Ending months of furious speculation, Warner Bros yesterday sent out an official press release announcing that Michael Shannon has been cast as General Zod in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot.  He’ll star opposite Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as the Kents.  Shannon is an American actor perhaps best known for his role in the Boardwalk Empire episode “The Drowning of the Jew.”

“Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role,” Snyder said.

Zod, like Superman, is from Krypton, where he commanded its armed forces. The character appeared in both 1978’s Superman and its 1980 sequel Superman II, where he was played by actor Terence Stamp. [THR]

Shannon also has the ability to still look scary even while he’s masturbating, a feat managed only by brilliant character actors and great white sharks, so he’s a great choice for the villain.  Zod was always a bad ass character because he has all the same powers as Superman, but instead of a cape and knee-high, red F-me boots with his underwear on the outside of his leotard, Zod has a ponytail and wears a grandmotherly robe lined with vinyl.  Man, and we say the Japanese are weird.  Anyway, Superman and Zod are always fighting each other, which is silly, because they’re both basically invincible, and the only thing they seem to accomplish is breaking lots of stuff.  Gosh, I wonder if any of it will be filmed in slow motion.

Big news on the Superman front today, as Amy Adams, that little fiyah crawtch with the see through brar in The Fightah, has been officially announced as the new Lois Lane in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman movie. That means that despite Lois Lane traditionally being a brunette, she’ll probably be a redhead, just like Mary Jane Watson, Jean Grey, Black Widow, and Pepper Potts.  Man, it’s almost as if Hollywood is run by Jews or something.

Snyder remarked, “Second only to Superman himself, the question of who will play Lois Lane is arguably what fans have been most curious about.”

I sincerely hope you never had an actual argument about that.

“So we are excited to announce the casting of Amy Adams, one of the most versatile and respected actresses in films today. Amy has the talent to capture all of the qualities we love about Lois: smart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful.”

Well of course, beautiful.  We couldn’t very well have a list of all the attributes we pretend to care about without the one we actually do care about, now could we? She has everything we want: cupholders, satellite radio, wifi, a four megapixel camera, and of course, tits.

Amy Adams will star opposite Henry Cavill, who plays the new Clark Kent/Superman in the film. The main cast also includes Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, as Martha and Jonathan Kent. [ComingSoon]

I kid, but it’s hard to upset about this casting.  Who knew a superman movie would actually get a real actress?  A two-time Oscar nominee, no less.  I mean, nothing against Kate Bosworth, but… name two Kate Bosworth movies. And no, she’s not the one from Save the Last Dance.  As long as Zack Snyder doesn’t get his hands on the musical choices, this might actually turn out okay.  Put it this way, Sucker Punch had “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, “Where is My Mind,” and “White Rabbit.”  If he makes a Superman movie without “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” and that Three Doors Down song, it’ll be a miracle.

Ilya Salkind, producer of 1978′s Superman, and thus perhaps kind of the godfather of the superhero movie, has gone missing in Mexico City.  I hope it turns out like when Godard was missing.  Maybe they’ll find them both together, just chilling in Godard’s Hyundai, smoking sh*tloads of cigarettes.

The 63-year-old — who was born in Mexico City — had traveled south of the border to handle a property he inherited from his mother who passed away a few years ago.

Friends of Salkind tell us … members of Ilya’s staff last saw the legendary producer at his estate in Mexico on Sunday as he was on his way to “handle some errands and get some dental work done.”

However, Salkind has not returned — and yesterday, his friends filed a missing persons report with Mexican authorities.

Salkind’s credited with securing the rights for a live-action Superman movie back in 1974 — and served as Executive Producer on Superman I, II, III. [TMZ]

Time out, a rich guy went to Mexico… to get dental work done?  Either that was a lie and he’s really trying to fake his own death, or there’s a 63-year-old movie producer down there walking around with a smile full of pozole kernels.

I also like to imagine Superman himself going down there to look for this guy.  He gets halfway there, flies over a mass grave of 30 headless narcos on the outskirts of town, and says, “Yo, f*ck this sh*t,” and heads straight home.  You can read about all this in my new book, “Atlas of Xenophobia.”

There’s a good chance you know by now that 27-year-old British actor Henry Cavill (The Tudors) has been cast as the lead in the upcoming Superman reboot from WB and Zack Snyder.  I didn’t know who he was before today, but I can’t deny that he’s pretty dreamy.  Will he be able to fill Christopher Reeves’ crotch bulge?  Only time will tell.

The 27-year-old actor was reportedly on the shortlist for “Superman Returns” when McG was to direct it, but when Bryan Singer took over the project he went with Brandon Routh instead. [Yahoo]

[said Cavill of that experience] “When McG was working on a script with them. I don’t know how close I came. I understand it was very, very close and sadly the movie was cancelled because McG didn’t want to fly. He certainly had a big fear of flying at the time; I think he’s since overcome it. He wanted to shoot in New York, they wanted to shoot in Australia for obvious reasons. He said, ‘I can’t do it,’ and they moved on. These things happen. It’s the nature of the business.” [ComicBookMovie]

As GammaSquad points out, this means we now have a British Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman, and a Canadian Green Lantern (and as commenter Jessica points out, an Australian Wolverine).  Americans might be pissed about that, but the truth is, we have only ourselves to blame.  When all our young actors have been recruited from sitcoms on the Disney Channel, you’re pretty much screwed unless you’re casting for the reboot of Little Women.

"Kneel before Zod... seriously, kneel before we have to pay the fluffer for another hour."

Between Hustler, Vivid, New Sensations and Pauly’s Lusty Lowriders Productions, there’s not a porn company on the planet that isn’t capitalizing on the public’s literal and figurative boner for porn parodies over the past few years. The LA Times noticed this recently and visited the set of Vivid’s latest SuperXXXHeroes production, The Incredible Hulk XXX: A Porn Parody, starring Lee Stone and Dale DaBone, to discuss this fad, as well as Superman XXX, which will be released all over our faces and chests on Monday.

Vivid’s Batman XXX was recognized at this month’s AVN Awards with 7 awards, including Best Parody. But it was also praised for being the top-selling and most rented adult film of 2010, as millions of porn enthusiasts celebrated their favorite masked crime fighter by ruining their favorite socks. Additionally, Vince’s favorite actor Evan Stone played the Riddler and was named Male Performer of the Year.

So what sets the Vivid line apart from the others, director B. Skow?

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