Now, here's the guide through the bullshit: they were already headed in this direction of "Hope and Optimism". Terrio said that very thing; the whole purpose of killing Superman in BvS was to wipe the slate clean on how the people of the world see him (to make him the ideal hero upon his return) and to show a Batman that went to the edge but came back.
But what DC has learned is that people, on average, can't discern between how some characters are viewed by other doubting characters (Batman, the humans that fear a godlike being) and that character's actual traits.
Take this sentence from this report:
"DC’s nascent cinematic universe has so far depicted Superman as an angry god; a violent, alien entity that needs to be kept in check."
This is FACTUALLY incorrect. Superman at his core has been hopeful, yet at times melancholy at how his attempts at good acts are received negatively amongst a human population that sees him as a threat that needs to be kept in check. But he himself as a character was proven to not be those things that were so feared. He's never been violent or angry except when the violence is brought to him (Zod bringing the world engine, Luthor harming his loved ones, Batman going to war); that doesn't make him a violent character by his nature.
But apparently unless we have a montage of people cheering him on or all the other superheroes talking him up as a hero movie goers and critics can't discern the difference. So, going forward, we'll have "hope and optimism," and like a laugh track being provided to know when to guffaw for a sitcom, we'll all now know when to cheer Superman because we'll see the crowd of extras cheering, or we'll know when they did something heroic because another hero will point out how heroic it was.
Of course, they were already going in this general direction as made obvious by the actual story and character arcs in BvS. They've just learned that they need to hold our hands a bit more and provide the head pats. Now, this may certainly be the balm that makes the series more mainstream / populist, but I can't say that I'm also not concerned that it'll make it far less interesting from a story potential standpoint. I fear we'll get generic sameness, because why strive for something more (and possibly fail in the effort) when you can meet lower expectations by keeping things simplistic?
