We need a shero

Buffy is my hero. For most of you here, no further explanation is needed. It is simply a given. She is your hero, too. But every now and then a little validation doesn’t hurt either. So imagine my pride when last week Buffy the Vampire Slayer was crowned the best superhero of all time. Fuck yeah! Buffy won the RedEye “Best Superhero Tourney.” The free daily publication by the Chicago Tribune regularly runs online tournaments pitting real and fictional characters against each other for virtual bragging rights.

As we loyal followers of the Buffyverse take a moment to gloat, let me tell you exactly how spectacularly gloat-worthy this win actually was. The Buffster not only survived but dominated five rounds of online voting and took on the biggest superheroes in – and I am in no way exaggerating – the universe. She beat out:

Round One – Thor (easy peasy, dude just has a hammer)
Sweet Sixteen – Batman (her first big test, and she kicked bat boy’s butt)
Elite Eight – Silver Surfer (might as well have been Matthew McConaughey, dude surfs for a living)
Final Four – Superman (Man of Steel meet Mr. Pointy)
Title Match – Spider-Man (his claim to fame: stickiness…you do the math)

She beat Spidey 85 percent to 15 percent. Hundreds of thousands of fans voted, and along the way to the title Buffy knocked off three No. 1 seeds (Batman, Superman, Spider-Man). Can anyone say mandate?

What makes her win all the more impressive is that she beat an array of super-MEN along the way. Out of a field of 32 superheroes, she was one of only six women. Make no mistake, that Buffy is a female is a big part of her hero status. She is the subversive choice among the temples to testosterone. Buffy is a small, young, blonde woman. And, dude, she just kicked all the boys’ asses, not to mention assorted women, vampires, demons, sorcerers, ghosts, trolls, robots, reptile boys…you get the picture.

Into every generation a slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to fight the male-dominated superhero genre, to stop the spread of their sexism and the swell of their misogynistic imagery. She is the Slayer. And she is the best.