In Response to Josh Wilding’s Article: 5 Things WB Can Learn From Captain America: Civil War After Batman v. Superman

5. To you, the roles and character arcs of WW and BP were on the same level?
Then you're hopeless, man. We can't help you there.

Maybe you saw the movies without audio? BP actually has conversations and grows as a character.

And Lois had to be rescued twice in the span of three of her scenes. That's comically clichéd. She underwent zero character development in the movie, on the level of Aunt May's single scene indeed. And Amy Adams is one of the top billed actors in BvS!! The other three females in CW all had nice little character arcs in the limited time they were given.

There are some interesting things that I think are relevant in each of these points.

5) Both Batman and Wonder Woman were central to the plot in that their character development ran concurrently to Superman's. All three go through parallel redemptive arcs, with Superman and Batman having the largest ones due to their greater prominence in the film, while Wonder Woman's was smaller due to her supporting role.
Superman - Starts off well-meaning but somewhat reckless, tries to do the right thing but doesn't always consider the ramifications of his actions. Realises and admits his mistakes later in the film, particularly regarding Batman (before their fight, he actually apologises to Bruce for threatening him when he was chasing Lex's men in the Batmobile), and then after seeing all the destruction caused by Doomsday's fight with the other heroes sacrifices himself to bring it to an end without anyone else getting hurt.
Batman - Starts off completely jaded and cynical, has lost faith in his mission, sees criminals as weeds that keep popping up so has no problem killing them if he has to. Afraid after the battle for Metropolis, he thinks his life as Batman will only have meaning if he kills Superman before Superman can kill or enslave the world. Realises (through the Martha scene) that Superman is actually human on an emotional level, that he makes mistakes but doesn't want to hurt anyone intentionally and tries to do good. Batman realises how badly he's lost his way, and starts to work his way back onto a path of redemption. He realises his legacy doesn't have to be established by destruction (by killing Superman), but rather could be built around creation (of the Justice League).
Wonder Woman - Starts off untrusting and somewhat cut off from the world of man, having abandoned it a hundred years ago after "a century of horrors" having lost all faith in the goodness of men or humanity as a whole (bare in mind she's initially looking for Luthor's info on her, and not the other metas, it's only when Bruce shows her the data that she realises there are more being targeted). When she sees Superman (an alien from another world) and Batman (one of the men she believed, perhaps rightly so at the time, to be cruel and unworthy of her protection) risking their lives to protect the world from an alien monster, she realises there is still good in the world, and resolves to fight and protect it.

4) Yep, Snyder gets a lot of unnecessary hate. There are some mistakes he repeats in his films, but they're definitely not big enough to ruin his movies, certainly not enough to warrant the hate he gets around here.

3) Agreed on Lex. Was excited for Eisenberg's portrayal and did like most of it, but whenever he went off on his insane ramblings and nonsensical verbal diarrhea episodes I just lost all interest in him. Didn't mind him being a bit eccentric, would've been cool if he used that as a front to throw off suspicion from his actual, manipulative personality, but he was just crazy, which I felt didn't really work.
Also, his motivations could have been clearer. Having said that, I've since rewatched it and realise what they are now, and it is pretty brilliant - in an early conversation he mentions that his father was from East Germany and grew up in poverty, being forced to worship tyrants. After everything that happened in MOS, Lex is afraid of Superman and thinks he's going to use his power to overthrow humanity and rule the earth as another tyrant. In fact, this is speculation but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a deal with Steppenwolf/Darkseid (hence his ramblings at the end of the film in jail) that he'd help them come to Earth, give them his info on the metahumans who might oppose them, and basically allow them to find what they're looking for (anti-life equation?) in return for letting Lex rule Earth or something.

2. I think the tone was pretty close to perfect given the story being told. I'm hoping that the events of this film and JL do pave the way for a slightly happier Superman though, I think he's had enough time to be conflicted and question his place in the world.

1. I do kind of agree with this complaint, to an extent. Wonder Woman aside (as obviously she's not a damsel in distress at any point in this film), the only other female characters are Lois, Martha Kent, Martha Wayne, Mercy, and Senator Finch. Martha Wayne is only there to die (fair enough, it's what she and Thomas Wayne do best). Mercy and Finch are both there basically to be murdered by Luthor, which could've worked a bit better if those characters were allowed to do more in the film, but they were both kind of wasted. Martha Kent gets kidnapped - fair enough, it works, it sets up what I think is a great resolution (as explained above in the heroes' redemption) and she also does give Clark some guidance at least once. It might've been better if she'd been the one to give Clark advice during his 'exile' instead of a ghost/hallucination of Jonathan, but I'll let it pass. Lois, however, is a damsel in distress way too often in the film. There are at least three times Superman has to save her (Africa, LexCorp, drowning in Gotham) and there was no need for that. The first instance kind of works because it establishes both her and Superman's recklessness and their need to be more careful. LexCorp makes sense but was still pushing it a bit. The drowning thing was pointless though - it would've been better if Superman figured out that the spear would work, found Lois, asked her to show him where it is, and then she saved him from drowning when it weakened him after he dived for it. Would've been a nice moment of her saving him for a change, without another instance of her being in danger.

Still, nice write up, agree on a lot of this.