First there was the "Avengers", now comes "Justice League."

The former proved to be a massive success for Marvel. Its first installment earned more than 1.5 billion US dollars worldwide in 2012 and became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. And the second installment of the superhero film series brought in a further 1.4 billion US dollars at the box office.

So, how does Justice League match up to its rival?

The film is the first gathering of the DC Comics stable of superheroes, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash, played by Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller, respectively.

In face of an even greater enemy, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally Diana Prince. Meanwhile, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes, it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League opened in China and North America on November 17. It raked in 96 million US dollars over three days – much lower than the 110 million US dollars projection. The intake is considered less than impressive in the modern era of superhero films.

Over to the east, Chinese moviegoers contributed more than 300 million yuan, or 45 million US dollars, in the first weekend, according to movie site Maoyan.

If the studio estimates hold, the film will also have the dubious distinction of being the lowest-opening film in the DC Extended Universe. The film is estimated to have cost 250 million to 300 million US dollars to produce.

However, Justice League distributor Warner Bros is remaining optimistic about the film's prospects. "I did have a higher expectation for the three days," said Jeff Goldstein, who heads up domestic distribution for Warner Bros. "(But) this is a big vacation week, and we have an opportunity to get a big audience to see us in a different pattern."

Justice League pulled most of its weight abroad, where it launched to 185.5 million US dollars from 65 markets, boosting the worldwide debut to 281.5 million.

With superheroes battling on the big screen, fans of Justice League and The Avengers are also battling behind the scene.

Since Marvel's The Avengers (2012) and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) took China by storm, the DC fan is looking forward to an original superheroes story from the stable.

With foreshadowing of superhero films Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, DC fans finally see a mash-up of classic characters fend off in Justice League. The film is supposed to match the box office of viral Marvel's biggest superhero offerings – The Avengers.

With the 52-million-dollar debut of Justice League in China, Forbes suggests it's time for Chinese people to move on and forget The Avengers.

But are Chinese audiences really over it?

According to Variety, the last Avengers story made 156.3 million dollars in China for its first six days. It seems DC really needs to hope Justice League's disappointing opening will not last for long.

But apparently that's not the most disappointing part. As far as we know, The Avengers 1 and 2 have both scored over 7 on Douban, China's leading film rating website.

For fans of Justice League, and this may break their hearts, the film rated only 6.9 versus The Avengers' 8.0.

The competition between DC and Marvel has been heating up over the past few years as we've seen a growing number of superhero movies and TV shows. As the DC's first superhero film, fans have been waiting for long to see their Justice League stand up and beat The Avengers. And Marvel fans have almost run out of patience waiting for it to come out so they could finally make a judgment on which company makes the best superhero film.

If you still stick with your choice and think your favorite superheroes cannot be changed by now, it's fine. The game is not over.

For now, DC fans, be prepared for 2018's "Aquaman"; Marvel fans, keep an eye on "Black Panther," not to mention "Avengers: Infinity War," where the world of Thor and Iron Man, et al, runs into "Guardians of the Galaxy." 2018 is for sure a year for superheroes and their fans.