Every Superman Movie Villain Ranked Worst To Best

Living up to the brilliance of Terence Stamp's General Zod is a totally thankless task, but Michael Shannon quite sensibly decided to not even try giving us an impression of Stamp in Man of Steel.

His take on Zod is considerably more serious-minded and less campy, per Zack Snyder's general tone for the movie, but Shannon absolutely nails the character's desperate psychopathy.

This is a man who wants to preserve the dying embers of his race by any means necessary - an intriguing and innately sympathetic motivation despite the completely unhinged, murderous way he goes about it.

And of course, it'd be remiss not to mention his highly controversial death at Superman's hands - a moment that boldly dispensed with the black-and-white morality of the comics and resulted in far too much hand-wringing from unimaginative fans.