One of the first reports was that actor Viggo Mortensen was being considered for General Zod, a role that was originally played by Terrence Stamp in Superman: The Movie and Superman II. However, a new Internet rumor says that General Zod won’t be the villain. Rumor has it that General Lane – Lois Lane’s father – will be one of two villains in Zack Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel. The other villain is the Kyrptonite-powered robot, Metallo.
Though not much known about the film’s plot, what is available – screenwriter David Goyer’s forward to the hardcover edition of Superman: Secret Origin, for example – is still conjecture. While Goyer says he was directly influenced by Geoff Johns’ acclaimed comic book, which detailed Superman’s origin from junior high to being hired by The Daily Planet, it is still unclear on how much of Johns’ comic will make it into the film.
The latest rumor to hit the Internet – and is more than a little sketchy – is that the villains in Man of Steel will be General Lane (Lois Lane’s father) and Metallo, a cybernetic organism whose secret weapon is his heart: a large chunk of kryptonite that powers his suit and keeps his human body alive. And of course, we all know that kryptonite is the Man of Steel’s Achilles heel.
The rumor, as reported by a source with Movienewz:
General Sam Lane, the father of Lois Lane, is a central figure in director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. This really is, as Zack described in several interviews about the film, a “real world” Superman. I’m told that when Superman arrives on the scene, people don’t know what to think. He’s an alien from another planet. What are his real intentions? He’s not human and that scares a lot of people. Here’s a guy who can fly, see through walls, is bullet proof, and can lift a tank. The military views him as a potential threat to national security. They find kryptonite, pieces of his home planet, and discover its radioactive elements can be harnessed as a near unlimited source of power, both literally and figuratively. It’s a brand new form of energy that is secretly developed by the government. The military, under the direction of General Sam Lane, uses kryptonite to power an experimental cyborg super soldier named Metallo. He’s ultimately exploited as a weapon against Superman.
While I may not be the biggest Superman fan, and may not have my BS detector turned on, this could be a likely scenario, since Superman: Secret Origin includes Superman, Lois Lane, General Lane and Sgt. John Corben, an unruly soldier in Lane’s army and surrogate son to the general – who would become Metallo.
So we have all the players but Lex Luthor, who will most likely figure into the film somewhere.
What do you think? Could this be another concocted story by Christopher Nolan’s camp? (Nolan is producing Superman: Man of Steel.) Or do you get a sense that this could be genuine, even if it is still just a rumor at this point?
Let us know what you think.
Superman: Man of Steel hits theaters December 2012.
