Zack Snyder reveals the original villain of the sequel to Man of Steel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

When MAN OF STEEL brought in the numbers to warrant a sequel, BATMAN V SUPERMAN wasn't immediately on the docket. Sure, it didn't take very long for Batman's introduction to come to fruition (thus prompting the DC/Warner Bros. Universe to open up in a BIG way), but audiences were to explore this Kal-El character a bit more before the Justice League intervened. The villain(s) in MAN OF STEEL fare better than most origin story villains, so director Zack Snyder knew he had to come up with something really special for the sequel. Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we now know what direction he was headed in before Batman would play a bit part in the next film.

Zack Snyder on MAN OF STEEL 2's villain:

I remember we were talking about, ‘What’s the next ­villain?’ We can’t do another alien invasion.’ Brainiac was definitely down the road. Metallo, I think, was going to be the main bad guy of this movie.

Regarding Batman's original introduction to the Superman universe:

I said, ‘What about at the end of the movie we do a scene where there’s a crate full of kryptonite delivered to Wayne Manor,’ Everyone was like… ‘Okaay.’ Once you say it out loud it’s a problem because you can’t unsay it.

Metallo, being a cyborg with access to kryptonite, is an interesting choice given that AGE OF ULTRON went the "metal bad guy" route. Granted, one's a machine with artificial intelligence and the other a man with artificial implants, but I think general audiences would opt to find more comparisons than differences. Of course, once the idea of Batman coming into the mix was made, that changed everything. We know that Henry Cavill is still looking forward to a solo Superman flick, so perhaps Metallo still has a part to play in the Warner Bros. universe.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE opens on March 25, 2016.