The Flash will follow Barry Allen as he travels back in time in an effort to save his mother's life. However, after getting trapped in 2013, the Scarlet Speedster will discover that he's created a new reality...right in time for General Zod's invasion of Earth.
Yes, it appears the movie will retell the events of Man of Steel, albeit with Supergirl taking Superman's place. That was likely part of Warner Bros.' pre-DC Studios plan to replace Henry Cavill with Sasha Calle, but with the new DCU on the horizon, it's probably now just a simple Multiverse tale.
Talking to Looper, Michael Shannon addressed his return as Zod in The Flash and admitted to being confused when he got the call to play the iconic Superman villain again.
"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 loved making 'Man of Steel,' and I love working with [director] Zack [Snyder], and I felt like it was actually, in a way, a fairly important film."
"It was nice to revisit the character. I wasn't there for a terribly long time," Shannon continued. "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."
The actor was pushed for details on playing Zod again and, while he wasn't willing to give much away, he reiterated that his role is a relatively minor one in the grand scheme of the movie.
"I tried to get back into his skin. He's a little different in this film," Shannon teases. "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."
Based on what we know about The Flash, Zod is just going to show up for the movie's final battle giving the Fastest Man Alive, Supergirl, and Michael Keaton's Batman someone to fight. It's a shame his role will likely be little more than an extended cameo, but that doesn't lessen our excitement to see Shannon suit up again.
The Flash is set to arrive in theaters on June 16.