Kneel Before Michael Shannon! Boardwalk Empire Baddie Is General Zod In Zack Snyder's Superman
Are you there, Zod? It's me, Michael Shannon.
I may have my doubts about Zack Snyder as a director for the upcoming Man of Steel Superman reboot, but his casting has been right on the money of late. After casting Henry Cavil as the titular hero and Amy Adams as spunky girl reporter Lois Lane, Warner Bros. announced today that Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon will be stepping into the black satin tap pants of General Zod.
So what do we know about about our new big bad? Previously played by Terence Stamp in Superman II, General Zod is a villanous Kryptonian criminal who was sentence to the prison dimension of the Phantom Zone by Jor-El, Superman's birth father (and just by typing that sentence, I've forfeited any right to have sex for the next year). However, Snyder has declared his movie will stay away from the previous Donner/Singer Superman mythology, so this General Zod may be an entirely different villain altogether.
What made Stamp's portrayal so indelibly iconic was Zod's steely-eyed psychopathy was equal parts regal and almost apathetic -- he'd rip your spine out for insolence and seem bored while he did it. And anyone who saw Shannon as the supremely creepy FBI Agent Nelson Van Alden in Boardwalk Empire knows that he can play a tightly wound, fascinatingly creepy lunatic with the best of them.
This news comes after Zack Snyder made numerous denials that General Zod would even be featured in his new reboot. I'm not sure what happened -- Snyder was bluffing, Warner Bros. cracked the whip and called an audible -- but I'm just happy that for once we'll have a Superman story that doesn't involve Lex Luthor and a real estate scheme. But now that we've got our Zod, does that mean there's an Ursa casting announcement to follow fast behind?
·TOLDJA! Michael Shannon Gets Villain Role In Superman [Deadline]
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Not to be snarky, but I believe most people are going to ask "WHO?"
Lovely person and decent actor he may be, but he won't be selling any tickets. Singer was seriously contemplating Johnny Depp as Brainiac. Now we get character actor as Zod. Snyder needs to land someone big as Luthor. It can be done. Luthor is not a silly alien role and his part is likely quite brief in the movie. It's a more "dignified" role and should provide lots of money for little work. Depp as Luthor? Snyder needs to pull something like that or his movie will be full of low key names that Joe Popcorn is indifferent to.
"Are you there, Zod? It’s me, Michael Shannon."
Sometimes your posts leave much to be desired (Thor is disdained by the geeks? Seriously, wouldn't that be a major selling point, considering how they made "Watchmen" and "Sucker Punch" such blockbuster hits?).
But sometimes you nail it. Awesome line. And yes, I am one of many who will not see the latest Supes reboot if it offers yet another incarnation of Lex Luthor. Superman's been around for almost a century - he has more enemies that Luthor. Luthor was never that interesting to begin with.
And all apologies to Lex Shall Save This, but I'd rather see a Superman movie that's good then see one that has a dignified part for an Oscar-winning actor. We've seen "Superman Returns". Can we please move on to "Superman is in a good movie after three decades"?
I'm starting to wondering what you have against those of Geeky and Nerdy persuasion. You won't have sex because you researched Superman and referenced his backstory in an article about Superman? GOD NO! Quick, go have a shower before it's too late.
Moving on.
Nothing Zack Snyder can do will be worse than what Bryan Singer did with Superman Returns. I haven't been that bored since I was forced to sit through the first Twilight movie. (Someone owes me 122 minutes of life.) So I'm all for General Zod coming in and laying the smack down and I don't really care whether or not the often boring and predictable Lex Luthor makes an appearence. Anything is better than the previous outting of our favorite Kryptonian hero.
Man, I was really hoping he was gonna play Nuclear Man.
That would be a more exciting remake than this one sounds to be. I wish I was joking. Sadly, search your heart, and you know it's true.
I won't have sex because I knew all of that off the top of my head, without looking it up. Trust me when I say I'm an incredible dork -- so much so that, when this story broke I was (and I swear to God this is true) in the middle of re-organizing my comic book collection.
Because I refuse to live in a house where New Avengers are co-mingled with Mighty Avengers just willy-nilly. I refuse.
Given that they are following the mold set by the brothers Nolan and David Goyer on Batman, isn't it likely that Zod's appearance could be like the Joker card in Batman Begins? Or that Zod's appearance could be solely confined to his Krypton days and subsequent banishment to the Phantom Zone?
Besides, last I heard the main villain of this was going to be Metallo.
It would be a new version more exciting than it seems. I
I wish I was kidding. Sorry, know your heart, and I
true.
I am interested in seeing what comes next and am glad to have found these posts.
Knowing that off of the top of your head is what makes it sexy as hell.
Interesting choice; Michael Shannon is a quality actor. As long as this is not just a remake of Superman II and Lex Luthor is nowhere to be seen (Michael Rosenbaum was the definitive Lex).
Looking forward to some story details and costume designs for this movie.
Nobody wants to see Zod again. Seriously. Nobody. The incompetence with which this franchise is being handled actually makes me angry. And I'm not even a particularly large Superman fan, but the asininity and folly displayed by Warners here is shocking, and provoking.
Seconded. (Though there's a "d" missing from "sentenced" in the second paragraph. I'm also a grammar dork. Unbeatable combination.)