What we call 'evil' doesn't necessarily deserve any kind of respect or understanding, by any means it just deserves an acknowledgement of its complexity so we can better understand it - so we can help prevent it.
I know it's hard to blame the time, but there's a bit of an expectation for a summer movie. I think that 'Superman Returns' was a bit nostalgic and romantic, and I don't think that was what people were expecting, especially in the summer.
You just have to trust your instincts and hope that if someone doesn't like your idea, you can prove them wrong in the final process. In the end, you can please some of the people some of the time, but that's about all you can do.