field and saw two Kryptonians come out of the spaceship. She tried to run away but they used super speed to catch her. When the disciples confronted Lana, she begged them not to harm her. The Smallville police force arrived and surrounded them but they blasted all the police cars around them with heat vision. One officer managed to survive named Greg Flynn. After disposing of the police, the Disciples super-speed into the Kawatche Caves where they encountered Lex Luthor asking him if he was Kal-El.
They determined he was not Kal-El as Lex bleeds, taking the key from his hand and left abruptly. They traversed Smallville in search of Kal-El, leaving a trail of destruction and brutality in their wake. The Disciples then went to the Smallville hospital continuing their search for Kal-El. Lois Lane tried to confront them, but Aethyr chokes her and threw Jonathan Kent across a room.
Lana appears and lures the Kryptonians to the mansion, saying she knows where Kal-El is. She tried to trick them into entering Lex's vault full of meteor rock artifacts. It almost worked, but Nam-Ek managed to stagger away from the vault and regained his strength, long enough to replace the lead-lined door. The two recover and threw Lana across the room. Clark arrives at the Mansion and the two believed themselves to be the last survivors of Krypton and asked Kal-El to join them in making Earth into a new Kryptonian paradise.
After Clark refused, Aethyr threw a wrist ring off her arm that opened a vortex portal to the Phantom Zone to trap Clark in it. However, Clark strongly resists and managed to knock them into the portal they opened instead, in a bit of poetic justice; their brutal methods came back to haunt them.
Zod[]
Months later, when Kal-El was exiled to the Zone, the two disciples confronted him, seeking revenge for their imprisonment. They blamed him, when it in reality it was their own fault for opening the portal in the first place. The two wished to execute him immediately, but Raya's, Jor-El's former assistant, quick witted deception convinced the two that he could free all of them from the Zone.
At the last moment she betrayed them, slicing open Nam-Ek's throat, killing him while telling Clark to take the portal back to Earth. Aethyr however came up behind Raya and stabbed her in the back as Clark escaped through the wormhole. Nam-Ek died and Aethyr remained trapped in the Phantom Zone never to be seen again.