Because they have to be so popular to be successful, movies tend to be a really good barometer of how America feels. It's particularly telling when conservative movies are successful, since they have to navigate through the culture of limousine liberalism to even see the light of day.

Forrest Gump showed that America was ready to rethink the narrative on 1960s counter-culture. The Passion of the Christ showed Hollywood that, yes, there are people who go to church. And most recently American Sniper demonstrated that the token conservative Best Picture nomination could also be the most popular film of the year.

(Don't worry – Sniper still won Best Sound Editing. And as Best Sound Editing goes, so goes the nation.)

I've been thinking about this more since the release of the trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the sequel to 2013's grim Superman reboot, Man of Steel.