Viggo Mortensen was never able to find the right hole in his schedule to play General Zod in the upcoming Superman reboot, now officially titled Man of Steel. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, however, landed on a fantastic alternative: Michael Shannon. Shannon was rumored for an unspecified villain role last month — the studios have announced today he will play Zod. Director Zack Snyder remarked,
“Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role.”
I could not agree more. Henry Cavill will star as Clark Kent/Superman. The supporting cast includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathan Kent. Read the official announcement after the jump.
Terence Stamp portrayed General Zod to memorable effect in Superman II — Shannon is absolutely a worthy successor. Shannon excels when there is something fundamentally creepy, even inhuman about his character. In Superman II, the Kryptonian villain comes across as an autistic megalomaniac in his destruction. That is Shannon’s bread and butter, folks.
Alice Eve, Diane Kruger, and Rosamund Pike are reportedly in contention to play Ursa, Zod’s partner-in-crime. I have yet to hear any names rumored for Non, the third member of the group. The official casting of Cavill, Adams, Costner, and now Shannon have all been announced on a Sunday afternoon. So check back next week for more info? (Same Metropolis time, same Metropolis channel…*)
Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan, and Deborah Snyder, Thomas Tull, and Lloyd Phillips are producing ; David S. Goyer is writing the screenplay based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Man of Steel is scheduled for release in December 2012.
MICHAEL SHANNON TO STAR AS GENERAL ZOD IN “MAN OF STEEL” FROM WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND LEGENDARY PICTURES
BURBANK, CA, April 10, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Michael Shannon will star in the role of General Zod in director Zack Snyder’s new Superman film, titled “Man of Steel.”
Snyder stated, “Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role.”
As General Zod, Shannon will go toe-to-toe with Henry Cavill, who plays the new Clark Kent/Superman in the film. The main cast also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathan Kent.
Michael Shannon was honored with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Shannon was most recently seen in the award-winning HBO drama series “Boardwalk Empire,” from executive producer Martin Scorsese. He will next be seen in Sony Pictures Classics’, “Take Shelter,” from director/writer Jeff Nichols.
Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.
“Man of Steel” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
*This joke needs to be better, but I can’t think of the Superman equivalent of “Bat.”
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Didn’t Snyder deny that Zod was not going to be the villain to Empire magazine? And that the rumors were “just plain wrong” and “the internet has no idea what it is talking about?”
Wow. What a lying sack of crap! Sucker Punch sucked balls too! The man has no talent. He’s a one-trick pony and that green screen crap he pulls is getting really old really fast!
I hope he disappears from film shortly after he butchers Superman.
If he butchers Superman, that will be his last film.
I’m pretty sure you must have read wrong, friend. It would make to sense whatsoever for him to say that. What he did do was leave the speculation hanging, which he was supposed to. He said stuff like “I really can’t say who the villain is, but I love how there’s this whole elimination process”, stuff like that. Not once did he deny it, and if he had, it would be to maintain the level of excitement. No one’s out to get you
Wow that’s disappointing. Not in the choice of actor, but in the fact that they really are going with Zod as a villain. I guess taking things in an original direction is too much to ask.
Zod is better than Lex Luthor though, right? Lex seems like the natural (and least inspired) choice for a reboot.
Zod and Superman can actually fight, which is what I want to see in a Zack Snyder Superman film. Plus, Zod is entirely humanoid, so there’s no danger of the intangible human vs. CG contact that might come with Brainiac or Darkseid.
Agreed. This is like doing a Star Trek reboot and using Khan as the villain again.
that said, Michael Shannon’s a fine actor and I’m sure he’ll do villainous justice to to role.
Is Darkseid or Brainiac too much to ask for? Huh?!
Yes, it IS too much to ask. The entire problem with putting Superman on the big screen is that we’ve seen Luthor and Zod and the rest of Superman’s rogues gallery, PARTICULARLY the baddies you guys keeping whining for are too complicated and outlandish for a mainstream film. Your asking for a film that could only leave fans of the comics disappointed and the 95% confused and disinterested.
