Aside from starring in one of the biggest movies of the summer, "Man of Steel," Michael Shannon holds another enviable claim. He's one of the few people who have actually seen the film.

The highly anticipated reboot of the Superman series from director Zack Snyder doesn't hit theaters until June, but as the film's main villain, General Zod, Shannon had a chance to see the movie early. The finished product impressed him, despite early concerns about the film's visual effects, he told MTV News.

"I was thrilled. It was an overwhelming experience. It was a long time from when we shot it to when I saw it. When we shot it, honestly, there were parts of it on the monitor that kind of looked a little ridiculous," Shannon said. "Like the first scene we shot, a spaceship was being doubled by a neon green set of plywood stairs, and we were all in our pajamas. I was supposed to be scaring someone. I went over to the monitor, and I watched the take. I said, 'Zach.' He's like, 'Do you like it?' I said, 'No. It looks ridiculous. It looks like a Monty Python sketch.' He's like, 'I know. I know it looks this way now, but two years from now, it's going to look like the coolest thing you've ever seen.' And he was right."

As evident by his recent viral Funny or Die video and a hilarious New York Times Magazine interview, there's an undercurrent of dry wit to Shannon's public persona, and when asked if Terence Stamp's performance as General Zod influenced him at all, he didn't hold back.

"I didn't emulate any of his performance, but I went to the ashram that he went to before he played Zod. [Stamp] learned how to have an O without having an E. That's what he did before he played General Zod. That's why he's so good in the movie, because he's got that kind of control," Shannon explained. "I figured that I'd emulate his preparation and see how it went through a different filter."

Check out everything we've got on "Man of Steel," in theaters on June 14.