Zack Snyder continues to share photos from his time in the DCEU to his new Instagram page, and his latest post features a never-before-seen black-and-white shot of Michael Shannon as General Zod.
Shannon made his debut as the ruthless Kryptonian conqueror in Man of Steel, before reprising the role in The Flash - though it doesn't sound like he had a particularly fulfilling experience working on the Scarlet Speedster's first solo outing.
During a 2023 interview with Collider, Shannon spoke about returning as the powerful villain, and while he did praise the movie itself, he didn't have great things to say about how his character was utilized.
“Yeah. I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor. 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. 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.”
Shannon has spoken on a number of occasions about how much he enjoyed working with Snyder on Man of Steel, and has often defended the movie from its detractors.
During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the Nuremberg actor weighed-in on the controversial scene that's still a hot topic of discussion among Superman fans today: Kal-El's decision to kill Zod in order to prevent him from taking any more human lives.
"Oh, gosh, I just wish people didn't kill people. Period. I mean, whether or not they're aliens from outer space, or just regular joes. I guess one of the controversies with this film—and Zack [Snyder] engineered this, really—is that Superman is not supposed to kill anybody. So, I put him in a situation where, if he wants to save these people, he has to kill me, and he does. And that obviously led to a lot of sturm un drang, or whatever you say."
Should we read anything into Snyder posting these photos? The #RestoreTheSnyderVerse faithful remain hopeful that the filmmaker will step behind the camera for another DC Comics-based film at some point, but we can't imagine there's much more to this than Snyder sharing some of his favorite work to his new Instagram account (though we're sure he's aware of the attention the pics have been getting).
Snyder and James Gunn have been in contact since the news that the DCEU was being rebooted as the DCU was announced, but the chances of the former returning to the fold seem pretty slim. Still, the fact that Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran will continue to develop Elseworlds projects means we can't completely rule anything out.
“You know, I’m a pretty open book. I really feel like, you know, if the characters are treated with reverence, and mythologically correct, then I’m down. I’m in,” Snyder said when asked about the DCU relaunch in 2024. “Let’s see what happens. I’m pretty excited. I mean, we’re going to get Superman pretty soon, so we’ll see what that’s like.”
When asked on Threads if he'd seen Snyder's comments about being "excited for the DCU," Gunn responded: “I didn’t, but I knew it already because he’s texted me. He’s been incredibly supportive throughout this process."