It appears that actors Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck are going to have to wait a little longer to team up and save the world. On Friday, Jan. 17, Warner Bros. issued a press release announcing that the upcoming Batman Vs. Superman film will be released May 9, 2016. The postponement pushes the film back nine months later than its previous July 17, 2015 release date.

Batman Vs. Superman, in which Affleck will portray Batman/Bruce Wayne and Cavill will reprise the role of Superman/Clark Kent, will now be replaced with the  upcoming film adaptation of Peter Pan.

Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman explained the reason for the Man of Steel sequel’s postponement in the press release. “We are happy to take advantage of these coveted summer dates, which are perfect for two of our biggest tentpole releases,”Fellman said. “We share the fans’ excitement to see DC Comics’ most popular figures, Superman and Batman, together on the big screen for the first time, which will now be arriving in theatres in May 2016.  Peter Pan has delighted people of every generation for more than a century, so we are thrilled to bring him back to the screen next summer for today’s moviegoers.”

However, the change now aligns the film’s release date with a possible upcoming Marvel film. According to Hollywood Reporter, it has been noted that the month of May has been associated with Marvel films since 2006. Each year the massive entertainment company has released a film in May, and has garnered big success its “big-budget” film releases in early May. Marvel’s Iron Man 3 is a prime example.

The superhero film, which was released May 3, 2013, grossed over $1.2 billion and became the second highest-grossing film of 2013. Marvel’s blockbuster hits The Avengers, Spider-Man, the first installment of Thor and all three installments of Iron Man were all released in the month of May.

This year’s Marvel May releases are The Amazing Spider-Man 2 scheduled to be released May 2, 2014, and X-Men: Days of Future Past slated to hit theaters May 24, 2014. While no release has been announced yet for 2015, X-Men director Bryan Sanger confirmed on Twitter back in December that the eighth X-Men installment X-Men: Apocalypse is tentatively set to be released May 27, 2016.

Although no film is scheduled for an early May release, fans can almost bet on the fact one will probably be announced sometime in the near future. Another notable factor that raises probability of a Marvel May release is that the first weekend of the month is highly associated with comic book film adaptation releases. Comic retailers usually designate the first Saturday in May after a film release as “Free Comic Book Day”.

So, the competition is expected to be quite steep for Batman Vs. Superman. It will be quite intriguing to see how the box office numbers pan out.

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