d.12? We don't have a d.12 string lol.
If you check the Bane forum, me and Qwark have a back-and-forth about the move in a topic which should tell you most of everything you need to know. Also to answer the question on "if we don't MB can you still punish", its pretty much universal that most characters can but they have to be fast about it since Bane is -31 while falling, not upon landing. I don't know Zod's parry stats as far as recovery goes. The thing is Bane can use his dropkick at any point while rising just about, so you have to be careful because a late dropkick can't be parried if you try to get an early one. From what I've found, Bane is like... -16 after landing? (you can hit him with a Double Punch but I have trouble landing a b.2). If you are just hitting it as Bane is coming down, then yeah its not hard really but its definitely not optimized.
Its also hard for some characters because of the whole cross-up part of it, especially if the parry requires a directional command like Killer Frost.
MB b.3 only works if you have a slower MB b.3 because a lot of character with faster ones (If you watch GGA you'll see it a bit) go under him without hitting while he air-stalls for that one second. Zod might be able to if he holds it for like half a second.
Its the little things, though MB VU is a safety-net more than anything. Move is a bit whacky in that it gives like +13 or so at the right distances, but you'd be better off just dashing under him and getting a full combo punish.