When Kal-El and Oliver Queen went into the Phantom Zone to investigate Slade's release, they were captured by zoners and taken to their leader and Zod forced the two to kneel. Zod blamed Kal-El for his imprisonment. He also informed Kal-El of his merger with his original self's phantom wraith. Zod once again tried to persuade Kal-El to join him but he refused. Zod then had the two heroes become combatants in his gladiator arena. Zod later had a private meeting with Oliver, acknowledging that he knew the archer was tainted by Darkseid. Zod proposed to Oliver that he should give into his dark side (as eventually Kal-El will find out and betray him) and they could rule the Phantom Zone together. Oliver apparently agreed and fought Kal-El. When Oliver managed to fatally wound Kal-El, Zod stopp