Zack Snyder defends Man of Steel, says he never changed Superman

Rarely has a director had to defend his or her film the way Zack Snyder has with his 2013 Superman movie, Man of Steel.

Snyder joined the Hall of Justice podcast this week to talk about his upcoming sequel to the film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is the latest in the build-up to Warner Bros. Justice League movie. During the conversation, Snyder was asked about Man of Steel, which was poorly received by critics and audiences, and addressed accusations that he changed Superman's character.

"People are always like, 'You changed Superman,'" Snyder said. "If you're a comic book fan, you know I didn't change Superman. If you know the true canon, you know that I didn't change Superman."

Snyder added that while he believed he stuck adamantly to the version of Superman portrayed in DC's long-running comics, for those fans who just watched the movies, his Superman would have felt very different.

Still, he knew that the way his Superman appeared on screen was going to be divisive. It's something that Henry Cavill, who played Superman in the film, has also touched upon in previous interviews.

Cavill echoed Snyder and said that while he was pleased with the Superman they created, he understood why some people weren't a fan.

"If you're a comic book fan, you know I didn't change Superman."

Snyder continued on to say Cavill's Superman will be very similar in Batman v Superman, and despite a cast of DC heroes being added to the film's roster — including The Flash and Aquaman — the majority of the movie would focus on Superman and Batman (played by Ben Affleck).

Although Snyder added that Wonder Woman would have a pretty substantial role in the movie, but returned to his point that DC's two giant figures would take up most of the time on screen.

Of course, Batman v Superman is just part of the lead-up to Warner Bros. cinematic event: a two-part Justice League movie.

Snyder, who's also directing those, took some time to talk about the movie and address how he was going to go about filming it. The director said he realized pretty early on that Justice League shared some similarities with Watchmen, another comic book he adapted for film, and could take what he learned from directing that movie and apply it to Justice League.

"Watchmen, in a weird way, is Justice League, anyway," Snyder said. "It's a primer in the most basic sense of a Justice League type group."

Snyder said that working with a group of characters like the Watchmen allowed him to figure out why a superhero would act a certain way and commit certain acts in the first place. That experience helped him craft his entry into the Justice League universe.

While The Justice League: Part 1 is still a year away, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is slated to hit theaters March 25.