Michael Shannon Offers Essential Advice for the Next General Zod in James Gunn’s DCU

James Gunn is busy rebooting the DCEU and creating a new cinematic universe based on DC comics. The most important project in the first chapter is Superman, which is set to release in 2025.

We know that the movie will completely reboot Superman and his supporting characters. Gunn has cast new faces for the franchise, including David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, to build Superman’s world.

This means General Zod, one of Superman’s most famous enemies, will also be recast. Michael Shannon previously played Zod in the DCEU, portraying the Kryptonian military leader who wanted to rebuild Krypton on Earth, no matter the cost. Shannon’s powerful performance made Zod a memorable villain, even though Man of Steel left some fans dissatisfied with Superman’s portrayal.

Although Shannon didn’t appear directly in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zod’s body played a key role. Lex Luthor used it to create the monstrous Doomsday, which became a major plot point. Shannon’s final appearance as Zod was in The Flash (2023), but his scenes took place in alternate timelines.

Shannon isn’t upset about losing his role as Zod. In an interview with Screen Rant, he talked about making Man of Steel and gave advice to the next actor who will play Zod.

He explained that while filming Man of Steel, he didn’t think of it as a huge blockbuster. Instead, he focused on the story and the situation. His main piece of advice for the next Zod actor is not to try to copy his performance.

What Terence Stamp did was very different from what I did. It’s kind of like Shakespeare. There can be a lot of different Hamlets, and there can be a lot of different Zods. It’s not my property. It’s literally not my property. So, make it your own. That’s always the best thing to do.

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Shannon explained that he didn’t see Zod as just a supervillain, but as someone trying to do his job and protect his people. He mentioned that many of the characters he’s played are similar because they all try to protect those they care about. He also said that another actor might see Zod’s motivations differently.

This explanation from Shannon matches what director Zack Snyder aimed for in Man of Steel. Snyder recently talked about why Superman had to kill Zod, explaining that it wasn’t an easy choice for either Superman or Zod.

 Zod’s not wrong from his point of view, but also, there’s no really room for humans in this scenario that Zod’s presenting and he’s not gonna stop. He wasn’t gonna negotiate an outcome, so it was either Zod or us. And that was pretty much the game. There was no like middle ground. Zod said, “He would fight until either you kill me or I kill you.”

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