@DallasAvenger Of course the emotional investments are different. Civil War seems like a sort of conclusion of what really began with Cap and Tony. So of course it has that emotional weight behind it. I'd argue that it doesn't really have as much of that since we've really only seen them together in two films, and in neither of them were they particularly close. But I understand the greater weight; it is to be expected, given the multitude of MCU films. I still would have preferred if they deferred Infinity War and instead did a proper Civil War as the third Avengers film, with all the grandeur and closure of that story.
The draw for BvS is not going to be the same. Think of Man of Steel as a sort of prologue. Batman v Superman really is the first chapter of the DC Extended Universe, and therefore the draw is most certainly going to be novelty at the explosive kick-off to the DC EU. So no, the investment most certainly isn't the same, but it's the job of the narrative to make you invested anyway.
Personally speaking, I am invested because of the sort of story they seem to be telling, particularly about Superman but also about Batman:
I love the idea of a Superman forced to be all things to the world amidst a host of contradicting expectations and demands. I love the idea of a divided national and global reaction to Superman, and the sorts of philosophical, political and societal questions his presences provokes. I love the idea that Superman is at heart just as human as we are: unsure, conflicted, overwhelmed. He may have superhuman abilities, but he isn't a superhuman in every way. And that makes him profoundly relatable.
I equally love the idea of a Batman who has been fighting an endless war on crime and corruption in Gotham, who is weary, battered and broken from a lifetime of personal loss. I love the idea of a Batman whose feelings of anger, helplessness and futility are thrust into overdrive by the deaths of the last thing he could protect -- his company's employees -- in an alien brawl that is so far above his capacities as to make his entire struggle utterly meaningless. I love the idea of a Batman so jaded by betrayal (Harvey Dent?) and loss (Jason Todd) that he tries to eliminate Superman while he is still a hero. I love the idea of a Batman jolted into a sense of purpose greater than his own family, his own city, and even his own nation -- a Batman who is forced to think beyond the contours of his own territory (setting the stage for his Justice League role). And although these extreme emotions and reactions make Batman less relatable, they also make him the most human and flawed incarnation of the character we have seen.
And I like the juxtaposition of the two heroes: both thrust into significance by circumstance and buckling under that weight -- Superman as Atlas, forced to hold up the sky, and Batman as Odysseus, the beleaguered captain wearied from an interminable journey.
Hopefully the film delivers fully on these themes, but this exploration of the burden of heroism is the draw for me. It's something we really haven't seen before, not even with Spider-Man.
