A 3-Year-Olds Reaction to Batman V. Superman

I tried something ambitious, and frankly stupid, last week. I tried to take my 3-year-old daughter to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

She is a fan of the cultural phenom, often quoting Darth Vader’s paternal admittance and consistently asking, “Where’s Yoda?”, regardless of whether the thing she’s watching is even Star Wars related. However, she’s 3, and The Force Awakens is still solely available in crowded cinemas. Any parent knows that a toddler, and places where silence and attention are called for, just don’t mix.

Despite my awareness of this oil-and-water combo, we made the trek to our closest multiplex. I had already seen it (twice, actually), so I was mentally prepared to not get to sit through the whole thing. She was beyond stoked. Every person we came across, she made sure to tell them, “We’re going to see Star Wars!” with all the excitement of her nerdy dad the first day he got to see it.

We bought our tickets, grabbed some refreshments, and found seats as close to the exit as possible. Whether it’s a sudden bout of childish fear or simply a call to the bathroom, you never know with a little one if and when a quick getaway would be necessary. As we settled in, we stared up at the perceptively giant screen from our much-too-close chairs as the first of (what seemed like) 20 trailers began to play.

About 3 upcoming releases in, the DC Comics logo filled the screen. Immediately I knew what was to come: the dreaded mess of a trailer for Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the ill-fated follow-up to 2014’s violently bleak Man of Steel. In true Snyder (Watchmen, 300) fashion, it promises to be a loud and ill-toned waste of a great property, proved by the odd Jesse Eisenberg portrayal of Lex Luthor, the overly-ponderous pontificating by the two heroes, and a super-villain that looks like a reject from the Spider-Man 3 rogues gallery. Having to sit through it with a ticking-toddler-time-bomb next to me only fueled my despondence.

Then something happened. At the end of the trailer, Wonder Woman appeared.

“Daddy, is that a girl?!”

“Yeah babe.”

“Like ME?!”

“Um…well, yeah.”

Multiple viewings of this reveal never really produced much effect from me, barring the marginal thought of, “Hey, Wonder Woman…that’s cool, I guess.” But this was different. I was now seeing what she saw, what females everywhere have wanted to see: a Hollywood super-heroine. She no longer had to simply admire the male heroes from afar, but could admire them with a personal hope: that could be me.

I’m still not super-excited about Batman v. Superman as a film. I am, however, excited for the steps being made for my daughter’s film-going future. Even with Wonder Woman only as a side-character to the two predictable male leads, movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and even The Force Awakens itself have begun the shift away from the one type of Arian male hero. Here’s hoping these are just the first steps towards a more gender-inclusive world for blockbusters…and that future 3-year-old girls won’t be so shocked to see a woman kicking butt in the movies.