Originally published September 1, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
A couple of weeks ago Michael Shannon offered up a few intriguing words on his role in next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, suggesting that he had “flippers” for hands. Naturally this sparked a lot of debate amongst fans, and Shannon has now played down his comments in an interview with The Daily Beast, and in doing so he may have just inadvertently confirmed the inclusion of Doomsday in the DC superhero ensemble.
“Somebody was asking me about this in New York and I made up some ridiculous bullshit answer about how my character Zod has flippers, and this went viral on the Internet or something and people have been asking me about that,” states Shannon. “That is so obviously a complete bullshit story, right? But people took it seriously.”
“I wasn’t there [on set],” he continues. “It’s a really awkward situation—I’m in the trailer for a movie that I didn’t work on. The thing about the whole Krypton universe, apparently, is that even when you destroy them, there are ghosts. [Man of Steel], Jor-El is there even though he’s been dead for lord knows how long. I went over and did some voice-over stuff because it’s like that ghost thing. But I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that. I get very nervous.”
Asked whether the “flippers” would be a good idea, Shannon replied: “Maybe they should add it, I don’t know! Maybe in Part 3, Doomsday will have flipper hands. I mean, look—nothing would make me happier than to work with Zack Snyder again, he’s hysterical and he’s a lot of fun to work with.”
Now, it seemed pretty clear from the Comic-Con trailer that Shannon was on set, and even if he is portrayed Zod as a “ghost” Jor-El-style, he’d surely still be visible on screen, a la Russell Crowe in Man of Steel. The popular theory is that General Zod’s corpse will be turned into Doomsday, likely by Lex Luthor, and the fact that Shannon mentions Doomsday when referring to his own work in the DC universe will certainly add fuel to that fire…
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for release on March 25th 2016 and sees Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes returning Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Harry Lennix (General Swanwick), Michael Shannon (General Zod) and Christina Wren (Carrie Farris) alongside Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jesse Eisenberg (Now You See Me) as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) as Alfred Pennyworth, Holly Hunter (The Piano) as Senator Finch, Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) as Mercy Graves, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) as Thomas Wayne and Jena Malone (Sucker Punch), Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire), and Scoot McNairy (Argo) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qvTY7eXXIMg
