Michael Shannon Got ‘A Little Confused’ When Asked to Star in ‘The Flash’ as General Zod: ‘I Think I Died’ in ‘Man of Steel’

Michael Keaton’s Batman isn’t the only big comic book character return happening in Warner Bros.’ long-awaited “The Flash.” As the film’s official trailer confirmed last month, Michael Shannon is also coming back to the DC Universe as “Man of Steel” villain General Zod in the upcoming Ezra Miller-led comic book tentpole. Shannon admitted in a recent interview with Looper that he was quite baffled when the offer came in to reprise General Zod.

“I was a little confused,” Shannon said. “I said, ‘As memory serves me, I think I died in ‘Man of Steel.’ Are they sure they got the right guy?’ But then they explained to me the whole multiverse phenomenon, which I was a little behind the times on that. I can’t say that I’m a huge consumer of this genre of films — not that I have anything against them. If I’m going to watch a movie, the odds are it’s not going to be one of those, but I sure love making them.”

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The multiverse storyline in “The Flash” means that Shannon will not be playing the same iteration of General Zod that he did in 2013’s “Man of Steel.” The actor said his role in the film is relatively small and he only shot for a couple of weeks.

“I tried to get back into his skin,” Shannon added. “He’s a little different in this film. He’s a little more… I don’t know how to put it. You don’t spend as much time with him, so you don’t really get to know as much about what he’s thinking. It’s not necessarily his movie. That’s the thing with these multiverse movies — you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But it’s really Ezra [Miller’s] movie.”

“The Flash,” directed by “It” helmer Andy Muschietti, stars Shannon opposite Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle and Ron Livingston. The film has been called a “reset” for the DC Universe by new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. Gunn has also called “The Flash” one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.

“The Flash” opens in theaters nationwide June 16 from Warner Bros.

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