Last month’s trailer for The Flash confirmed that Michael Shannon is set to appear in the film as General Zod, reprising his role from Man of Steel in 2013. In this incarnation, Barry Allen’s timeline tampering has created a universe where Superman never became Earth’s guardian, allowing Zod to conquer the planet with relative ease. Shannon’s DCEU comeback took a lot of fans by surprise when it was first rumored over a year ago. Regardless, he seems to have had a good time revisiting the Kryptonian supervillain for the first time in nearly a decade.
Shannon discussed his Flash role during a recent interview with Looper. As he recalls, the filmmakers needed to break down the movie’s use of alternate realities in order to facilitate his character’s return. But as someone who doesn’t keep up with the DC Universe (or any comic book universe for that matter), he still couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
“I was a little confused,” said Shannon. “I said, ‘As memory serves me, I think I died in Man of Steel. Are they sure they got the right guy?’ But then they explained to me the whole multiverse phenomenon, which I was a little behind the times on that. I can’t say that I’m a huge consumer of this genre of films — not that I have anything against them. If I’m going to watch a movie, the odds are it’s not going to be one of those, but I sure love making them.”
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Although Man of Steel earned mixed reviews upon its release—many of which took aim at Superman’s controversial decision to kill Zod at the end of the movie by snapping his neck—Shannon insists he had a pleasant experience working with Zack Snyder. However, it sounds like he won’t take up as much screen time in The Flash. According to Shannon, he was only on set for “a couple of weeks” during the film’s England shoot. He also called director Andy Muschietti “a lovely guy and a great artist” to collaborate with. Plus, he teased what fans can expect from this new version of Zod.
“I tried to get back into his skin,” added Shannon. “He’s a little different in this film. He’s a little more … I don’t know how to put it. You don’t spend as much time with him, so you don’t really get to know as much about what he’s thinking. It’s not necessarily his movie. That’s the thing with these multiverse movies — you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But it’s really Ezra [Miller’s] movie.”
The Flash will hit theaters on June 16.
Are you excited to see Shannon return to the DC Universe? Let us know in the comment section below!
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