IN Man of Steel, actor Michael Shannon played Zodd, a villainous general that was hell-bent on reviving his race of people by first killing everyone on earth.
The film, directed by Zack Snyder and written by David Goyer, makes it clear that this trait was genetically hardcoded into Zodd, making a thematic point of nature vs. nurture by juxtaposing him with Clark Kent.
In the upcoming The Flash, Shannon reprises his role, but has now claimed the role is “not quite the in-depth character study” like it was in Man of Steel.
“I’m not going to lie – it wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor. These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures,” Shannon said.
“It’s like, ‘Here’s this person. Here’s that person. And they’re fighting!’”
He also divulged that ultimately, Zodd was in the film just to “present a challenge” to The Flash, played by Ezra Miller.
Despite his dissatisfaction in playing a secondary role in someone else’s film, Shannon praised Miller as an actor.
Previously, Shannon expressed that he was initially “a little confused” when the offer to reprise the role came to him, given that his character was killed in Snyder’s film.
“I was hesitant [to come back] because I wasn’t really happy about what happened to Zack Snyder in that whole deal,” said Shannon, referring to how Snyder’s films were increasingly affected by studio meddling.
“I talked to [The Flash director] Andy Muschietti about it, and I said, ‘Andy, look — I just want to get Zack’s blessing on this because it just doesn’t feel right without that.’ And Zack, to his credit, was very understanding. He gave me his blessing.”
