Zack Snyder drops diss track against Marvel Studios and Ant-Man

Oh snap, yo!

Did you hear the latest one from Zack Snyder where he poured a nice serving of Haterade all over Marvel Studios and ANT-MAN? You really shouldn't be surprised by this, since all the negativity in this so-called rivalry only seems to be flowing one way, but I do find it a little strange that this many people over at Warner Bros. and the growing DC Cinematic Universe are so fixated on what's going on at Marvel. It'd be one thing if they were taking some sort of "We're all in this together" approach where one superhero movie doing well helps all superhero movies… but the way shots are unnecessarily taken in poor attempts to boost the DC stock is petty and childish.

I'll use Snyder's latest remarks as an example…

"It’s a tricky process, setting up the DC universe, or Justice League. The credit goes to [Batman Begins director] Chris Nolan because he set the die for the DC Universe in a great way that I tried to emulate. I look at it as more being mythological than, say, bubblegum. And I think that that’s appropriate for Batman and Superman because they’re the most mythological of our superheroes."

Bubblegum??

Okay, how about one more?

"It goes to the mythological nature of the movies that we’re making. I feel like he’s right. 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? "

Transcendent? Flavor of the week? Geez, man… Did ANT-MAN murder this guy's whole family or something?

Here's the thing. Snyder is still in the baby stages of the DCU, as is Warner Bros., and what they should be focusing on talking about is what makes their idea special and unique and something to see. Because you know what isn't going to rally people to your cause? Reminding them of the thing they already like. It's even worse when you try to convince people that the thing they like isn't very good, because screw that. People like what they like and don't enjoy being told how to think, so that's a losing strategy right there.

But there's another aspect of Snyder's mindset that I find to be the most problematic for him and for the vision Warner Bros. is moving ahead with on these superhero films. They have a very significant belief that Batman and Superman are far more important than they truly are. Granted, they are two of the three icons in the genre, alongside Spider-Man. Any one of those three characters are the first out of anyone's mouth when you're talking superheroes or comic books. But they're just functional characters.

People don't talk about literature or other movie characters or TV characters like this. They're seen as entertainment. They're seen as an escape. And they're treated as such… with perspective about their roles in the world. Snyder is sold on pushing these characters are something greater than thou, something serious that we should revere, and that seeps into the material. That's why you have a very divisive reaction to MAN OF STEEL. That's why you have a fair bit of skepticism to BATMAN V SUPERMAN and everything coming after it.

People have spoken with their box office dollars on what they want out of their superhero movies, and Marvel has continuously given it to them, for better or for worse. Snyder seems insistent on telling people why that's bad and why what he's got is so much better for them… and I just don't know that that's the way to keeping going.

An old friend used to tell me: "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself." And I find there's a lot of wisdom to that. Zack Snyder should take some of it, because worrying about Marvel so much isn't doing DC any good to this point.

We'll finally get to see if Zack Snyder has something worthwhile on his hands with the release of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE on March 25, 2016.