Fans React in Horror as Only Other "Superman" Antagonist Anyone has Heard of Cast in "Man of Steel"

Michael Shannon - who may just be the most unironically-intense working actor in Hollywood - has been cast as a (the?) villain in "The Man of Steel;" the Zack Snyder directed Superman movie that Warner Bros. is ram-rodding into theaters to beat-out the "we have to pay Seigel & Schuster's heirs now" train to the station. Surprising absolutely no one, he's NOT playing Toyman, Parasite, Bizarro Brainiac, Metallo or anyone else from Superman's unfortunately-named, oddly-sparse enemy pool; nor is he playing Darkseid - a "New Gods" character that everyone thinks is a Superman villain because DC has been using him as an all-purpose Big Bad for about 30 years now.

Nope, he's General Zod.

For the life of me, I don't know why the prospect of Zod infuriates fans so much. Well... okay, actually I do - it's because Zod isn't important in the comic lore but to "the masses" who only know the Donner movies he's the most well known (okay, ONLY known) Superman antagonist who isn't Lex Luthor, and they resent that. Okay, I get that.

Yeah, I'd like to see one of the more obscure-yet-"important" enemies, but this makes sense from a filmmaking perspective: It gives you the ONE thing people have been demanding of a modern Superman movie - Superhuman fight scenes - without having to have character who is a kinda-generic monster (Parasite) probably too complicated for a one-off or first installment (Brainiac, Bizarro) or possesed of a silly-sounding name (all of them.) I liked the rumors about Metallo, but I also get that having him essentially fight The Terminator brings up that whole "wait, I thought this guy could punch-out The Moon?" problem. In addition, Zod makes thematic sense - the new script (from David Goyer and Nolan brothers) is apparently heavy on a "would the modern world REALLY react to a Superman so positively?" vibe; and having a second all-powerful alien whose evil fits that pretty well.

So... yeah, like everything else in this production it's kinda anticlimactic and not crazy-exciting... but I don't see where all the rage is coming from.