How does an S-box introduce confusion I'm trying to find the logic for introducing the S-box, but having trouble understanding why. In a simple cipher, e.g.

c = pt xor key 


I understand that I can easially find the key when choosing the plaintext myself

key = pt xor C


But I don't see why an S-box can help in this at all, given that the S-box is public. 

C = S[pt xor key]


Because then I could just do

key = S^-1[pt xor C]


I understand by adding multiple rounds and keys, this gets harder, but what is the S-box giving, when we can just reverse it?
Even with two rounds and known plaintext you don't know the intermediate round inputs to the sbox since you don't know the round keys. This necessitates the brute forcing of the key bits, or other structural analysis. There's your confusion.