10 'What If?' Scenarios That Almost Changed Comic Book Movies Forever

Although it was greeted fairly positively by critics, fan reaction to Superman Returns was a little more polarizing with many criticizing its lack of action, pedestrian story and almost reverential treatment of Richard Donner's work on the franchise. Much like the movie itself, the box office returns were solid-if-unspectacular.

Earning $391.1m against a massive $204m budget, the studio was expecting Superman Returns to make at least $500m and publicly voiced their disappointment that it didn't. Even though director Bryan Singer and the entire primary cast were signed on to do a sequel, years of delays saw their contracts expire and Warner. Bros announced another reboot of the franchise in 2009.

If Superman Returns had been a bigger hit, relaunched the franchise and got its contractually-obligated sequel, then it stands to reason that Zack Snyder would never have ended up with the keys to the DC kingdom.

The Singer series would likely have continued through to this decade and altered the studio's long-term plans for the character, and the director responsible for Man of Steel, Batman V Superman and Justice League would never have got the opportunity to reboot the the DCEU's characters and establish the aesthetic for the entire multi-billion dollar cinematic universe.