how?.....they wanted Superman......so as he is fighting he leads them away from the city....like the way he did in the second movie.....but then Richard Donner knew more about comics than what Snyder seems to know....imo....you liked man of steel g....lots of people did not....there were parts in there that were pretty lame too,like these super advanced Kryptonians riding giant flying creatures to get around instead of using some kind of advanced machine.....i did not buy that at all....and Superman would have found a way to get Zod and Co. away from the city to do battle.....so i guess we will have to see....
I actually thought MoS was more sensible about the battles. How could Superman possibly keep a fight away from the city? Unless he just flees and hopes his opponents follow him any time the fight ends up near a populated area, there is going to be civilian damage. What bothered me about it is the city seemed miraculously empty.
OK, but what does Superman do if his enemies threaten the population of a city? Just leave and hope they follow? And when two Kryptonians fight, I'd think it's hard to stay in any particular place(s).
And to be clear, comics very often do things that make little or no sense even within their own fictionalized world.