Kneel Before Zod / Live-Action TV

Times where someone demands others kneel before them in Live-Action TV series.

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• Arrow: After his Awesome Moment of Crowning, Malcolm Merlyn orders Nyssa and the other Assassins to "Kneel before Ra's al Ghul" during the finale of Season Three. They comply, but Nyssa makes a deliberate point to stare him down before doing so. For a second, he actually looks worried.
• The 1960's Batman (1966) series episode "The Spell of Tut". King Tut does this to Robin the Boy Wonder.
• 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.
• In Boardwalk Empire:
  • In Season 2, after finding that his brother Eli has come crawling back after chickening out of his attempt to depose him, Nucky Thompson twists the knife further. When the traitor is sobbing and begging to be taken back, Nucky says they'll sort it out, but there's something the traitor needs to do for him first. The traitor replies "Anything, Nuck!" Nucky tells him "I need you to get on your knees. Bend down to the ground, and kiss my fucking shoes". He then slaps him around and berates him some more and provokes a full-on brawl between them, blowing his chance to bring the cowed former subordinate back on board, and causing the traitor to turn against him irreparably.
  • In Season 5, Lansky forces Nucky to kneel before him to even past affronts and to underscore that the Young Turks have taken over the underworld from the old guard.
• The Book of Boba Fett. In the final episode, the Majodomo offers to negotiate a surrender on Boba Fett's behalf and even offers to do any symbolic groveling his enemies might insist on. When Boba wins, he finds the people of Mos Espa bowing respectfully to him as he passes—to his annoyance, as he hasn't recovered from his injuries yet and so it hurts him to return the bows.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Inverted when one of Glory's minions is groveling before her.
  "Get up. Looking at you is hurting my neck."
  • And in the Angel spin-off, the Professional Buttkissers in Wolfram & Hart start doing this the moment a demon lord enters the room.
    Archduke Sebassis: (bored) Yes. Fine. Sycophants, worms. Don't writhe all at once. It's sickening.
• In an episode of Charmed, the Valkyries of Norse legend arrive in San Francisco. Then, they meet a perverted biker.
  Valkyrie: On your knees.
  Biker: I got a better idea. How about you get on your knees instead.
  Valkyrie: [begins choking him with her mind, he falls to his knees in pain] Foolish man, you do not command us. WE COMMAND YOU!
• Doctor Who:
  • "Marco Polo": The First Doctor is ordered to kowtow before Kublai Khan. He refuses, but not out of pride — he's an old man and very stiff from having just walked most of the way across China. Fortunately, the great Khan, who is also quite elderly, finds the scene amusing.
  • "Planet of the Spiders": The Great One uses her telepathic powers to torture the Third Doctor into groveling before her.
  • "KNEEL! KNEEL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF SUTEKH!"^note In a DVD Extra, we meet Sutekh's pet rabbit, Neil. Neil... NEIL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF SUTEKH!
  • Aukon uses his mental powers to force the Doctor to kneel in "State of Decay".
  • Five is forced to his knees in "Four to Doomsday" and "The Visitation". Though this was solely for the purpose of getting his head chopped off.
  • Borusa uses the mind-power enhancing Coronet of Rassilon to force the Fifth Doctor to kneel before him in "The Five Doctors".
  • "The Curse of Fenric":
    Fenric: The choice is yours, Time Lord. I shall kill you anyway, but if you would like the girl to live... kneel before me.
    Ace: I believe in you, Professor.
    Fenric: Kneel if you want the girl to live!
    Seventh Doctor: ...Kill her.
  • "Last of the Time Lords": The Master, having sadly forgotten everything he'd read on the Evil Overlord List, demands this of Martha. Which she does, but then begins to laugh because her capture was part of an elaborate plan. Notable for being a rare occasion when the hero ordered to kneel just sucks it up and does it rather than go through a lot of gritted "Never!" posturing first.
  • Rassilon gives one with the air of a regal command in "The End of Time" after having proved to be a bigger fish than the Master by undoing his Grand Theft Me of humanity with a casual flick of the wrist. Scarily enough, they obey.
    Rassilon: On your knees, mankind.
  • "Spyfall": When the Doctor ends up in 1834, the Master follows her there and, holding a roomful of people hostage, demands she kneel before him if she doesn't want any more of them to die. She actually does it. Then immediately subverted in a way that perfectly sums up their relationship, when he kneels down himself to have an intimate conversation with her.
• Game of Thrones: Although the novels make frequent reference to "bending the knee" every time a king or lord arrives on the scene, for pragmatic reasons this is dropped for the TV shows as it would slow the action down, only appearing for plot reasons.
