DC's 'Batman v Superman' director jabs at Marvel

Filmmaker Zack Snyder pitted his upcoming DC Comics movie against the Marvel Studios juggernaut in an interview with The Daily Beast, calling Marvel's recent hit "Ant-Man" the "flavor of the week" and touting DC's superheroes as "more mythological."

The director of the much-anticipated "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" -- which stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in the respective title roles -- let loose his verbal jabs after an interviewer brought up Steven Spielberg's recent comment that superhero movies would eventually go "the way of the Western."

"I feel like he's right," Snyder said in the interview, which was posted Sept. 10. "But I feel like Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies in a way, because they're Batman and Superman. They're not just, like, the flavor of the week 'Ant-Man' -- not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?"

Snyder's comments reflect an old schism between DC Comics, whose godlike Superman essentially invented the superhero, and Marvel Comics, whose Spider-Man is the archetypal mere mortal who develops superpowers.

There's no arguing over which comics company has been the winner at the box office. According to BoxOfficeMojo, DC Comics films over the decades have earned $3.3 billion, while Marvel movies have pulled in more than twice that amount, with a staggering $7.7 billion.