Michael Shannon Walks Back Those Zod Flipper Hands Comments

A few weeks ago, Michael Shannon sent the Internet in a tizzy when he casually revealed Zod would have flippers for hands in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Did this back up certain rumors about a certain transformation? Was he actually talking about flippers, or just flipper-shaped prosthetics? For that matter, why's Zod in Batman v Superman at all?

Well, Shannon's finally got some answers for us, sort of. The actor has walked back those Zod flipper hands comments, claiming that it was all a joke and he made the whole thing up. And while Shannon is involved with Batman v Superman, it's a voice-only role. Read his clarification after the jump. 

To back up, last month Shannon told Vulture a funny little anecdote about getting trapped in a Porta-Potty:

I was in my costume, and I couldn't use my fingers because in the sequel I have flippers instead of hands. So I had these wax flippers on my fingers, and I couldn't open the door, and I could hear Zack [Snyder, the director] being like, 'Where's Shannon? Where the f*** is he?' and the whole crew was standing around. I was like, knocking on the door with my flippers, 'Let me out of here!'

Naturally, that offhand comment about the wax flippers raised a lot of speculation. So when he sat down for a recent interview with The Daily Beast, he set the record straight:

Somebody was asking me about this in New York and I made up some ridiculous bulls*** answer about how my character Zod has flippers, and this went viral on the Internet or something and people have been asking me about that. That is so obviously a complete bulls*** story, right? But people took it seriously.

Why Two Weeks Ago Shannon would make up a fake story about getting trapped in a Porta-Potty is unclear. But he insists he didn't suit up as Zod, and that he won't appear in the movie. According to Present Day Shannon, the character's only involvement will be in a voiceover:

The thing about the whole Krypton universe, apparently, is that even when you destroy them, there are ghosts. The first [film], Jor-El is there even though he's been dead for lord knows how long. I went over and did some voice-over stuff because it's like that ghost thing. But I don't know if I'm supposed to say that. I get very nervous.

All that said, Shannon seems game to don flippers another time:

Maybe they should add it, I don't know! Maybe in Part 3, Doomsday will have flipper hands. I mean, look—nothing would make me happier than to work with Zack again, he's hysterical and he's a lot of fun to work with.

So, do we believe Sheen's denials about the Zod flipper hands, or do we think he was telling the truth last time and is messing with us this time? Maybe the fact that he's spread confusion is enough — now no one knows what to expect from Zod in Batman v Superman.