Having not been seen since going up against Henry Cavill’s Superman in Man of Steel, Michael Shannon’s General Zod is back in the DC Universe (DCU) after The Flash‘s latest trailer.
Zod was confirmed to appear in The Flash back in December, and now Shannon’s Man of Steel villain is officially on-screen, albeit this time to go toe-to-toe with Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen/Flash, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, and Michael Keaton’s Batman.
After being taken down and killed by Henry Cavill’s Superman in the very first DCEU film, Shannon’s big bad re-enters the franchise after a decade of absence at a time when there is no Superman to protect the citizens of Earth.
Following the mishap that was Henry Cavill’s brief re-introduction into the series, the DCU currently sits without a Man of Tomorrow, but it does have Kal-El’s worst enemy on the move yet again.
Micheal Shannon is Back in The Flash
The Flash‘s first major trailer just hit the web, debuting as a part of Super Bowl LVII, and it offered a first look at Michael Shannon’s General Zod in the DCU blockbuster.
Fans will know Shannon from his city-destroying battle with Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel back in 2013, and he appears to be one of the main antagonists of The Flash.
Zod can be seen in a few different shots of the teaser, the clearest of which sees the big bad suited up in his Kyrtptonian armor.
DC Studios
Another almost perfectly emulates a shot of Zod from Man of Steel that saw the DC villain looking out at a destroyed Krypton, except this looks to be from The Flash‘s seemingly Earth-based final battle.
DC Studios
It remains unclear if this dessert battle will be the climactic conflict in the DC blockbuster, but Zod is seen in a similar environment elsewhere in the trailer taking on Sasha Calle’s Supergirl/Kara Zor-El.
DC Studios
Another scene that looks like it was pulled straight from Henry Cavill’s DCEU debut has Shannon’s Kryptonian General showing up on a computer screen as a broadcast to the people of Earth.
DC Studios
See the full trailer below:
Why is General Zod in The Flash?
It is interesting to see that General Zod is back ten years after he was ultimately taken down by Henry Cavill’s Kal-El.
But with all the Multiversal shenanigans at play in The Flash, it is not all that surprising that someone from the franchise’s past is making an appearance.
The DC blockbuster looks to be taking a page from the Marvel Studios playbook, seemingly riffing on the Multiverse-focused story of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Bringing back past heroes and having a returning threat in Zod, it all sounds a little No Way Home-esque.
Where this story seems to differ is in the mashing together a bunch of different DC stories instead of focusing on one here.
The super-powered epic looks as though it is one part retelling of Man of Steel with Sasha Calle’s Supergirl in the Henry Cavill role, one part solo Flash story, and one part honorarium to a number of heroes of the past (like Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck’s Batmen).
And is Zod the only big bad in the film? Merch also teased a Dark Flash to make his presence known, so how will he play into Zod’s Kryptonian plan of destruction?
Fans can take it all in when The Flash hits theaters on June 16.
