Twists and revelations are not mutually exclusive. Let's don't split hairs.

To be fair, most twists involve a character "merely" telling us the twist. Empire Strikes Back, anyone?

It bears pointing out that 100% of the "how important comics are" dialogue comes from a character whom we eventually learn is insane. Granted, those lines do sound pretentious either way, but the fact that it's this particular character delivering them is a huge hint that the film might not want us to take them…

The film clearly states that the aliens deliberately kept their landing craft away from the oceans. This defense that the aliens didn't know water was their Kryptonite is nonsense.