  • At his wedding to Margaery Tyrell, King Joffrey demands that his uncle Tyrion (whom Joffrey had immediately prior gone to excessive lengths to insult and humiliate in public) kneel before him.
  • King Stannis is a justified example in that in a feudal society, bowing down to a liege is a customary procedure, but all the same, Stannis is very insistent about his enemies and would-be allies bending the knee. He has little success at this. When Mance Rayder's men surrender to Stannis, it's pointed out that it's customary to kneel on such an occasion. Mance responds for the wildlings by stating flatly, "We do not kneel."
  • Lord Umber refuses to kneel to Lord Ramsey Bolton, knowing such gestures of fealty are meaningless when all concerned suffer from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. He makes a more pragmatic gesture by handing over two useful prisoners.
  • In "You Win Or You Die", Cersei offers Ned a chance to submit without prejudice if he kneels, which both his honor and his leg wound prevent.
  • People quickly do this to Queen Daenerys whenever her dragons make an appearance, both from fear and awe. In one episode she decides to make a politically advantageous marriage and quips that her intended husband (who was in a cell expecting to be sacrificed to her dragons) is already on his knees.
  • Varys catches Littlefinger pondering the Iron Throne and wonders aloud if he's imagining all the highborn who've sneered at him over the years having to bow and scrape. Littlefinger replies that it would be difficult for them to do so without their heads.
• John Adams. Played for laughs — having been sent to England as the American ambassador right after the Revolution, Adams has to go through an elaborate kowtowing ritual to King George III (staring coldly from the other side of a large hall) in order to present his credentials. Neither personage is particularly happy about it.
• Krypton of course has the House of Zod, whose motto is "We Do Not Kneel", but who, as Kandor's leading military family, show no mercy to their enemies and force them to submit. The Trope Namer himself uses this line in the first Season Finale to close a New Era Speech about how he's going to make Krypton the seat of an interstellar empire.
  • Season 2 features what is probably the most triumphant example of this ever, when the man himself demands it of Doomsday. And it works.
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. When Stephen Miller (in Joseph Goebbels mode) says that Donald Trump's powers would not be questioned, Stephen Colbert pretends to be Miller, "Adding 'I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds...Kneel before Zod.'"
• 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.
• Lucifer.
  • Averted in "God Johnson", where Linda is naturally flustered when informed that she's just met God, and says that she should have bowed or something. She starts to drop to her knees the next time they meet, but (presumably because God is a good guy) he says that a handshake will do fine.
  • Played straight in "Who's Da New King Of Hell", where Lucifer goes full devil and orders every demon in the vicinity to bow down to him before sending them all back to Hell.
• In the mini-series A Man Called Intrepid, a German officer tells a prisoner to kneel before the Firing Squad. When the prisoner refuses, he explains, "It is not symbolic, merely efficient."
• In the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episode "Green No More", 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 (in the face of all reason) kicks his butt all over the Otherworld.
• Parodied in an episode of Mock the Week, discussing the recent Church of England Synod:
  Frankie Boyle: Wasn't General Synod the villain in Superman II? "Kneel before Synod!"
• Mortal Kombat: Conquest: From Shao Kahn to Raiden in the series finale episode:
  Shao Kahn: You... will... bow! To... me.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
  • In one episode, Forrester is practicing the speech he plans to give after conquering the world, and even says "Kneel Before Zod!" He also shouts "You will bow down before me, son of Jor-El!" at one point.
  • Joel attempts this while dressed as The Master from Manos: The Hands of Fate. He's less than convincing.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Daredevil (2015). Done for Rule of Symbolism in "Revelations" when FBI agent Ray Nadeem discovers that every FBI agent guarding Wilson Fisk has been bribed or coerced into working for him. As the newest member of these corrupted agents, Fisk has Nadeem kneel down and remove his ankle monitor.
  • Luke Cage (2016). Shades has to kneel before Bushmaster when visiting him on Mariah's behalf in Brooklyn to collect money that Bushmaster's predecessor Nigel Garrison had promised Mariah.
  • Iron Fist (2017). When Madame Gao turns up in his apartment unexpectedly, Harold Meachum drops a glass in shock, and she orders him to get down on his hands and knees on the broken glass as a sign of submission.
• Preacher. Jesse tries to use his Compelling Voice to make the Saint of Killers do this trope, but the World of God doesn't affect him. When Jesse resorts to Good Old Fisticuffs instead, the Saint does a Punch Catch and starts twisting painfully.
  Saint of Killer: Time to get on your knees.
