Stamp portrayed the Kryptonian supervillain General Zod in Richard Donner's Superman (1978), in which he appeared in a scene with Marlon Brando.

Both parts began shooting simultaneously, but production on the sequel was halted partway through due to budget and time constraints.

[2] Zod is the ruthless, arrogant and megalomaniacal leader of three Kryptonian criminals banished to the Phantom Zone and unwittingly set free by Superman (Christopher Reeve).

Zod, upon landing on Earth and gaining the same superpowers as Superman, immediately views humans as a weak and insignificant sub-species and imposes his evil will for world dominance.

His insatiable lust for power is replaced however by revenge when he learns that the son of Jor-El (Marlon Brando) stands in the way of his absolute rule of the planet.

Zod first appears in the portion of the film set on Krypton where he, Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran) are sentenced by Jor-El of the Science Council to isolation in the Phantom Zone.

This remark appears to prove untrue in Superman II, as prisoners of the Phantom Zone, such as Zod, also survive the destruction of Krypton.

Jor-El presents a visual representation of the Phantom Zone and its occupants in a recorded message embedded in the education crystals housed at the Fortress of Solitude, unaware that he is actually talking to Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher.

After defeating Zod and his followers, Superman uses a time-warp to keep the three criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone while undoing the damage they had done during their time on Earth.

In 2003, Stamp returned to the Superman franchise in a new role, by portraying the voice of Clark Kent's biological father Jor-El in the WB/CW television series Smallville.