'Wonder Woman shows I can be a (good) trouble-maker'
Image copyright
Gabrielle Domingues
Wonder Woman has a new club of kicking, whirling and above all fierce fans - and some are just five years old.
Parents of these superheroes-in-training have spoken to the BBC, after a teacher shared stories of her kindergarten class emulating the action hero.
Wonder Woman, which is being released in cinemas in June, tells the story of Diana, a warrior princess trained by her aunt to fight to save the world who leaves her matriarchal magic island home to fight in World War One.
The character, who was first conjured up in 1941 by DC Comics, is famous for her superhuman strength and fighting abilities.
The film has been hailed by some critics as a feminist breakthrough and it broke records for the biggest domestic debut by a female director.
"My six-year-old girl started practising that badass 'leg sweep' after watching the film", one dad tweeted, referring to Wonder Woman's slick spin-and-kick move.
Pictures of determined girls posing as warriors have been tweeted by proud mums.
But Wonder Woman fandom is not just for girls.
"Boys can be Wonder Woman too," one six-year-old told his mum Jessica Gutteridge, who lives in Vancouver.
"Jasper's very entranced with her bullet-deflecting wrist guards, so he started leaping around pretending he was under fire and repelling bullets," Jessica explained.
Jasper loved Wonder Woman's power so much that he asked Jessica to pretend she was Wonder Woman teaching him how to fight "like an Amazon", referring to the warrior people she comes from.
Other kids are playing a longer game.
Rosie, who is five, is a picky eater - her parents normally cajole her to eat more, telling her, "It will make you strong".
But after the family, who live in Toronto, Canada, watched Wonder Woman, Rosie has no trouble finishing her dinner.
"The angle, 'It will make you strong like Wonder Woman' seemed to make a light bulb go on in her head and she chows down."
"Strong like a princess" wouldn't have worked but that's the Wonder Woman effect!" Rosie's mum Gabrielle Domingues explained.
"Until seeing Wonder Woman on the screen Rosie didn't have a role-model that she could truly identify as the ideal combination of both 'tough' and 'soft'.
"It has permeated how she is looking at daily elements of her life from choosing not to step on an ant, to confidently sparring with her brother, to comforting a friend scared by thunder.
"Just last night she said out of the blue, 'I thought girls were always weak, but actually we're strong plus lots of other things, even trouble-makers in a good way,'" said Gabrielle.
With these kids in training to save the world, we can rest assured we're in safe hands.
By Georgina Rannard, UGC & Social news