• 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.
• Smallville's incarnation of Zod is fond of it, of course.
  • The first version is actually a subversion. Zod is possessing Lex, whom he's placed his full Kryptonian powers into. He orders an apparently beaten Clark to kneel, saying the famous words. This allowed Clark, even as he's being driven to his knees, to pull out the Phantom Zone crystal and evict Zod from Lex and back to the Phantom Zone.
  • The later Zod, a younger version preserved as sort of a backup, does this with his soldiers frequently in a more ceremonial manner. It seems on Krypton to be similar to saluting a senior military or naval officer. It should be mentioned however that 'Major' Zod took the Zod you know and love and made him more awesome... Better yet, when he first shows up in "Savior", the audience is left uncertain who he really is...then he says to his two followers, "Kneel." (beat) "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"
  • Inverted in the Season 9 episode "Pandora". 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".
  • The Season 9 finale has Zod turn it into a mother of a Badass Boast in his final battle with Clark. "Unlike you, I will lead from a throne, not from the shadows! Every human, including the woman you love, will KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!"
  • 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 goes full-on Charlton Heston on them, declaring that Clark has been sent by God to punish the villagers "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.
• Space: 1999. A female mind-controlling villain forces a character to do so in "The Lambda Factor", followed by an Evil Laugh.
• Stargate:
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • In one episode, a minor Goa'uld tries to force a captured Teal'c to acknowledge that he and his family are gods. His refusal provokes a Heel–Face Turn from the guards.
    • More than just one episode. "Kneel before your god!" is a catchphrase used by virtually every Goa'uld or their underlings, either towards captured prisoners or towards leaders whose planets have been subjugated or are about to be. The gold medal goes to Anubis for trying it on the President of the United States and receiving a good natured "I don't THINK so!" for his trouble.
  • Wraith queens in Stargate Atlantis love forcing their captives to kneel before them. They have several henchmen, mind control (and Power Echoes) at their disposal and could force captives to do just about anything. No matter how many times Sheppard is ordered to kneel he never just goes along with it, instead opting for a one liner before being quickly beaten to the ground.
• Star Trek:
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Squire of Gothos", Trelane holds Captain Kirk at swordpoint and demands that he kneel. Kirk knocks him away and snaps the sword over his knee.
    • Garry Mitchel forced Kirk to kneel in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
  • The Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation typically demand their enemies to surrender and join the Collective as an alternative to destruction. Starfleet forces typically respond by opening fire, typically to little productive end except to force the Borg to stop and repair themselves afterward.
  • Dukat forced Sisko to do this at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Sisko used it as a launch point to throw himself and Dukat into the fire pits.
  • Subverted in the Captain Proton holoprogram in Star Trek: Voyager. Lonzak orders the aliens to "Kneel before Chaotica!", but as they're photonic lifeforms making First Contact with humanity, they have no idea what he's talking about.
  • In the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "The Elysian Kingdom" an alien entity has taken over the crew of the Enterprise and has them reenacting a children's book Doctor M'Benga had been reading to his daughter. Portraying an evil queen, Uhura demands M'Benga and his party kneel before her. Pike - who would later have a medal of valor named after him - quickly drops to his knees while the rest of M'Benga's retuine refuses to do so.
  • In the SNW episode “A Quality of Mercy” the Romulan praetor of an alternate timeline 2266 instructs Pike to kneel before her. This time he declines to do so.
• Supernatural:
  • 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.
  • Played for drama when Rafael takes command of Heaven and demands Castiel submit to him. Castiel refuses and says other angels will join him.
    Rafael: Tomorrow you kneel, Castiel. Or you, and anyone with you, dies.
  • In the Season 6 finale, Castiel proclaims himself the new God, and demands that the heroes bow and profess their love to him. Season 7 opens with Bobby getting down on his knees and asking if that's good enough or if he wants "the whole forehead-to-the-carpet thing?" Castiel promptly decides it's pointless since they're only doing it out of fear, and leaves to spread the word of his godhood.
• That Mitchell and Webb Look: Parodied using General Drayfox, an incredibly PC supervillain, who wants his enemy to kneel before him — unless he objects to it for religious reasons, in which case he's free to demonstrate obeisance in an alternative, culturally-appropriate manner.
• Marnie forces Eric to do this in True Blood.
• The Walking Dead: The season 6 finale has the Saviors outsmart Rick and his group and eventually captures them and forces them to kneel to their leader Negan. Negan then gives Rick and his group an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech that reduces even Rick to tears and ends up beating one member of the group to death in front of them all.

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