Michael Shannon becomes latest actor to bash his own superhero role: ‘I’m not going to lie’

‘These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures,’ actor said

Michael Shannon has added his voice to those who have criticised their own roles in superhero franchise movies.

The actor plays General Zod in the DC cinematic universe. He made his debut as the villain in 2013’s Man of Steel opposite Henry Cavill as Superman and is set to reprise it in The Flash, which stars Ezra Miller in the titular role.

In a new interview with Collider, Shannon, 48, admitted that he wasn’t entirely content with his role in the film, which is released on 16 June.

“I’m not going to lie – it wasn’t quite satisfying for me, as an actor. These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures,” Shannon said.

“It’s like, ‘Here’s this person. Here’s that person. And they’re fighting!’ It’s not quite the in-depth character study situation that I honestly felt Man of Steel was.”

Shannon added that The Flash was “all about Ezra [Miller]” and that his character was “basically there to present a challenge” to the film’s star.

He nevertheless praised Miller, who has been embroiled in several controversies in the run-up to the film’s release, saying: “I thought Ezra was lovely – very kind to me when I was there.

Michael Shannon as General Zod in ‘The Flash’ (Warner Bros)

“It’s difficult to talk about, but I always give people a lot of slack in this business, because there’s a lot of people in this business that have issues. And some people have more privacy than others.”

Shannon is the latest star to speak out against their own superhero role. In an interview with The New Yorker this month about the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins said: “They put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne, shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”

The 85-year-old Welsh actor played the Norse god Odin across three films in the Chris Hemsworth-led Thor franchise.

Christian Bale, who played the supervillain Gorr in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), previously said acting in front of a green screen was “the definition of monotony”.

Back in 2014, Idris Elba spoke about the difficult transition from playing Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) to the supporting role of Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World.

“In between takes I was stuck there, fake hair stuck on to my head with glue, this f***ing helmet, while they reset,” he told The Telegraph. “And I’m thinking: ‘24 hours ago, I was Mandela’…Then there I was, in this stupid harness, with this wig and this sword and these contact lenses. It ripped my heart out.”

The Flash is out in cinemas on 16 June. Read The Independent’s three-star review of the film here.