If you happen to be an **Empire **subscriber, and you happen to have received a Superman front cover in the post already, you may have already noticed an interesting detail in the background of the Man Of Steel snap: in the middle of a devastated town stands a watertower with the word "Smallville" emblazoned upon it.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the big blue boy scout's chickens most definitely come home to roost in Man Of Steel, and director Zack Snyder was kind enough to tell us a little bit more about what's being called The Battle Of Smallville.
"It's a Western face-off," says Snyder. "[Zod and Faora and the rest of the Kryptonian invasion] care very little for Smallville's iconographic status. We're being really hard on the town: this battle needed to be dangerous."
A few more details: the shoot took nine days to complete, it's the first major conflict in the movie and the town of Plano, Illinois, plays Smallville, Kansas. The mayor even gets a cameo. Look out for a particularly oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening bank teller.
This, as you may have guessed, it just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our coverage of Man Of Steel, and for the whole shebang, be sure to pick up the new issue this Thursday, April 25.
{Man Of Steel Covers Bag}
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