6) General Zod – Terence Stamp, Superman II
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Sorry, Michael Shannon. You might have made a decent stab at the character in 2013’s Man of Steel, but you were never going to meet the towering heights of Terence Stamp’s General Zod from Superman II. In, fact you could say Shannon was kneeling before him.
On the page, Zod really had no right to become the terrific villain that he is – it’s all thanks to the British character actor’s performance. What Stamp does brilliantly is to take this incredibly hammy character and play him with all the seriousness and reverence of a Shakespearean villain. It is his scowling intensity and haughty demeanour that makes the originally corny lines work – the apotheosis of which is, of course, the iconic “Kneel before Zod!”