Director Zack Snyder continues to look back on his tenure as a force in the DC Extended Universe and has shared a stunning black and white photograph of Michael Shannon as General Zod from the movie “Man of Steel.” The photograph was posted on Snyder’s account on the social media platform Instagram with the caption “I will find him. Michael Shannon understood Zod down to the bone” and immediately brought a rush of nostalgia to all of Snyder’s followers who remember him as a force in the DC Universe.
The photograph has Snyder’s fingerprints all over it; it’s dark and serious and pays homage to its subject, no matter how villainous that subject may have been. Shannon’s General Zod appeared in Man of Steel (2013) as a hardline fanatic subscribing to a twisted ideology of service towards Krypton. The character would also appear in The Flash, although Shannon is quite open in expressing his ambivalence with regard to this project. Man of Steel, on the other hand, was a more complex project for Shannon.
Zod, Zack Snyder, and ‘Man of Steel’ legacy
Over the years, Shannon has been a vocal supporter of Man of Steel, and one of the aspects he has repeatedly championed is the thematic scope of the movie. Shannon has talked extensively about the much-debated finale, where Superman is faced with the impossible decision of killing General Zod, a situation that has left fans divided. Shannon’s explanation for the movie’s plot point is that General Zod gives Superman the impossible option of letting innocent lives be lost if he does not make the hard choice he is presented with.
Snyder’s new image appears to be consistent with that mindset and shows Zod not as the cartoonish supervillain he was in the original two movies but as a character driven by belief and purpose. It’s a look back at the typical Snyder touch that characterized his work for the rest of the DC universe: operatic, conflicted, and never afraid to buck the traditional superhero mythos.
Although it has since been replaced by James Gunn’s DCU, Snyder has been a vocal ally of this change. In fact, he has even made it clear that he is very much interested in working with DC again if handled with ‘mythic seriousness. ’ Gunn, it seems, has held private meetings with Snyder, as he has confirmed that he has been well-supported by Snyder in this change, hinting that there is a surprising level of friendship between the old guard and Gunn’s DCU. Although a return to DC Studios under their Elseworlds imprint is not likely, it is not impossible at this point. But for now, his black-and-white photos are a sort of visual record of a particular moment in comic book cinema, one that is defined both by conviction and controversy. But in looking back at General Zod, Snyder is doing more than posting a photo. He’s reminding everyone of a particular vision of the DC Universe, one of operatic and divisive scope.
