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

Fan reception to Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor has been... divisive to say the least. Some say he's irritating and obnoxious, while others praise him for taking the character in a totally different direction, away from the mugging A-lister who has typically taken up the part before.

Still, even outside of the debate about the performance, Luthor's contrived scheme and wishy-washy motives are enough to make him easily bested by Daniel Brühl's Baron Zemo.

Zemo may only appear in small pockets throughout Civil War, but when the extent of his actions and motives are revealed, they're totally understandable and don't require a ton of exterior consideration.

He has his moments, then he gets out of the way and lets the events unfold: that's all he needs to do. Luthor, meanwhile, is more front-and-centre than necessary, distracting from the titular fight and leaving us fairly ambivalent about his return in future movies. Zemo? Not so much.