If there’s one thing fans of new superhero movies love more than a good box-office showdown, it’s the directors themselves getting in on the discourse. And this week, DC diehards got precisely that. A side-by-side comparison of Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel and James Gunn’s Superman has been making the rounds online, tallying up each film’s global haul and—more importantly—the estimated number of tickets sold. But then something unexpected happened. Eagle-eyed fans spotted Zack Snyder reacting to Man of Steel beating Superman at the Box office.
According to a recent post from BadSanta Gaming on Instagram, eagle-eyed users noticed something surprising in the likes: a heart from Zack Snyder himself. The image—showing Cavill’s Man of Steel at roughly 82 million tickets sold versus David Corenswet’s Superman at around 36 million—made a splash, but not quite like it did once fans discovered the director’s alleged interaction. And naturally, that sent the conversation into overdrive.
Fans React To Snyder’s Subtle Signal
Whether Snyder was co-signing the conversation or just double-tapping out of nostalgia for seeing Cavill back in the cape, fans immediately treated it like a quiet endorsement and wasted no time sounding off. Some of the loudest reactions included:
- @Sami_ahmed_07 – “Bro Snyder actually liked this reel.”
- @Raiyan_aazi – “Zack liked it, so approved.”
- @jimcarreylul – “Zack just liked this post.”
- @umanmr87 – “Cavil is the superman forever”
- @meditationsandy – “Whoever let Henry Cavill go as Superman should be fired! He was the best Superman of all time.”
- @hamza_X_mirza – “Yo zack Snyder liked it!”
- @Dish2_025 – “@hamza_x_mirza fake”
- @brokewayne105 – “Ain't no way boy, ain't no way boss liked this😭”
- @alanous – “Good numbers don’t equate to good movies”
Some fans treated the director’s alleged like as a full-on seismic event, while others argued it had to be fake and wasn’t the real Snyder. Either way, one thing is clear: the fans of the now defunct DCEU still aren’t ready to let the past go.
What Snyder’s Double-Tap Actually Adds to the Superman Conversation
The numbers alone were enough to spark debate, but Snyder’s alleged “like” pushed things into a whole new lane. Comparing films more than a decade apart is already messy—especially when ticket prices have nearly doubled—but that didn’t stop fans from framing the graphic as fresh proof of Man of Steel’s long-term staying power. Gunn’s Superman is still in the early days of its cultural run. Yet, Snyder loyalists see the ticket-sales comparison as validation that Cavill’s debut has solidified itself as a modern cult cornerstone.
And honestly, it’s rare to see a filmmaker of Snyder’s profile interact with box-office debate posts at all. Whether his tap was a genuine nod to the discourse, a quiet salute to Cavill’s tenure, or just a casual like fired off while scrolling through Instagram, the fandom grabbed hold of it like it was gospel.
With James Gunn’s DCU still in its infancy and Superman acting as Chapter One’s foundation, these comparisons aren’t going anywhere. And if Snyder keeps showing up in the likes, intentionally or not? The temperature of these debates is only going to climb.
