Michael Shannon appeared as General Zod in 2013’s Man of Steel, and fans were excited to see that he’d returned to play the character for The Flash. However, given that Zack Snyder was initially responsible for casting Shannon as the iconic Superman villain, the actor felt he could only return if given the okay from the former DC director. Fortunately for DCEU fans, Snyder was happy to give Shannon his blessing and let fans enjoy his iteration of the character one last time.
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Michael Shannon’s Hesitance to Ask Snyder for His Blessing
DC’s transition from Zack Snyder to James Gunn and Peter Safran was not well-handled, and in an interview with The Playlist, Michael Shannon spoke about how he wasn’t too pleased with how Snyder had been treated in the exchange.
He was understandably hesitant to return to play General Zod, but Snyder was a good sport and gave Shannon his blessing:
“I was hesitant [to come back] because I wasn’t really happy about what happened to Zack Snyder in that whole deal, and I really love Zack. The fact that Zack asked me to play that part to begin with – that’s probably the biggest surprise of my career. It almost felt like a practical joke. I was like, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ By I talked to Andy [Muschietti] about it, and I liked Andy, and I said, ‘Andy, look – I just want to get Zack’s blessing on this because it just doesn’t feel right without that.’ And Zack, to his credit, was very understanding. He gave me his blessing, and I went to do it.”
During the same interview, Shannon spoke about how much he enjoyed working with The Flash director Andy Muschietti:
“I loved Andy, too. I loved working with Andy. They’re both super creative guys. Andy’s an amazing artist. He would just make these drawing and I was sitting there talking to him. I’d look over and say, ‘Hey, can I keep that?’ and he’d go ‘Sure!’ and sign it and give it to me.”
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What We Know About General Zod in The Flash
After Barry Allen travels back in time to prevent his mother’s murder, the speedster learns that his actions have terrible consequences for his universe. He has unintentionally created a world with no metahumans, meaning no Superman, meaning no one is around to stop General Zod from terraforming Earth.
Barry is no match for Zod and sets out to find someone strong enough to take out the Kryptonian. Instead, he finds a much older Bruce Wayne, who he convinces to come out of retirement, and a captive Kryptonian known as Kara.
When speaking on his return, Michael Shannon revealed that he was only on set for two weeks, meaning he probably isn’t the film’s main villain. However, while we may not see much of his character, the epic clash between Shannon’s Zod and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl will still be awesome.
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TL;DR
- Michael Shannon was hesitant to return as General Zod after the way DC had treated Zack Snyder.
- After he was given Snyder’s blessing, Shannon spoke about how much he enjoyed his time on set, no matter how brief it was.
- Given how little of Shannon we’ll see on screen, it’s safe to assume he’s not the film’s main villain.