How is Brainiac more of a stretch than Zod? Both Kryptonian-based (so the setup story is the same); both capable of wailing on Superman (so the fight scenes are the same); and like Superman he’s an extra-terrestrial (though a robot), so if the casual audience can swallow a story about a solar-powered alien saving the planet, they can’t handle a story about an alien robot wanting to destroy/assimilate it?
For Darkseid, it’s actually simpler. Big bad alien of incredible power wants to destroy Earth. Damn, that’s gonna be hard to pull off. If only people had a rough understanding of who Superman was already…that would make jumping right into a huge story easy.
Rail against the fanboys Sarah; criticize them for having overly “complicated” demands of villains. But neither of the two I mentioned are anymore “outlandish” than the protagonist.
Kneel before zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Boring.
owls of gahoole…sucker punch……we all knew we’d be disappointed…in this life or the next
NOW I HAVE TO SEE THIS!
YEAH, I’M WRITING IN CAPS, THAT’S HOW EXCITED I AM UPON READING THIS.
agreed about the comments on Brainiac, well i am happy and Sundays are beginning to be a standard day for Man of Steel cast announcement, no lets see Luthor hurry! or Perry and Jimmy!
Waaaaah. Zod again? After he was used almost 40 years ago? Jeez. And I bet that he’ll be portrayed the exact same way by a completely different creative team. Just like Nolan’s team did with The Joker vs Burton’s Joker. 20 years apart…
You’re saying that under Nolan’s supervision, Ledger copied Nicholson’s performance? Ummmm no.
It’s sarcasm. Welcome to the internet, will you be staying long?
i got a bad feeling about this. ZOD is ok but really? DOOMSDAY!!! hell YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah there sure seems to be a lot of opposition to Zod even though 5 Superman films have been made and Zod has only been the villain in one of them. Zod’s a good jumping off point. His presence will be comfortable enough for the audience to get into the (hopefully new) mythos of Superman. If successful, then you can start having a run at the less mainstream villains like Brainiac and Doomsday.
You guys know Snyder didn’t write the script right. Calm down people this is an amazing actor playing an amazing villain.
Zod should be cool. If used properly, he can show us two sides of Superman which kind of seems what the movie is building itself up to be. He’s said Supes is going to be sort of world traveling and trying to figure out who he wants to be. Zod can challenge him. He can show him the benefits of both sides consciously and unconsciously. So not only will be a great mental challenge, but he’ll also be a great physical combatant for Superman. A great starting point and when Luthor is brought into the show, it should open up some pretty epic things for him to do…or at least set something up for the sequel.
why r ppl bitching. te Joker was used as much as zod was and look what happened. wtf u wan t doomsday to come a kill superman in the first film? lol
I’m definitely looking forward to this movie now! Michael Shannon is an amazing and underrated actor. I had the chance to meet him when he was doing the play The Pillow Man at the Steppenwolf in Chicago in 2006, and he was such a nice guy. I’m very happy that he’s getting the recognition he deserves.
I was kinda hoping for a braniac appearance. Then again, I guess Snyder and co are opting for the tried and tested idea and go for zod. If this movie proves to be a blockbuster.. then we might see a darkseid or braniac matchup for supes next sequel:D
Really? Zod again! come on! there is plenty superman villains out there, So this wasnt a Superman movie reboot, this was a “Superman 2″ remake!
just like the dark knight was a remake of the first batman by burton? rightoooo
I had the lucky opportunity to meet Zack Snyder recently at a book signing-amazing guy!
Superman 2 is may fave of all the Supes movies so i’m looking forward to seeing Zack’s interpretation.
I’ve officially lost all interest in Superman now.
Strangely, this is the only website I’ve visited today that got the name of this movie correct. For some reason all of the others are adding words to it.
Just to be clear, according to the press release the title of this movie is “Man of Steal”. It’s not “Superman: Man of Steel” or “The Man of Steel”.
It wouldn’t matter what they put in this film, it wouldn’t be good enough for the majority of people who comment on these forums. They could have Zod, Doomsday, Brainiac, Luthor, and every other villain in the Superman universe in the same film and it wouldn’t be good enough. I’m not sure what filmmakers have to do in order to satisfy you people. Zod is “boring”? How in the world is Zod or the actor portraying him “boring”? Get outta here. These are the same morons with an attention span of a 2 year old who thought Superman Returns was a “boring” film, and who didn’t recognize it as the great superhero film that it is. It seems as though nothing will satisfy these supposed “fanboys”.
