Kneel Before Zod: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

The villain has many goals, but one is absolute: [[Pride|his nemesis bowing before him]]. That would mean his certain and total victory. If the villain is [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism|on the right end of the sliding scale]], he may even get his way. But generally, once the demand has been made, one of three things will happen:

# The hero will say "Never!" and the villain will [[Agony Beam|zap him with magic]], knocking him to his knees, or [[Mooks]] will step in and manhandle him to the floor. This will allow the villain the fun of gloating for a while... and then there will be a big fight, leading to the villain's defeat.

 

Needless to say this is frowned upon by the [[Evil Overlord List]].

 

 

Compare [[Bring Him to Me]], [[Cower Power]], [[Evil Gloating]].

 

Compare/Contrast [[Kneel Before Frodo]].

 

== Advertising ==

 

 

* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]''

** The Digimon Kaiser threatens to kill Daisuke's friends unless he bows down and begs for their lives. Daisuke actually complies. And then he gives Daisuke a sadistic choice (choose one friend to be spared), leading the poor kid to attempt a heroic sacrifice/take the third option.

** The same character is later defied by a [[Tranquil Fury|tranquil yet furious]] TK.

'''TK:''' Sorry, the floor's kinda' dirty. }}

* ''[[Berserk]]'': Guts being pinned to the ground by some demons before Femto, so that he's forced to watch as Femto {{spoiler|rapes Casca}}.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': In the Japanese version, there is a scene where Sailor Moon is captured by Prince Diamond. He puts her in a trance and orders her to swear eternal loyalty and love to him. She drops to her knees and is about to kiss his hand as a sign of allegiance but manages to snap out of it before she does so.

* ''[[Higurashi]]'': Shion is pressured into apologizing to her grandmother this way. She then is forced to {{spoiler|strip herself of three fingernails}}.

** [[Superlative Dubbing|Even better in the dub.]] "I SAID '''''KNEEL!"'''''

* Happens in ''[[Code Geass]]'' during the beginning of the second season. Subverted when Lelouch kneels before the unintimidating and completely scared Prince Clovis, before killing him as the Trope demands.

* ''[[Peach Girl]]'': Sae, master of the [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]], manages to convince her fellow peers that Momo's been bullying her and trying to steal Toji from her, when it's really the other way around. She cries after Momo hits her for badmouthing Kairi, which arouses the anger of their classmates. Sae gets a few people to restrain Momo and pin her to the ground, attempting to force her into apologizing by calling her names and repeating, "Apologize to Sae!" Luckily for her, Toji arrives in time and that starts the end of Sae's reign over Momo, for a little while, at least.

* The last episode of ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' has Akito angrily grab a kneeling Tohru by the hair and force her to get on both her hands and knees before him. He then states that he will "make her regret she ever had anything to do with the Sohmas", that she will "suffer as we suffer", and demands that she "beg him for forgiveness" and "swear that she'll never interfere with the Sohmas again."

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', when Grimmjow starts getting rebellious, Aizen activates his [[Battle Aura]], which is enough to force him to his knees.

* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', Evergreen threatens to shatter everyone whom she has [[Taken for Granite|turned to stone]] unless Erza takes off all her clothes and prostrates herself. Erza responds by telekinetically holding a dozen swords and threatening to turn Evergreen into a pincushion unless she breaks the spell and frees her victims. It works.

* In ''[[Black Butler]]'' season 2 episode 6 Alois requests that Claude make Sebastian do this.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Likewise Gorilla Grodd has adopted his own version to be on multiple occasions, likely because his name ends in the same "-od" sound. He once even shouted it while brandishing a spoon and, in the same comic, tried to bite off Lex Luthor's head. Needless to say he was a little unhinged...

* Somewhat subverted in the ''Infinity War'' epic-over from Marvel, in which the Magus, who has the eponymous gauntlet forces Thanos the [[Magnificent Bastard]] to his knees. Thanos dryly notes that he isn't doing it willingly, nor will he continue doing it unless forced before explaining to the Magus just how badly the villain had miscalculated.

* Max Lord in his fully evil head of Checkmate phase liked using his [[Compelling Voice]] for this.

