I wonder if, shortly before the release of BvS, they had educated some friendly critics and vloggers about the deconstruction in BvS specifically but also the whole arc of the five film plan, if then at least there might have been more buy-in. And there would have been advocates out there rather then the usual bandwagon, especially with the Disney/MCU formula working so famously alongside it. As it was, a Watchmen style deconstruction for the first time Superman and Batman met in a live action blockbuster was just too jarring and disturbing for the mainstream. I loved it. It felt to me like Stanley Kubrick or Ridley Scott, or both rolled into one, had made a superhero film. But for the mainstream it was too much of a departure.
But damn, if Snyder had been left alone--and Ben Affleck as well, for that matter--to just make the films he wanted and let the chips fall where they may, WB would be better off by now, I do believe that.
It is interesting, though just how much of what Snyder had planned ended up being done by the MCU. Not to go all conspiracy theory on it. But by the admission of the writers of Civil War they revised the tale because of what BvS was doing! Both Snyder's five film arc and MCU feature an alien invasion where it looks like earth has won but the enemy comes back with a vengeance and wins, requiring a second even more epic battle. At some point Thanos says "I'll do it myself" when his forces fail without him leading the charge and then he does just that to win, and in Snyder's five film arc after Steppenwolf is defeated Darkseid comes to earth to fight the battle again. In JL Diana beheads Steppenwolf (in the Snyder cut), and in IW Thor beheads Thanos. Both stories feature time travel and a multiverse framework to win the war. At the end of Snyder's five film arc Batman heroically dies and in the MCU Iron Man does the same thing. (Bruce/Tony and Clark/Steve as the main heroes also mirrored between the two franchises.)
Snyder had planned out his five film arc between MoS and BvS approximately 2014.
Anyway, that's a lot of similarity if you ask me!