As General Zod will be in Man of Steel, they have to include Non, Ursa, Faora, Quex-Ul, Nam-Ek and Aethyr-Ka.
They will probably cast one of the below rising young actresses as Ursa:
Rachel Bilson, Sophia Bush, Kat Dennings, Hilary Duff, Leighton Meester, Ellen Page, Jessica Szohr, Evan Rachel Wood
LAME nooo ZOD again!!! cosplay of KISS no again!!! we need Doomsday , brainniac ,darkseid, metallo, etc… Linsey Lohan as Ursa ..?? LOL very lame!!!
Should have done the Erradicator instead of Zod if they were going to go in that direction.
Someone at Warner Brothers Studio thinks (believes) Goyer is the only decent professional Writer out there. Go figure? I’d say Goyer has become stale thinking, and that it’s time to turn to someone that likes the SUPERMAN mythos, along with superhero comic books. This ZOD crap is long past old! 70 plus years of SUPERMAN Writers, Inkers, Illustrators, Storytellers, Editors and the like, and all these Hollywood Buffoons can keep coming up with is Luthor, and ZOD. What a drag… GBJ
By-the-way, to that Matt person: we unsatisfied people are the ones that spent enough money over the years to keep D. C. Comics’ SUPERMAN titles selling, further mentioning; enough money to attract major Hollywood Motion Picture Studios to be interested in investing in getting some of that money. One Hundred Millions of Dollars [plus] is a profit not even a moron would turn down and SUPERMAN is worth Billions… GBJ
The people that keep saying “Zod, AGAIN”, are just dumb.
You will bow down before me, Jor-El and one day… your ASS!!
Michael Shannon will take the world by storm as Zod, just like Heath ledger did with Joker.
Do not underestimate Chris Nolan and David Goyer. They will come up with fantastic story and Zack Snyder is going to direct it perfectly.
I thought this was a reboot with new villians….something that hasn’t been done before with superman. With Superman Returns, this will be following the same path that Superman I and II did. Snyder will butcher this, particularly with his poor track record of his last 2 films. WB will pay for not having Bryan Singer handle the sequel and keeping Routh as superman.
Chris Nolan used the Joker in the sequel to the reboot. When people go to see a reboot they want to see something new. I hope Zod is not the main villain.
Stamp sets the bar high, but so did Nicholson… I know on Boardwalk our new Zod is a mighty creepy act…
Am I the only one that did not have a problem with the last actor that played Superman???
Wow, really? Most of these commentors are ridiculous. People are whining and hating based on Snyder’s sucker punch. Have we forgotten that this is being produced by Chris Nolan and written by his bro? Did we forget that Chris Nolan had several meetings with other directors in order to find the perfect match? Did we forget that Snyder said specifically that he’s not stylizing Man of Steel like he has with his other films? He’s following the path of batman begins and the dark knight. Nothing will be wrong with this film. It will be fantastic. I have full faith in Nolan, and if he trusts Snyder’s vision then I do too.
I am a Superman FANATIC! I mean, I’ve been a fan of Supes since I was three years old and used to watch the George Reeves “Adventures of Superman” syndicated shows every weekday with my pops. I’ve collected and read the books for two going on three decades now. I collect memorabilia, figures, etc. I loved the movies and even forgave Warner Bros for Superman III and IV. And even though it’s totally butchered the actual continuity, I have been a huge fan of Smallville. I am the definition of Fanboy in relation to Superman.
And I am…underwhelmed so far. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. People who were used to George Reeves’ and Curt Swan’s interpretation of Superman were upset to learn that an unknown actor named Chris Reeve was going to portray Big Blue and that worked out pretty well I think. So although I am underwhelmed, I am still very open minded and hopeful.
People talk about how Nolan used the Joker to reboot Batman and how that such a success, but those people using that argument are mistaken. Success, of course it was. Mind-bogglingly so, in fact. But it was NOT a reboot.
