Why Zod is a great choice for a villain

Over the last few months there has been some debate as to whether or not General Zod is the best choice for Superman’s main antagonist in the upcoming film Man of Steel. It is worth noting, however, that director Zack Snyder has been coy about confirming that Zod is in fact the film’s main villain. And several weeks ago the toy-line for the film revealed that Black Zero may be a villain in the film as well. Still, all the evidence seems to be indicating that Zod will be Superman’s primary foe, including a quick shot of Michael Shannon in the most recent trailer.

Many have bemoaned the fact that some of Superman’s primary villains from the comics, several of whom have not yet appeared in a live-action film, are not likely be featured in Snyder’s movie. I too am eager to see figures like Brainiac, Metallo, and even Doomsday or Darkseid in future Superman films. But I think Zod is an ideal villain for the reboot. Here is my reasoning:

1.)  Zod is intimately tied to Superman’s origin. A reboot entails an origin story, and Zod’s story is likely to be interlaced with Krypton’s destruction and perhaps even Jor-El’s demise. As a result, Zod will be able to inform Clark’s nascent identity as Superman. If he is not an outright ‘mentor’ to Superman, he is someone who will crystalize the difference between Superman’s astral heritage and his adopted earth culture. For a movie that seems so interested in Clark figuring out who he is, this is huge! On a more practical level, origin movies have a lot of information to convey quickly and it can be hard to have a compelling, complicated villain when so much of the story is dedicated to explaining the hero (for instance, Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie). Zod being tied so closely to the origin allows for him to be characterized parallel to Superman’s story.

2.)   Particularly for a film that is (by all indicators) going to pit Superman against the US military, for at least a little while, Zod is an ideal choice. When the military acts against Superman, Zod is an ideal person to complicate matters by making the matter a humans vs. aliens thing, a dichotomy Clark will have to transcend. And the urgency of Zod’s feeling against aggressors will make a lot of sense, as he is a military man himself and witnessed the near total extinction of his own people. Put simply: Zod not only promises to be a bad-ass villain, but one whose motivations are plausible.

3.)  Zod is a great bridge villain for a series of films in that his involvement in the story is not necessarily going to be contained and finished in a single movie. Just like Ras-Al-Ghul and the League of Shadows bridged together - - across several films - - villains like Scarecrow, Talia, Bane, and even, indirectly, Catwoman, Zod can do something similar for Superman. Depending on how the film manages the destruction of Krypton, Zod’s storyline could indirectly involve Brainiac, the Eradicator, and Black Zero, among many others. In my view, one of the strengths of Nolan’s trilogy was that the story felt like a coherent whole – it was not a disjointed series of episodes pitting Batman against a litany of random villains one at a time. Similarly, Zod’s storyline contains within itself the beginnings of a much bigger arc of villains.

4.) Finally, Zod is a character ripe for re-imagining. True, Terrence Stamp’s colorful and charismatic portrayal of the character in Superman II is still a lot of fun to watch. But true to the generally campy tone of the film, Zod in Lester’s story (and even Donner’s slightly more serious version) is a theatrical, one-dimensional stock villain bent on world domination. Zod has the potential to be a far more complicated and sinister character. The casting of the excellent, steely and physically imposing (6’3”) Michael Shannon to this end is very promising. Moreover, Zod in an armored suit fighting against Superman with the effects available in 2012 promises to be nothing short of visually arresting.