Michael Shannon says returning to play General Zod in ‘The Flash’ ‘wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor’

Never one to mince words in interviews, Michael Shannon said in a recent chat with Collider that returning to play General Zod in “The Flash” “wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor.”

Shannon, a top Emmy Awards contender this year for his performance in “George & Tammy,” first played General Zod in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” in 2013. That film ended, somewhat controversially, with General Zod dead at the hands of Superman. But “The Flash” allowed for the character’s resurrection due to its multiverse storyline.

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“These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures. It’s like, ‘Here’s this person. Here’s that person. And they’re fighting!’ It’s not quite the in-depth character study situation that I honestly felt ‘Man of Steel’ was,” Shannon said “Whether people think that’s crazy or not, I don’t even care. I really felt like ‘Man of Steel’ was actually a pretty sophisticated story. I feel like ‘The Flash’ is too, but it’s not Zod’s story. I’m basically there to present a challenge.”

“The Flash,” which Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav has called the greatest superhero movie he’s ever seen, is due out in theaters this week. It stars Ezra Miller as the title character and serves, perhaps, as a severing point for DC Films. The properties – which include Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman – had previously been stewarded by Snyder; now, former Marvel director James Gunn and Peter Safran are co-running the DC Films unit for Warner Bros. “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle,” and the “Aquaman” sequel are the final three films scheduled by the studio made under the prior regime. But due to its multiverse story – which finds Barry Allen (Miller) heading into alternate dimensions that allow for people like former Batman actor Michael Keaton and Shannon to return – “The Flash” could serve as a franchise reset.

If that’s all confusing, don’t worry: Shannon said he was flummoxed as well. In an interview earlier this year with the site Looper, the actor said he was “a little confused” about playing General Zod again, particularly because the character had died.

“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,” Shannon said.

In that same interview, Shannon added that while he loved working with Snyder on “Man of Steel,” he found “The Flash” director Andy Muschietti to be a thoughtful filmmaker as well. “It was nice to revisit the character. I wasn’t there for a terribly long time. I was in and out in a couple of weeks, so it was a nice way to spend a bit of my summer in England. Andy’s a lovely guy and a great artist, visually, and I had a blast,” Shannon said.

Shannon has never been shy about expressing his thoughts in interviews. Take this conversation Shannon had with Metro in the days after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016. “There’s a lot of old people who need to realize they’ve had a nice life, and it’s time for them to move on. Because they’re the ones who go out and vote for these assholes. If you look at the young people, between 18 and 25, if it was up to them Hillary [Clinton] would have been president. No offense to the seniors out there. My mom’s a senior citizen. But if you’re voting for Trump, it’s time for the urn,” Shannon said at the time.

“The Flash” is out on June 16.

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