Zack Snyder has rubbished criticism of the mass destruction finale to 'Man Of Steel'.

The 49-year-old director - who helmed the movie starring Henry Cavill as Superman - has hit back at critics of the film, saying it was important to show the consequences of the Kryptonians' war.

He told Entertainment Weekly: ''I was surprised [about the ending controversy] because that's the thesis of Superman for me, that you can't just have superheroes knock around and have there be no consequences.

''There are other superhero movies where they joke about how basically no-one's getting hurt. That's not us. What is that message? That's it's okay that there's this massive destruction with zero consequence for anyone?''

Meanwhile, Ben Affleck - who'll assume the role of Batman in the eagerly-awaited 'Batman v Superman' - has defended Snyder's approach to film-making.

The 42-year-old Hollywood star said: ''One of the things I liked was Zack's idea of showing accountability and the consequences of violence and seeing that there are real people in those buildings.

''And in fact, one of those buildings was Bruce Wayne's building so he knew people who died in that Black Zero event.''