Return of Zod

**Return of Zod** is the first episode and season premiere of the eighth season of NBC's *The Batman*. It first aired on November 16, 2015. It is the ninety-second episode overall.

## Synopsis

Eight months after the Red Hood incident, Bruce and Clark are still missing while the villains of Gotham are being shipped off to a maximum security prison underground. However, Daily Planet reporters Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are assigned by Perry White to find Clark and clash with Diana, Tim, Barry, and Damien. In Gotham, Maggie, Ryder, and Allen are attacked by Zod.

## Plot

Eight months after Red Hood nuked every major city in the U.S., Gotham has been flooded with FBI agents searching for every last supervillain to either put down or ship off to a maximum security prison in Maine. Two-Face and Bane have already been caught while Riddler and James, Jr. are in hiding. The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc have been avoiding capture while terrorizing the city. Bruce has been out of town since while Clark has been missing after protecting Gotham from the missile.

Wonder Woman, Robin, Flash, and Red Robin arrive in the North Pole, where a possible lead on Bruce is. The four heroes battle mysterious shooters protecting a building. The heroes get into the building, but no sign of Bruce is in there. The heroes leave. In Metropolis, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen have also spent the past eight months looking for Bruce. Perry White, their boss, reveals that to furthur investigate what happened to Clark, he is moving the three of them to the Gotham branch of Daily Planet.

Maggie, Ryder, and Allen help the FBI search for the remaining supervillains. However, an alien comes out of the sky and begins shooting laser vision at them. At first they think it is Superman but they discover it is Zod. They take cover but the alien continues killing people. Allen calls the Bat-Family. Wonder Woman and Flash arrive to stop Zod. Damien and Wally have been married for seven months and enjoying living together in the mansion. Wally brings up the question of adopting kids but Damien tells him he does not want kids when he is nineteen. Wally sughs and leaves. Tim searches up the name and pictures of Stephanie Brown, but any recent results are about her death.

Zod is captured and put in a cell in the Bat-Cave. Diana, Tim, Barry, and Damien discover a man's report from two months ago saying he thought he saw someone looking similar to Bruce Wayne in Saint Petersburg. The heroes go there but find no trace of Bruce anywhere. While they are there, Zod escapes and there are no heroes to stop him. Maggie, Ryder, Allen, and the FBI try to stop him until finally a figure appears out of nowhere in red and blue that flies away with Zod. They realize it is Superman but he never reappears again. The heroes return to Gotham in time to find a message from Bruce saying he does not want to be found. Diana is mad and refuses to stop searching.

## Cast

### Starring

{{{Text in **bold** means the character was featured in this episode. Text in *italic* means the character was not featured in this episode.}}}

* Ben Affleck as *Bruce Wayne/Batman*
* Tom Austen as **Tim Drake/Robin**
* Nathan Gamble as *James Gordon Jr.*
* Jared Leto as **the Joker**
* Cory Michael Smith as *Edward Nygma/Riddler*
* Floriana Lima as **Maggie Sawyer**
* Jeremy Irons as **Alfred Pennyworth**
* Andrew Stewart-Jones as **Chris Allen**
* Erica Durance as **Lois Lane**
* Jonathan Keltz as **Andrew Ryder**
* Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as **Killer Croc**
* Grant Gustin as **Barry Allen/the Flash**
* Jake T. Austin as **Damien Wayne**
* Aaron Ashmore as **Jimmy Olsen**
* Nicholas D'Agosto as *Harvey Dent/Two-Face*
* Margot Robbie as **Harley Quinn**
* Gal Gadot as **Diana Prince/Wonder Woman**
* Laurence Fishbourne as **Perry White**

### Guest Starring

* Dacre Montgomery as Wally West
* Callum Blue as General Zod

## Trivia

* This episode achieved 17.94 million U.S. live viewers.
* Ben Affleck, Nathan Gamble, Cory Michael Smith, and Nicholas D'Agosto do not appear in this episode as Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, Jr., Riddler, and Two-Face.
* This episode received generally positive reviews. It scored 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 66 out of 100 on Metacritic, and a 6.1/10 on IGN.
* Guest stars in this episode include:
	+ Dacre Montgomery as Wally West
	+ Callum Blue as General Zod
* This episode is rated TV-14 for V.