** And then {{spoiler|she snapped his neck}}. And then {{spoiler|[[Blackest Night|he came back]]}}.

* In the ''Spider-Man / Human Torch: I'm with Stupid'' miniseries, a publicity-craving Torch tries to single-handedly storm the Latverian embassy. He's promptly frozen solid by "subthermic cannons", forcing Spidey to rescue him by pretending to join forces with [[Doctor Doom]]. Doom demands that Spidey kneel and swear his eternal allegiance. When Spidey does so without any fuss, Doom realises that they're just words and asks him to back it up. Spidey lifts up the frozen Torch as though he's going to dash him on the ground, then web-swings out.

== Films -- Animation ==

* In ''[[Mulan]]'', Shan Yu demands that the Emperor bow before him. The Emperor refuses with a pretty cool metaphor: "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it." [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Ooh, BURN!]]

* ''[[Prince of Egypt]]''. The priests have a [[Villain Song]] based around this. Oddly, they're addressing Moses, who is a titular, well, Prince.

But first, boy, it's time to '''BOW!''''' }}

* Saddam Hussein does it to the American and Canadian armies near the end of the ''[[South Park]]'' film.

* During the climactic battle of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: Advent Children'', Sephiroth orders it to Cloud:

* The sequel movie to Disney's ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' has Morgana, the sister of Ursula, using the power of the trident to force most of the main characters to bow down before her, including King Triton.

 

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

** And here's the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUORL-bvwA0&feature=related one] that provides the page caption. The latter is a play on this trope {{spoiler|as Supes has secretly weakened Zod at that point}} .

** Zod also has the President kneel, with this classic exchange:

'''Zod:''' ''(correcting)'' '''''Zod.''''' }}

** Leonidas [i]does[/i] kneel in the end; only so that he can get one last shot at Xerxes. He doesn't kill him, but he does make him bleed.

* ''[[Star Wars]]''

** Palpatine wanted this from Luke, but it didn't work out so well.

** Jabba The Hutt also states that Han and Chewbacca have the option of pathetically begging for their lives should they choose to exercise it. Han tells Jabba off while Luke confidently gives the gangster one last chance to be bought off by letting them go. Less than 5 minutes later, Jabba learns the hard way that he should have listened.

* Naturally, [[Monty Python]] have some fun with this in ''[[Life of Brian]]''.

''(Brian is already kneeling on the floor, so they pick him up and throw him back down again)'' }}

'''Grant:''' The first one won't kill you. Not the second. Not even the third. Not till you crawl over here and you '''kiss my foot'''. }}

** It happens in the book version of ''The Man with the Golden Gun" -- or at least, it's a crime Bond charges Scaramanga with having committed in the past.

* ''[[Cleopatra]]'' featured a scene like this between the fair lady of the title and her future boy toy Mark Antony. Interesting inversion, in that it's a main character demanding the kneeling and it actually counts as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

'''Cleopatra VII:''' I ''asked'' it of [[Julius Caesar]]. I '''demand''' it of you. }}

'''Jen:''' '''''Never!''' (jumps off waterfall)'' }}

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4Si6GxDgI Shouted by Jay] after cold-cocking a guard with a baseball bat in ''[[Mallrats]]''.

* In ''[[Return to Oz]]'', the Nome King is a bit too [[Affably Evil]] to demand this sort of thing from Dorothy, but he's more than happy to demand it of [[Vain Sorceress|Mombi.]]

''(Mombi flinches as she tries and fails to lower herself further, while the Nome King bellows with laughter)'' }}

* In ''[[The Last Dragon]]'', Sho-Nuff tells Leroy to bend down and kiss his Converses. Slightly subverted when Sho-Nuff then proceeds to kick Leroy in the face.

* ''[[Puma Man]]''

* Defied in ''[[The Ten Commandments]]'', the Charleton Heston one. Ramses tells Moses to command the conquered Ethiopians to kneel before Pharoah, but Moses informs him that he's brought the Ethiopians in friendship and sort of tells Ramses to mind his own business.

** During the subsequent fight in Stuttgart, he even attempts to forcefully make Captain America bow before him, but to no avail.

 

** One of the most memorable comes from the Book of Esther, where the Jew Mordecai refuses to bow to the [[Evil Chancellor|evil advisor]] Haman.

