No Wonder

I’ve been so busy with the launch of my book and planning Wonder Boy’s 10th birthday party, that I just realized I never posted about Wonder Woman. No worries though. It’s not like the internet needs another review of the movie. You all know it’s fantastic already. So this post is really not *about* Wonder Woman, but more about what we learned about our family as a result. Spoiler alert: It was something we should have already known.

We were unable to see the movie on premiere night due to an obligation that couldn’t be avoided, so like any sane family, we went to the first showing the very next morning (which required an hour-long drive). It goes without saying by this point that we are a family of nerds. So, any movie, particularly a superhero one, generally sparks a lot of debate; and all superhero debates always circle back to the ultimate question: Who’s better – Batman or Superman? You see, I’m obsessed with a big fan of Superman, and my family likes to argue that he’s not the absolute best there is. I know we all like Batman just fine (maybe some more than others); but I’ve always just assumed the argument was half-hearted … more of a let’s-see-how-much-we-can-bug-mom type of thing. You know what they say about assuming, right?

Anyway, as we ate lunch after the movie, we were in one such heated debate regarding the themes of Wonder Woman, how the movie was about more than just “girl power,” and, of course, why Supes is king. At one point, our waitress, who had arrived in the midst of a rare quiet moment while we each gathered our thoughts, commented, “Wow, you guys think hard.” Man, if she only knew. (Side note: it’s not just movies or superheroes that do this to us. On our road trip home from vacation, we had a lengthy discussion about the literal and accepted definitions of the phrase “the other day.” Not surprisingly, there’s a divide in the blood.)

So all this thinking hard led to the brass tacks of ranking our favorite superheroes. Here are our individual top tens:

But, of course, the rankings couldn’t stop there. Bryan and the Professor decided to use our individual rankings to calculate a Family Top Ten list. (Basically, reverse the numbers: #1 gets 10 points, #2 gets 9 points, and so on. Then total the points. The superhero with the most points is the family’s #1, etc.).

You can keep scrolling for the full list, but here’s what’s most interesting to me:

Huh, would you look at that? Superman and Batman tied for number 4. Turns out, we really are a house divided. No wonder they all give me such a hard time.

Our Family Top Ten (David Letterman style):

*All images are from http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Marvel_Database or http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/DC_Comics_Database (click the images for more information)*

#10. Doctor Strange (5 points)

#9. Tie: Black Widow and the Guardians of the Galaxy (8 points each)

#8. Tie: Thor and Scarlet Witch (10 points each)

#7. Hulk (14 points)

#6. Tie: Flash and Iron Man (17 points)

#5. Wonder Woman (21 points)

#4. Tie: Superman and Batman (27 points each)

#3. Captain America (31 points)

#2. Wolverine (32 points)

Aaaannnd …

#1. Spider-Man (37 points)

So, since Spidey is our family’s top hero, you can bet we’re all pretty excited for the reboot. Spider-Man: Homecoming opens everywhere July 7th!