Lois is the Key

or why the main female characters are so much more than the damsels in distress.

Though Lex Luthor abuses Lois Lane as a decoy to set up Superman by making him save her twice, this should not remain the impression she leaves.  First of all she is the tough journalist she claims to be and Lex Luthor should well beware of her. She is pretty close on his heels. She knows and even has the proof that he is responsible for the massacre in Africa. And if she had but had the time to investigate who knows what else she might have dug up. But even more, like The Flash states, she is the key. It's her and nobody else who unravels the truth about Martha and saves more than just this one day.

Then there is Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, who is a warrior in her own rights and certainly doesn't need anybody to save her.

Last but not least there is Holly Hunter's Senator Finch, the only character who directly confronts Lex Luthor and would not give in to him. More than this she openly tells him that she believes that he is manipulating people.

These women have one thing in common they are far less susceptible to manipulations than the male characters or like Douglas Adams put it: "It won't affect me. I'm already a woman."