Michael Shannon has been looking back on his acting career and finding joy in it. And in a new interview with Vanity Fair, the beloved actor rewatched scenes from films he’s starred in over the years like Take Shelter, Knives Out, and The Shape of Water. He also rewatched Zod’s death scene from Zack Snyder’s divisive DCEU movie Man of Steel, where he happily mouthed along with the lines as Zod threatened to kill some innocent bystanders before getting his neck snapped.“I guess one of the controversies with this film—and Zack engineered this really—is that Superman is not supposed to kill anybody, so I put him in a situation where if he wants to save these people, he has to kill me, and he does, and that obviously led to a lot of sturm und drang, or whatever you say,” Shannon noted.But, he added, “I really loved working with Zack, and I really loved making this movie. I think a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you know, this isn’t what he usually does. He just went for the big payday or something.’ But I’m proud of this movie. I think it’s actually about something.”cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});In the comments section for the VF interview, viewers were quick to agree with Shannon and appreciate the gravitas he brought to the role, with some declaring Man of Steel a masterpiece that they will “never stop loving.”Others addressed the scene in question with one calling it “the best superhero fight we ever got” and adding that Zod “showed Kal-El that he has to become better and stronger” and that, during the film, he realizes that “he’s not Superman YET.”A lot has been written about the controversial death, which some fans found jarring because it marked one of the first times a superhero with Superman’s moral compass had intentionally taken a life on screen. Traditionally Superman had been portrayed as a symbol of hope who sought non-lethal solutions whenever possible, so the notion that Snyder did it just to be dark and edgy persisted.The director has argued that the scene respects Superman’s responsibilities rather than ignoring critical stakes by presenting him with a no‑win scenario, and that choosing to kill Zod is an exploration of his character rather than a betrayal of it. He also noted that Superman taking out Zod is nothing new, saying, “What’s funny about that [no killing] rule is that it exists in the movies, but it doesn’t really exist in the comic books. He’s killed Zod a couple of times in the comic books.”Whichever side you find yourself on in the Man of Steel Zod debate, perhaps we can all agree that Henry Cavill’s darker version of Superman would probably let a squirrel die.The post Michael Shannon Reflects on Zod’s Controversial Death in Man of Steel appeared first on Den of Geek.