Richard Schiff to play Dr. Hamilton in 'Man of Steel'

An interesting casting move for Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, as Richard Schiff(The West Wing) has joined as Dr. Hamilton. Emil Hamilton is a technological genius who has played a number of roles in the life of Superman, beginning as a low level villain, but ultimately became one of the hero's most trusted colleagues. He figured out Superman's Kryptonian biology, and built a number of gadget that allowed him to continue crime fighting when his powers were taken away for a brief time.

Hamilton is first and foremost a villain, and he's often seen in the employ of Lex Luthor, as he was back in Superman Returns(played by Kal Penn). In the recent comic book continuity, Hamilton is the villain known as Ruin, who comes to believe that Superman is sucking the sun dry of it's energy and it will doom the earth.

The greatest invention Hamilton made was the Phantom Zone Projector, which allowed Superman to keep close tabs on the dimension where General Zod and other evil Kryptonians were held prisoner. So it's likely Hamilton's appearance will have something to do with Zod(Michael Shannon) in the film as well.

Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Antje Traue, and hits theaters on June 14th 2013. [Variety]