Uncategorized

Michael Shannon Teases His Role in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

After some speculation and rumors, the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Comic-Con trailer confirmed that Michael Shannon’s General Zod – or, at least, his body – will return in the Man of Steel follow-up. There have been various rumors regarding how Zod factors into the film’s storyline, but Shannon has shared an intriguing hint when recounting a humorous incident on set.

Speaking with Vulture, Shannon recalled that he once got stuck in a porta potty on the Batman v Superman set because he was wearing flippers, and thus, he couldn’t use his hands. “I was in my costume, and I couldn’t use my fingers because in the sequel I have flippers instead of hands. So I had these wax flippers on my fingers, and I couldn’t open the door, and I could hear Zack [Snyder, the director] being like, ‘Where’s Shannon? Where the [bleep] is he?’ and the whole crew was standing around. I was like, knocking on the door with my flippers, ‘Let me out of here!'” 

Fortunately, someone on set let Shannon out, but the fact that he will have flippers instead of hands in Dawn of Justice is very interesting. Presumably, these are a part of his mo-cap “costume.” As for his brief appearance in the trailer, Shannon says, “Well, I haven’t seen the trailer either, so I don’t know what I am in the trailer. I could be a toaster, or a Porsche, I don’t know.”


Now, let’s look at some of the persistent rumors regarding how Zod plays into Batman v Superman. Beware, the following contains possible SPOILERS.

So, earlier this year, a rumor from ComicBook.com claimed that Zod’s body is acquired by Lex Luthor, who then experiments on the corpse. This leads to the body being reanimated in the form of…Doomsday, who has been rumored many times to be the film’s secondary villain but hasn’t been confirmed yet. This would be an interesting way to bring the villain into the DC Extended Universe. And, if Zod is transformed into Doomsday, then perhaps Shannon’s flippers are like mo-cap gloves for Doomsday’s large hands/claws.

Also, a bit of speculation here. You might recall this shot from the Dawn of Justice trailer, which sees Batman barely dodging (presumably) Superman’s heat vision. But considering that the blast would have surely killed Batman, and Superman probably wants to avoid that during the fight, was that actually Superman shooting it? Maybe the blast came from reanimated Zod/Doomsday/whoever he is now.

Again, this is all just speculation and rumor. So, take it with a pinch of salt until…probably when the movie comes out. Stay tuned for more as we have it.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is scheduled to hit theaters March 25th, 2016. The second installment in the DC Extended Universe stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot. Zack Snyder directs from a script by Chris Terrio and David S Goyer.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WOBAM! Entertainment.