The Flash Squanders Superman's (Second) Greatest Movie Villain

This article contains spoilers for "The Flash"

"The Flash" is a complex movie when it comes to villains. Usually, a superhero movie involves a pretty clear-cut juxtaposition between the protagonists and a primary antagonist that gives them a worthy challenge. However, "The Flash" makes clear from the get-go that the main conflict has a lot more to do with Barry Allen's (Ezra Miller) own time-traveling antics than it has to do with anything else — to the point that an older, dark version of the Flash sets the entire plot in motion by attacking Barry in the chronoball and sending him careening into the wrong timeline. 

This is a bit of a shame because on paper, the movie has a villain for the ages. In "Man of Steel," Michael Shannon's enticing General Zod clashed with Superman (Henry Cavill) and found out the hard way that the younger Kryptonian isn't to be trifled with, but when he's rolled out as the world-ending antagonist of "The Flash," the character suddenly becomes a complete dud. Shannon himself prefers the "Man of Steel" Zod over "The Flash" one, noting that the new movie basically used his character as a wall for the protagonists to climb. 

"I'm not gonna lie, ['The Flash'] wasn't quite satisfying for me, as an actor," Shannon told Collider. "These multiverse movies are like somebody playing with action figures. It's like, 'Here's this person. Here's that person, and they're fighting!' It's not quite the in-depth character study situation that I honestly felt 'Man of Steel' was. Whether people think that's crazy or not, I don't even care. I really felt like 'Man of Steel' was actually a pretty sophisticated story. I feel like 'The Flash' is too, but it's not Zod's story. I'm basically there to present a challenge."

Though Zod technically wins the battle in the main universe the movie takes place in, he's also a very, very small presence in the film as a character. He gets a few lines, grimaces, and punches in, but overall, he's just there to coast on his former DCEU glories and symbolize the insurmountable odds, just like Shannon said. 

With James Gunn's "Superman: Legacy" on the way, this leaves the DCU in a pretty awkward spot when it comes to its Superman villain game. Zod is easily one of the biggest threats ol' Big Blue Boy Scout has ever faced, and quite easily one of the greatest Superman villains out there. In fact, in the DCEU continuity, he's technically not one but two of the greatest Superman villains out there, having faced the Man of Steel both as himself and as the reanimated abomination, Doomsday.

With Zod effectively out of the equation — because let's face it, he's not gonna return in the next decade or so after being the technical Big Bad of "The Flash" — this means there's only one famous Superman antagonist Gunn's reimagined DC movie universe can latch on to: Lex Luthor. This isn't going to be particularly easy, mind you. Though Luthor has been a presence in pretty much every Superman-adjacent show or film series over the years, his latest big-screen adventures haven't been all that successful, as fans have absolutely slammed Jesse Eisenberg's DCEU Luthor. 

Granted, Gunn's "Superman: Legacy" could probably get away with another villain like Brainiac or even Mr. Mxyzptlk, but at some point, Superman's nemesis Luthor will have to come in play ... and since "The Flash" has taken Zod out of the equation for the foreseeable future, the DCU will have its hands full if it wants to make sure that its Luthor can answer the call.