Batman Begins was the reboot. And Nolan dug into the Batman mythos to find two GREAT villains. Ras Al Ghul and The Scarecrow. He did not REBOOT the franchise with the Joker. He went with new villains to do this.
Superman has, along with Batman, the GREATEST rogues gallery in comics. Non-readers wouldn’t know this because they have pretty much only been exposed to Lex, Zod and if they watched the cartoons, Darkseid and Brainiac. But there’s the Parasite, Metallo, Gog, Preus, The Eradicator, Mongul, Doomsday, The Cyborg, and the list goes on. Yet somehow it always comes back to…Lex Luthor and General Zod.
Look, here’s the thing…
Superman fans are upset for a few reasons…
Superman Returns was a letdown for one main reason. It was a Richard Donner homage movie. Singer was, by his own admission, heavily influenced by Donner, and it appeared that in relation to Superman, Donner was Singer’s sole repository of knowledge concerning the character. I think Singer was a fan of the Superman he met in the movies…not the character from the books and this showed.
Superman Returns was a COMPLETE scene-for-scene, plotpoint-for-plotpoint update of “Superman: The Movie”. From the rocket from krypton to his welcome back to the daily planet, to the rescuing of Lois Lane from the airplane, to Lex Luthor’s scheme of a complicated land-grab, it was a 30 year update of the first movie with an illegitimate kid as a twist. And while it was a pretty decent movie in and of itself, and while I thought Brandon Routh was great as Superman and Clark, it came off as largely…uninspired.
So, you go from Superman Returns which was Supeman: The Movie REDUX to Superman: Man of Steel, which now features Zod and it just looks like the same thing coming down the pipe…another remake. My reason for saying this is the fact that the movie is casting the three phantom zone villains TOGETHER again.
Superman fans will tell you that this does NOT have to be the case. The general moviegoing public thinks that Zod, Ursa, and Non are a traveling act who you have to book together. This is not the case at all. Zod has very frequently fought Superman by himself with no reference to Non or Ursa. A true reboot with Zod would require him only and not the other two. So, this looks story already smells like another plot steeped in “Donnerism”.
Finally, a lot of Superman fans kinda feel that this is gonna be the last shot Big Blue gets at the Big Screen if it doesn’t do well at the box office. I mean, the last ten years has re-ushered in the golden age of the superhero and superhero movies are huge moneymakers. So, if the character who is literally THE SOLE REASON for the superhero genre cannot make a stand-out movie in what is pretty much the age of the superhero movie, it would pretty much mean that the character would not get another chance to come to the big screen again, if not for a long, long time. This one has to be done RIGHT!
I think a real reboot would call on a new villain. Personally, I would have tapped Grant Morrison to write or consult on the script. Darkseid would not be that hard to do at all. But I do have a lot of faith in Nolan. I don’t know about Snyder as the director. His style seems to be a little ostentatious for a Superman movie, but nonetheless he’s who we’ve got.
So, I’m hopeful. I hope Nolan finds the sensibilities for Superman that he found for Batman because this is a character who should be loved and admired and seen as a role-model for ages to come. In a world where so many celebs and athletes and characters avoid being a role model, Superman and those who work to bring him to the public is the one character who accepts the responsibility without shrugging.
@R.J.
Wow you have definitely great insight into Superman movies and characters. I have to agree with almost everything you stated, except, one thing.
The best story for Superman remake will be “The death of Superman” storyline. Bar none. Doomsday can make natural disasters pale in comparison and there is so much potential for sequels.
How unoriginal…typical Hollywood. Seriously, people need to stop paying to see what they’ve already seen.
this isnt such a bad move with zod.but a 1 on 1 fight is just not enough why not throw in doomsday!They really should have had zod the lone survivor of the first have a cameo appearance where superman beats him to death in the first 20 minutes and then the plot swithes to darkseid unleashing doomsday to earth….this obviously wont happen and will be a fine example of why marvel has and uses all the cool characters..last time i checked hulk vs abomination and thor vs the destroyer was a success and catered to what the comic fans wanted to see?
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