Filming

Principal photography began on August 1, 2011, at an industrial park near DuPage Airport under the codename "Autumn Frost". Zack Snyder expressed reluctance to shooting the film in 3-D, due to the technical limitations of the format, and instead chose to shoot the film two dimensionally and convert the film into 3-D in post production for a 2-D, 3-D, and IMAX 3-D release.

Snyder also chose to shoot the film on film instead of digitally, because he  felt it would make the film, "a big movie experience". Filming was expected to last for two to three months. Production took place in Plano on August 22 to 29.

According to an interview with Michael Shannon, filming would continue until February 2012.

Man of Steel filmed in the Chicago area, California and Burnaby's Mammoth Studios was transformed into Superman's home planet of Krypton and myriad extraterrestrial aircraft.

Metro lands on Vancouver's North Shore waterfront hosted the shoot for the dramatic oil rig rescue that introduces audiences to superman. Filming took place in the Chicago Loop from September 7 to 17. Vancouver production took place from September 21, 2011 to January 20, 2012. The Chicago shoot was a unit project, meaning that filming could partake numerous establishing shots as well as cutaways and may not necessarily include principal cast members.