It’s official. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now the highest-grossing movie of the year, as the Marvel sequel managed to pass the previous champion at the global box office this past weekend. And the film that’s just been booted off the top spot is DC’s The Batman, the reinvention of the Dark Knight that made waves back in March. Given the ongoing dominance of the MCU, it’s no surprise that Doctor Strange 2 has usurped its number one position on the charts β but that doesn’t mean Batman fans are happy about it.
“#TheBatman” is trending on Twitter today as those who remain loyal to Matt Reeves’ crime thriller hold it up as the vastly superior movie in this latest battle in the never-ending Marvel vs. DC fan war.
Anyone else get the feeling this user didn’t like Doctor Strange 2?
For some, this is a harbinger of the end times.
Even those who actually liked DS2 prefer The Batman.
Others are just sad DC’s win has been taken away.
Actual footage of Warner Bros. execs right now:
Meanwhile, some think Everything, Everywhere All at Once is the real winner here.
Wait, a gracious, measured response from a superhero fan on Twitter? We must be in another universe…
It’s ironic that it’s The Batman and Multiverse of Madness that are battling it out at the box office this year as they sit at opposing ends of the superhero movie spectrum. Doctor Strange 2 is as wild and comic book-y as you can get while The Batman is a stripped-back drama that arguably owes as much to the film noir tradition as it does DC Comics. In other words, naturally fans of one aren’t necessarily going to enjoy the other, even though general audiences have clearly lapped up both.
Doctor Strange 2 is playing in theaters while The Batman is streaming on HBO Max.