By Drew Dietsch
| Published
It’s a very good week to be James Gunn’s Superman. It’s an even better week to be someone who actually knows something about box office reporting and isn’t a sniveling, moronic grifter.
Superman passed the $300 million mark at the domestic box office this week. That means it’s already surpassed the lifetime domestic gross for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and will soon overtake the domestic gross for the worst DC film of all time, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Now, why does this give me a particular sense of antagonistic joy? Because the coordinated effort by Snyder bros (and their politically-driven supporters) to deem Gunn’s movie a failure before it even released has itself proven to be a failure, and now the subterranean dipsticks who pushed this dimwitted narrative are doing whatever they can to find victory in defeat.
And I’m here to laugh in their stupid, stupid faces.
“But, adjusted for inflation…”
Let’s dismantle their most spurious argument against Superman’s box office success: “Well, *dismissive snorting chuckle*, when you adjust for inflation, James Gunn’s Superman hasn’t actually made as much money as Man of Steel, so it’s a big old failure!”
Newsflash, dumbass, that’s how the stupidity of money works. Inflation is not some magic metric you can pull out to declare the objective quality or success of a movie in comparison to another. By that logic, you should be glazing Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie at every turn and calling Man of Steel a fart in the wind of box office relevancy. I mean, adjusted for inflation, Superman: The Movie made over $250 million more than Man of Steel. What an enormous gap that clearly indicates Zack Snyder’s movie is a big ol’ flop in comparison!
So, anyone who tosses out the “adjusted for inflation” argument in the hopes of defending their movie of choice is only doing so because they don’t have actual contemporary data backing them up. The only inflation getting adjusted is in the pants of the dudes running DC Studios.
The Dour DC Is Dead and Chuds Can’t Take It
It’s also clear that the solid hold Superman has maintained during its release at the box office proves that pop culture is embracing the brighter DCU as opposed to the sturm und drang of Snyder’s interpretation. This definitely has the “We Demand to Be Taken Seriously” contingent of toxic fandom in a humph and it’s delightful to see.
I’m certainly not against dark or serious superhero stories, but the specific brand of loser machismo pushed in the DCEU is something I fully support being taken out behind the chemical sheds and shot. Naturally, shrimpy dorks with a basement instead of a soul glom onto this poisonous facet and make it such a clear part of why they like those movies.
So, an optimistic, brightly-colored, openly political Superman is making more money than DC flicks that act like an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience came to life? Yeah, I’m very happy about that.
Move On, Losers
The idea that a specific branch of fans would adapt the Snyder Superman flicks into their personality is another reminder of why we need to move on from things. Trying to turn these flicks into a core part of one’s identity is nothing short of pathetic and deserving of widespread ridicule.
Zack Snyder’s Superman is dead, buried, and its grave is coated with plenty of piss from passersby. It’s wonderful to see Superman trounce Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice because those movies were bad. It’s even more uplifting to see the delusional panic of a toxic fanbase try and convince themselves they are still the coolest and the real winners.
