Zack Snyder chimed in on the ongoing Superman vs Man of Steel box office battle. 12 years after the release of Snyder's own Superman movie, James Gunn brought his vision for the Last Son of Krypton to the screen this past summer, kicking off his new interconnected DC universe. Naturally, Gunn starting his DC franchise with a Superman film drew comparisons to Snyder's past work in the comic book canon.
One of the biggest points of contention between the two fandoms has been how each Superman movie fared at the box office. Snyder's Man of Steel managed to climb to $670 million worldwide back in 2013. Meanwhile, Gunn's Superman (2025) made $616 million.
Snyder recently addressed the ongoing clash between the fandoms in an ever-so-subtle way. Eagle-eyed DC fans have spotted that the Man of Steel director recently liked a post on Instagram comparing the box office performance of Gunn's Superman movie with that of his (via DC Brasil on X).
The post in question seemed to insinuate that Man of Steel was meant to be seen as superior, using not just overall box office performance to measure the two blockbusters against one another, but also the number of tickets sold and average price.
When looking into the accounts that liked this particular post, Skyder's name appeared, suggesting that the Man of Steel filmmaker agreed with what the image was trying to convey.
It is unclear if Snyder truly believes his Superman movie was better than Gunn's, but some have taken his acknowledgment of the post as evidence that he may.
Both Superman (2025) and Man of Steel can be streamed now on HBO Max. Gunn's DCU continues next year with the release of Supergirl in theaters, and Snyder is next set to take on a gritty war drama known as The Last Photograph.
Is There a James Gunn/Zack Snyder Rivalry?
Ever since Zack Snyder's Snyderverse was abandoned in favor of the new James Gunn-led DCU, there has been a certain contingent of comic book fans claiming the pair of directors have some sort of blood feud with one another.
That, however, does not look to be the case. In fact, Gunn and Snyder appear to be on cordial terms these days. Snyder has said that he personally wishes Gunn the best for the future of his DC-based ventures, even stating that he has been excited to see what comes of his plans.
When Superman came to theaters in July, Gunn spoke about Snyder's fervent fan base, and its calls to 'tank' the new DC film, saying that, "It’s all right to have an opposing force every once in a while." (via The Rolling Stone). In his time at the top of the DC pyramid, it seems that Gunn has been entirely okay with having those who may want him to fail out there.
Hollywood is a tight-knit industry, so holding a grudge does not seem likley, especially in a brother/sisterhood as close as the directing community.
Of course, this will not stop the comparisons between the two filmmakers, but it does mean that either of these directors likely does not actively want to see the other fail (no matter what some comment section on social media may say).
