10 Lessons DC Needs To Learn From Batman V Superman
2. Give Your Leads Something To Do
By now it’s been well-reported that Superman unbelievably only had 43 lines of dialogue in a movie where he’s a titular character. More often than not, he was a silent sounding board for other characters to talk off of. When he wasn’t doing that, he spent most of the middle of the movie doing absolutely nothing, just kind of laying low and waiting for someone else to push him into action.
Case in point, when he did start acting, it was only because of Lex Luthor’s manipulation. His character simply didn’t appear to do much of anything of his own volition in the film and a superhero ought to be a little more proactive.
Conversely, Batman was given things to do, but all of his agency was completely wasted on a flawed quest. From the beginning, we all knew that fighting Superman was pointless and they’d become allies, so it’s hard to argue that him spending the whole movie preparing for an anticlimactic fight is much better.
DC cannot continue to handle their heroes in this manner and needs to find new ways of telling stories that involve their lead characters actually taking action. Whether that's giving them more dialogue, more action, or a more convincing purpose, any way to put them at the forefront will make their films feel more focused and streamlined.