I saw one female superhero movie and I’m ready to fight everyone

As I was going to see Wonder Woman, I was prepared to leave feminism at the door. I didn’t go in with high expectations, so they couldn’t be crushed by straight-white-male-archetypal-superhero-obsessed Hollywood.

I was terrified they would make the one superhero I most wanted to see succeed fail in the box office and in the eyes of fans.

But tet me tell you, my fears quickly squashed. I was blown away by literal Amazon Gal Gadot. Beautiful, powerful, 5’10 Israeli Gal Gadot. But what really makes Wonder Woman a feminist superhero movie is how Diana isn’t sold as a female superhero, she’s just a superhero.

We’re all well aware of how traditionally, male-lead superhero movies have dominated the box office. After a while you see the trend of the archetypal hero: a dude with special abilities is a bit of an outcast, a tragic event sets him on an epic journey to accomplish a mission while finding himself in the process, and he ends up saving the world–sometimes with a cost of the romantic interest–and resolves to keep humanity safe, cut to the end credits. Predictable or not, we’ll keep coming back to see them. Superhero movies are just entertaining.

And what’s great is that Diana follows that archetypal hero story arc to show it’s not a boy’s club. She kicks ass, punches bad guys and saves the day, because she’s a hero and that’s what heroes do. Wonder Woman is an incredible superhero, and the movie is incredible because it doesn’t use her femininity as a weakness.

Her fighting skills are unique–the Amazons have this spinning technique that makes them look like they’re flying in battle. Diana fearlessly charges into enemy territory, because she has a sense of duty to protect everyone, just like many male superheros. When she encounters moral dilemmas, she calls people on their bullshit, she doesn’t back away or let herself be pushed away. Diana even calls out Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine) on his mansplaining. Princess Diana is not here for your sexism.

She definitely isn’t naive even in the world outside Themyscira–remember Thor smashing a coffee cup like he’s still in Asgard and shouting “another!” There’s none of that nonsense here. And Diana isn’t hypersexualized or made to appear more masculine to compensate, she just is. I’m talking about the costume. She’s showing some skin, but her armor isn’t made to be sexy for the sake of being sexy. When she’s trying on clothes with layers of petticoats in the mortal world, Diana remarks “how am I supposed to fight in this?” Thank God the film addressed the fact that women don’t show skin to impress their male counterparts, but because it’s what they want or need to wear.

The bass-pounding soundtrack, slow-motion action punching, ass-kicking superhero movie with a woman of color in the lead is absolutely everything feminists need.

We have enough Superman remakes. We have enough Iron Man sequels. Now we have Wonder Woman. We have her in the ranks of blockbuster superheroes, and she’s going to stay.

Wonder Woman is ours, and we’re keeping her with us.

@TheTab