‘The Last Photograph’ Director Zack Snyder Says He Still Hasn’t Watched James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ – Despite Praising It Earlier This Year

Zack Snyder’s relationship with the DC universe he once helmed has remained a fascinating subject for fans ever since James Gunn took over shaping the franchise’s next chapter. Despite stepping away from the DCEU years ago, Snyder has continued to weigh in periodically on how the rebooted DC Universe is faring under new creative leadership.

That ongoing curiosity picked up again this week as Snyder promoted ‘The Last Photograph,’ his first film made entirely independently without a studio or streamer attached, ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The conversation inevitably turned toward his thoughts on Gunn’s take on Superman, a comparison fans have been eager to hear Snyder’s honest reaction to since the moment it was announced.

Snyder revealed in a new interview that he still hasn’t actually watched Gunn’s ‘Superman,’ despite the film carrying the rebooted DC Universe forward for well over a year now. Asked directly about the movie, he admitted, “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet,” letting out a small laugh before quickly adding that he’s a supporter of Gunn’s and genuinely wants the DC division to succeed, sentiments he shared in comments reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

That admission is a notable shift from comments Snyder made earlier this year. During an appearance on the “Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast, Snyder had previously indicated he’d already seen the film, calling it “amazing” and praising Gunn’s take as “singular,” even saying he couldn’t wait to watch the sequel.

Snyder and Gunn’s working relationship actually predates their respective DC tenures by decades, stretching back to their collaboration on 2004’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake. That history has kept the two filmmakers on genuinely good terms even as online fan communities have repeatedly tried to pit their competing visions for Superman against each other.

The pair leaned directly into that dynamic earlier this year with a superhero-themed cameo appearance on ‘Rick and Morty,’ playing animated, parodied versions of themselves arguing over whose Superman reigns supreme. That lighthearted exchange only reinforced how little genuine tension actually exists between the two directors, despite fans’ insistence on framing Henry Cavill and David Corenswet’s respective takes on the character as some kind of ongoing competition.

Snyder also used the same Hollywood Reporter interview to reflect more broadly on why Marvel has consistently out-earned DC at the box office over the years. He compared Marvel’s approach to an amusement park ride, arguing the studio figured out how to shape its heroes into an easily marketable product, while his own interest lay in digging into what he saw as the characters’ iconic, inner core rather than optimizing them purely for mass appeal.

‘The Last Photograph’ marks a genuine departure for Snyder, representing his first project made entirely outside the traditional studio or streaming system. He described feeling like a huge fan of the vibes on the Warner Bros. lot during a recent visit for an Excalibur screening, noting that Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy invited him back for the event and an hour-long Q&A session afterward.

Snyder also touched on some of the friction from his own past on that same studio lot, recalling a moment when he was asked directly about the adversity he faced in his career while sitting in the very room tied to the end of his DC universe tenure, calling the question “strange” but ultimately taking it in stride. That kind of candid reflection has become increasingly common for Snyder as he settles into this new, independent phase of his filmmaking career.

Whether Snyder eventually gets around to watching Gunn’s ‘Superman’ remains an open question, especially given his own conflicting comments on the matter throughout the year. For now, his continued support for Gunn’s version of the DC Universe suggests any lingering rivalry exists far more in fan speculation than in reality.

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