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"Man of Steel director Zack Snyder has defended the film&amp;#039;s depiction of widespread &amp;quot;collateral damage&amp;quot;. The third act of the reboot sees the city of Metropolis devastated as Henry Cavill&amp;#039;s Superman fights General Zod (Michael Shannon), seemingly oblivious to the escalating body count which has been estimated at 129,000 by an analyst quoted on Buzzfeed.   Asked by The Japan Times about the controversy that the sequence has stirred amongst fans, Snyder explained: &amp;quot;I wanted the movie to have a mythological feeling.  &amp;quot;In ancient mythology, mass deaths are used to symbolise disasters. In other countries like Greece and Japan, myths were recounted through the generations, partly to answer unanswerable questions about death and violence.  &amp;quot;In America, we don&amp;#039;t have that legacy of ancient mythology. Superman is probably the closest we get. It&amp;#039;s a way of recounting the myth.&amp;quot; Scriptwriter David S Goyer has previously defended the movie&amp;#039;s carnage, arguing that the deaths of bystanders are inevitable when &amp;quot;god-like&amp;quot; figures clash.  Man of Steel&amp;#039;s sequel, which will see Ben Affleck&amp;#039;s new incarnation of Batman facing off against Cavill&amp;#039;s Superman, will begin filming in Michigan early next year. &amp;gt; Christopher Nolan no longer involved in &amp;#039;Superman vs Batman&amp;#039;? &amp;gt; Anti-Ben Affleck petition launched online by angry Batman fans Gallery -\u00C2\u00A0Man of Steel:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/superman/news/a511157/man-of-steel-zack-snyder-defends-supermans-collateral-damage/>