Toy ad confirms General Zod as new Superman villain

An unfinished toy advert appears to confirm new details about Superman's adversary in Zack Snyder's forthcoming reboot.

Other than a short, slightly cryptic trailer, next to nothing has been officially revealed about 'Man of Steel', with director Snyder not even confirming whether Michael Shannon's General Zod would officially be the film's villain.

But now it seems assured that, as suspected, Superman will be battling the renegade general.

[Related story: Man of Steel trailer premiere]

The advert, obtained by BleedingCool.com and which presents a line in 'Stretch Armstrong'-style 'Superman' toys, also talks about a 'robot army' led by Zod and 'Black Zero', a name from the comic book series.

Depending which comic you read, Black Zero is either a terrorist organisation, responsible for the destruction of Krypton, or a singular 'space saboteur' supervillain.

But in the ad, it appears that Black Zero is an all-powerful ship controlled by Zod.

You can check the ads out here...

It's now the second clue to appear from the world of action figures, revealing details that the studio will not.

Over the summer, Lego released details of its forthcoming playsets which also named Black Zero as having an involvement in the plot.

The film isn't out until June 14, 2013.

It stars British actor Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, alongside 'Boardwalk Empire' star Shannon as Zod, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-el, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Superman's adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent.