The Man of Steel: Zod's CGI Garments

You know what everyone loves to have in their movies? A boatload of unnecessary CGI. Oh wait, no, I meant the opposite of that. Since the dawn of special effects time, filmmakers have abused CGI to the dismay of moviegoers both young and old. Sometimes it's used to spice up a film, other times it's used for no good reason whatsoever. The latest film doomed to continue this trend? Zack Snyder's The Man of Steel.

Just when I was getting excited about Snyder's upcoming Superman film, this bombshell drops. Michael Shannon, the excellent indie actor chosen to portray the villainous General Zod, will do so in a motion capture suit, so that Zod's attire can be created with CGI. As someone vaguely familiar with the Superman mythos, I'm baffled at this idea. While I wasn't crazy about Green Lantern's CGI suit in the film of the same name, it at least made sense, being that his suit is made of energy generated from his ring. As far as I know, Zod traditionally wears robes made of fabric that you don't need CGI to properly display - not even for this tricky cotton/polyester blends. And while there are alternate versions of Zod that do indeed wear extravagant attire, it would just be weird of Snyder to not go with the traditional character. It would be like Christopher Nolan going with "battle damaged Batman" instead of the character we all know and love.

On the other hand, the new costume that Superman himself is sporting looks much cooler than anything he's worn before. Now, if they could only do something about that crotch bulge.