Michael Shannon played Zod in Man of Steel. Aside from all the destruction and death that his character and Supes caused, what people remember most is the scene where Supes had to snap Zod’s neck in order to save a family cowering in fear. Viewers were upset at the choice to have Supes kill, claiming that it was not in his character, despite the fact that he was visibly distraught over the decision, promptly breaking down following… the snapping.
In the second trailer to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we catch a brief glimpse of Shannon as Zod’s corpse. At first, I believed it simply to be a mannequin made to resemble Shannon, but it seems Shannon is in the movie. And he just dropped a weird detail.
Vulture managed to nab an interview with Shannon at a screening for 99 Homes. There, he told a funny story about how he was stuck in a porta potty and almost got fired. He said:
“I was in my costume, and I couldn’t use my fingers because in the sequel I have flippers instead of hands. So I had these wax flippers on my fingers, and I couldn’t open the door, and I could hear Zack [Snyder] being like, ‘Where’s Shannon? Where the f**k is he?’ and the whole crew was standing around. I was like, knocking on the door with my flippers, ‘Let me out of here!’”
The craft service guy happened to be nearby and managed to come to his rescue moments later. A very charming anecdote, but what we’re really focusing on is the fact that suddenly, Zod has flippers. What the hell? Unfortunately, Shannon refused to elaborate. I’m sure Vulture pressed him enough.
What could possibly be happening? My guess, and it’s a long shot, is that Luthenberg is trying to clone Zod, but the procedure produced an imperfect clone? I really can’t say. Why would Zod ever have flippers?
What do you think? Let me know.