Captain America Civil War: 11 Reasons It's Better Than Batman V Superman

What a month it's been. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice dropped to extremely divisive reviews from both fans and critics, while Captain America: Civil War is landing to a shower of ecstatic praise, with many rightly proclaiming it to be one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, if not the best.

It's a slick, smart entertainment that delivers crowd-pleasing moments in spades, and curiously holds the mirror up to Batman V Superman, essentially functioning as a reminder of almost every big mistake Zack Snyder's movie made.

For every implausible plot twist or unconvincing character beat, Civil War is by comparison a well-oiled machine where almost everything click together. It isn't perfect like any movie, but it's easy to watch the two films in such close proximity and appreciate that Civil War completely leaves it in the dust. We want to see the DC Extended Universe succeed, but seeing them get "beaten" this decisively doesn't leave a whole lot of hope.

Also, only minor spoilers for Civil War will follow, so don't worry. Here are 11 reasons Captain America: Civil War is better than Batman V Superman...

One of the most vocal complaints about Batman V Superman was that it got weighed down by a wealth of subplots that were either pointless, boring or nonsensical.

For instance, pretty much the entirety of Lois Lane's existence in the movie is merely to justify her being in the film rather than actual plot necessity. She's chasing down the origin of some bullets used to frame Superman for half the movie, and it's an utterly superfluous MacGuffin that just pads out the film's runtime. There were far easier, tidier ways for Lex's plan to unfold.

Then there's blatantly unnecessary scenes like a visage of Jonathan Kent talking to Clark when he goes for a hike. Mildly interesting, perhaps, but Zack Snyder could easily have left that one for the Director's Cut Blu-ray.

Civil War, despite running just four minutes shorter than BvS, feels like a much leaner beast, with the fat largely trimmed and almost every scene adding at least something to the film plot-wise. Even the seemingly superfluous moments in which Vision and Scarlet Witch bond at Avengers HQ have an implication that's crucial to the plot later.