** As well as Satan's final temptation of Christ:

** There's also the bit in the Book of Daniel where Darius wants everyone to worship him, but Daniel refuses and gets thrown into a lion pit. The lions leave him alone, and Darius is impressed enough to convert to worshiping the Abrahamic [[God]].

** Also from Daniel's book is the story of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, which is essentially the same story. The three guys refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzer's giant idol and get thrown into a furnace. God sends down an angel to protect them from the flames, and Nebby is impressed enough to convert. For a while, anyway.

* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''

** Protagonists do this too. Rand at one point snaps at the Aes Sedai:

'''Taim:''' Kneel before the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt. }}

** Before that, Ishamael (as Ba'alzamon) did this a lot in the first book.

* [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]

** In ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'', Joruus C'Baoth has foreseen that Mara Jade will kneel before him. {{spoiler|She does, in order to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|strike him dead]].}}

** And in ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]'', Darth Krayt [[Mate or Die|forces Cade to sleep with Talon]].

* Randall Flagg demands Glen Bateman kneel to him near the end of ''[[The Stand]]''. Bateman's response? {{spoiler|Laughter. Of course, he gets killed, but it's a serious break to Flagg's aura of invulnerability.}}

 

** The later Zod, a younger version preserved as sort of a backup, does this with his soldiers frequently in a more ceremonial manner.

** Inverted in the Season 9 episode "Pandora". {{spoiler|When Clark finally reveals himself to the recently restored Kandorians, Major Zod says their savior has come and commands his troops to "Kneel before Kal-El".}}

** Season 9's Major Zod had at least one time saying "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD" pretty much every single episode he was in. It should me mentioned however that 'Major' Zod took the Zod you know and love and made him [[Up to Eleven|more awesome...]]

** Ironically enough, Lois pulls a "Kneel Before Zod" moment in the season 10 episode "Harvest". When Clark, weakened by Blue Kryptonite, is buried alive by a rural community who plan to sacrifice Lois in a ritual to ensure a bountiful harvest, he manages to regain enough of his strength to escape his grave and rescue Lois. When the villagers see Clark survive gasoline burns that would have killed a normal man instantly, Lois [[Large Ham|goes full-on Charlton Heston on them]], declaring that Clark has been sent by God to punish the villagers [[Pulp Fiction|"with great vengeance and furious anger"]], thus forcing the Blue-K enhanced villagers to back away long enough for Clark and Lois to make their escape. As they watch Clark speed off with Lois, the townsfolk all kneel.

'''Seventh Doctor:''' ... {{spoiler|Kill her.}} }}

** "KNEEL! KNEEL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF SUTEKH!"

** Borusa uses the mind-power enhancing Coronet of Rassilon to force the Fifth Doctor to kneel before him in "The Five Doctors".

** Five also is forced to his knees in ''Four to Doomsday'' and ''The Visitation''.

** {{spoiler|'''Rassilon:''' On your knees, mankind!}}

* In an episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', a minor Goa'uld tries to force a captured Teal'c to acknowledge that him and his family are gods. His refusal provokes a [[Heel Face Turn]] from the guards.

* Wraith queens in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' have mind control (and [[Power Echoes]]) at their disposal and could force captives to do just about anything. What do they want them to do? '''''KNEEL.''''' Sheppard tried to put his own spin on this at one point; the Wraith were not pleased....

* In the ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' episode "Green No More", [[The Dragon|Goldar]] gives this treatment to de-powered Tommy Oliver. He even uses a handy device to show him just how far he has fallen, rubbing it in as much as possible, then demands that Tommy bow and admit that he is his superior before he dies. Tommy starts to give a misleading answer, then flips out and ([[Rule of Cool|in the face of all reason]]) kicks his butt all over the Otherworld.

* On an episode of ''[[QI]]'' Stephen Fry pointed out a similarity between the topic discussed and the ''Superman'' movie. Leading him to point at Alan Davies and declare 'Kneel before Zod' in his fantastic upper-class British accent.

* In one episode of ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'', restart officer Pauline (in an exercise in magazine-selling) demands that Ross beg her. This becomes an [[Ironic Echo]] when he gets her fired, and then offers to help her get her job back if ''she'' begs ''him''.

** Played with in the episode "Wishful Thinking", where a small child who gains super-strength yells "Kneel before Todd!" when toying with teenagers who used to bully him.

