The other day, my daughter said to me the words I never expected to hear from her: Mommy I like DC better. I was horror stricken. I had raised her to be a Marvel girl. At a very young age I introduced her to Spiderman, the X-Men, and the Avengers. When she was barely five-years-old she slept in her Spiderman pjs with her spiderman blanket on top of her comforter hugging a spiderman book. Back then she had a habit of sleeping with books. Now that she's older she is able to put them on the nightstand before she goes to sleep. Now she sleeps with Spiderman and Captain America. No, my daughter doesn't have a teddy bear or other stuffed animals, with the exception of a blue bunny. She prefers to sleep with her superheroes.
And until recently those superheroes have all been from the Marvel Universe, with the exception of Batman, with whom she had a passing interest in. Now she tells me she prefers the DC Universe and it is breaking my heart. What is the worst about this is that she hates Wonder Woman. How can you hate Wonder Woman who is so totally awesome? Yes, I dip my toe in the DC world myself. I grew up watching shows like Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, Shazam, Batman with Adam West, the Justice League cartoon (Wonder Twins activate--NOT) and the cartoon Spiderman and His Amazing Friends which featured Firestar who has nearly disappeared off the face of the earth and Iceman. Shazam was pretty lame when I look back on it, so I hope when they do the movie they vastly improve on it. I also had Wonder Woman underoos like so many other girls my age. I keep trying to instill into my daughter that Wonder Woman is just as tough, if not tougher than the guys she likes so much from the DC world. I believe there's a comic where Wonder Woman has her brain taken over by an alien and it takes everyone in the Justice League to take her down because she's so tough. I tell her this and she still doesn't see it. She locks onto Batman, Superman (who is the most boring of them all), Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, and even Robin who is merely a sidekick who is really rather pathetic.
But Marvel is so much better. How can you beat the X-Men? I mean there's Wolverine for crying out loud! And the whole Dark Phoenix story line with Jean Grey. I mean the Phoenix is one of the most powerful comic characters ever. And Rogue who has one hell of a storyline where she can absorb other's powers and one day she absorbs too much of Marvel Girl's powers and is able to fly and have extra strength on a permanent basis. And who doesn't love the thief Gambit? Or Storm who can freakin control the weather. Or Nightcrawler who can transport from one place to another and has a gentle soul filled with faith. Or the mercurial Emma Frost the only one who can stand up to Professor X in the mind reading realm. And Magneto, the tortured soul who is mostly against the X-Men, but sometimes fights right along side them since they're goals occasionally are the same, though their ultimate goal is slightly different. Or the complex Angel who becomes Avenging Angel who only wanted to be human. Then there's Pietro and Wanda, Magneto's children, who never seem to measure up to his standards no matter how powerful they become. And let's not forget Charles's half-brother Juggernaught who is nearly unstoppable when he is wearing his helmet. Or the mystical Dr. Strange who sometimes switches sides as befits his whim. I'd really like to forget Apocalypse who is one of the strongest villains of them all and just annoys me, but he is popular. Or Pyro with the power of fire and Bullseye who has unerring aim. Or the mercurial Mystic whose side you never where she'll land.
Then, of course there's Spiderman's world with Venom and Green Goblin, and Electro and The Fantastic Four who seem to get no respect due to the movies which did not do so well. They have Dr. Doom (who oddly enough gets defeated by Squirrel Girl) whom circles around all the Universes and recently crushed all the Marvel Universes together so that there are no more alternate universes. So we have a female Wolverine, a female Spiderman (Gwen Stacy), a female Iron Man, and let's not forget the formidable Jessica Jones, Nick Cage, and Daredevil who is finally getting the attention he deserves.
Yes, the DC Universe has such baddies as the insane Joker and the psychotic Harley Quinn, the mesmerizing Mad Hatter, dangerous Poison Ivey, the tough Bane, the only character to sometimes play both sides the delicious Catwoman, the adorable Penguin, the never-say-die Lex, the never ending Riddler, the deadly Scarecrow, and of course Two-Face. But in the Marvel world few of the baddies stay on one side of the fence like they do in the DC Universe. They are much more complex than that. They have more dimensions to them.
For now, though, my daughter still sleeps with Spidey and Captain America and she recently discovered a cartoon called Little Superheroes which has mainly Avengers (Thor, Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man, Falcon, and Silver Surfer) fighting the good fight, though without the help of any regular women heroes, I am sad to report. Of course, their boss is Marvel Girl so that is something and there are guest appearances by other Marvel characters which include some women such as Storm. At least she is watching a Marvel show. And we've started watching the old Incredible Hulk show from my childhood. So, she may say she prefers DC over Marvel, but she has yet to turn her back on Marvel yet. Of course there's room for her to love both, but I will win her over to loving Marvel best, Stan Lee, I promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment