The Standard

And here, Zena turns her back on her father and, though I don’t believe its explicitly stated in the comic, the implication is that this was the last time she ever saw him before he died in prison.

Will did a great job nailing Zena’s emotional turmoil as she walks towards us.  I actually had a specific frame of reference for this scene, which I specified in the script.  I was thinking of one of the best bits of acting by Daniel Day-Lewis in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and considering that his Daniel Plainview is one of the best cinematic performances of all time, that’s saying something.  Anyway, the scene I was thinking of is when he abandons his deaf son, leaving him on a train headed for a boarding school.  As the train takes off from the station, we see his son burst out from the front carriage, screaming for his father as he’s dragged back inside.  But him and the train fade into the background as we follow Plainview walking towards us, his back turned to them.  And for a moment on his face it seems like he’s near tears, but then he swallows it down with this angry, seething scowl, like he’s furious at himself for allowing a flicker of such emotional vulnerability to reach the surface.  That’s definitely the vibe I wanted to go for here with Zena.

This brings Zena Zarthos’ flashback arc to an end.  But we’re barely halfway through the issue, I hear you say!  Well, though it’s not Zena-focused, there is one more flashback still to come…