Inevitably, many DC fans spent the summer comparing Superman's box office performance to how Man of Steel performed in 2013. With so many people still upset that Henry Cavill's time as the hero has ended, it was perhaps inevitable that the movies would be pitted against each other.
Ultimately, Superman earned $616.7 million worldwide compared to Man of Steel's $670.1 million haul (adjusted for inflation, that's $934.29 million), meaning Snyder's movie attracted a larger audience. There are many reasons why that happened—which have already been discussed in depth—but on paper, Man of Steel was the more successful movie, financially speaking.
Snyder recently joined Instagram, and various fan accounts have since spotted that he's liked a reel comparing Superman and Man of Steel's respective box office hauls (the video was originally posted in August).
The post was making the point that Superman was falling short of Man of Steel at the time, as it was captioned, "Just going to leave this here."
Snyder gets on well with DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, and the two have even appeared in an episode of Rick and Morty together. There doesn't appear to be any bad blood or rivalry between the two filmmakers, but can you really blame Snyder for liking a post that pointed out that his reboot was the bigger hit of the two?
Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Warner Bros. Discovery was happy with how Superman performed, and Gunn is already working on a sequel, Man of Tomorrow. As for the "Snyderverse," it's dead and very much looks set to remain that way.
Gunn actually reached out to Snyder during pre-production on Superman to ask for his take on one crucial part of the hero's costume. "One of the biggest questions was, 'Were we gonna have trunks, or were we gonna not have trunks?'" he said over the summer. "I talked to Zack Snyder, who was like, 'I tried a billion different versions with the trunks, and at the end of the day, I tried it, but I just couldn’t get there.'"
"And I was feeling exactly the same way," Gunn noted. "Theoretically, I liked the idea of trunks because it’s the Superman I grew up with."
Which movie did you prefer: Man of Steel or Superman? Feel feee to let us know in the comments section below.