* In ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', on hearing that a team of strong contenders will not feature in the University's Physics Bowl Tournament, Leonard invokes this trope.

'''Valkyrie:''' ''(begins [[Star Wars|choking him with her mind]], he falls to his knees in pain)'' Foolish man, you do not command us. WE COMMAND YOU! }}

 

 

== Music ==

* Whacked-out rock band Electric Six quotes this in their song "Rip It!":

Might as well kneel before Zod'' }}

* Westside Connection's hip hop song "Bow Down".

 

== Radio ==

'''Kremmen:''' I think I'll enter on my knees. }}

 

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''

** An NPC for the An'Quiraj world event was called "General Zog". If a player did the "/kneel" emote to him, he would reply with "General Zog acknowledges your submission with a glance."

** High Prophet Barim, a boss in the Lost City of the Tol'Vir in Cataclysm, will yell "Kneel before me and repent!" midway through the battle. The players will be drawn to him, forced to kneel and have their souls sucked out of their bodies, forcing them to kill the Harbinger of Darkness before they can resume the battle against him.

** We also have Cho'gall, using his Conversion ability to force players to kneel and worship him, granting him more power. Said players' companions had best snap them out of it quick.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''

** Seifer's [[Catch Phrase]] for the game: "KNEEL LOSER!"

* Happened on ''[[Mitadake High]]''. They said no. Badguy shot them in the face.

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', {{spoiler|the protagonist gets the option to demand people to bow down to him once it is revealed that he was the former Big Bad.}}

* ''[[Guild Wars]] Factions'' has shiro doing this to some spirits he has captured.

* In the fight against {{spoiler|Odin}} in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', you can avoid instant death from his ultimate attack by using one of two commands that cause your character to kneel. There's still a chance that you will die from the damage done, but you at least reduce the chance.

** "''Sit'', {{spoiler|would you kindly.}}"

* Happens in ''[[The Force Unleashed]] 2''.

'''Starkiller:''' Wait! Wait! ''(drops his lightsabers and kneels)'' I will do your bidding. Just let her go. }}

* ''[[Jedi Academy]]'': Near the end ([[Multiple Endings|one of them]]), {{spoiler|the ghost of Marka Ragnos}} declares the [[Player Character]] ''will'' kneel before him. Instead of whining at you to do it, which wouldn't be likely to work, he immediately sets out to beat the crap out of you to make you submit/dead.

* In ''[[Blood]]'', two of the lines Chernobog says when you fight him are ''"Bow down to me"'' and ''"Kneel before me"''.

* Shao Kahn of ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' is fond of this trope, being the Emperor of Outworld and all. "Bow to me!"

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'': [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0139.html "Cyborgs under my command, Kneel before Valorum!"] It is [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0206.html later] revealed that the GM [[Actor Allusion|planned to name Valorum "Zod"]].

* ''[[Pibgorn]]'': "[http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2011/04/22/ Now, in acknowledgement of my supremacy, prostrate yourself before me.]"

'''Bob:''' ''(sitting in cramped spaceship cockpit)'' Bow? I barely have room to scratch my nose in here. }}

 

== Web Original ==

* The power-hungry Dark Overlords from ''[[Dimension Heroes]]''.

* [http://seawasp.livejournal.com/75933.html Kneel (or Equivalent) Before Zod!]

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Spoofed in ''[[Robot Chicken]]''. "Lay down on your backs before Zod! Now, using your lower abdominals, raise your legs and hold on a five-count before Zod!" [http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=6219080d1b72a381a10b08ba60195a03 See here.]

** "Kneel Before Grodd!" Gorilla Grodd travels forward in time to take over the Ape Army and beat the Tiger Army. He succeeds, and has the Tiger leader "Great Caesar" bow to him; complete with [[Agony Beam]].

** Fox also tries to make Bronze Tiger kneel before him at the end of "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!", and Bronze Tiger pretends to comply so he could attack Fox while his guard was down.

** Degaton does it to Batman and the Justice Society in "The Golden Age of Justice!".

** Vertigo in the two-parter "Reunion", when using her powers on [[Wolverine]]:

* The ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die" has the eponymous Scott force Cartman to get down on his knees, beg him for his money back, and act like a "little piggy".

 

----

"''[[Smith Will Suffice|Zod]]''." }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Gloating]]