Hell Yeah Superman-n-Wonder Woman

With the news of Superman and Wonder Woman’s budding relationship, we wanted to examine the compatibility and their chances at a long-term relationship. Is the new power couple more like Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson or Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries? We called in our Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Helen Fisher, to weigh in on the personalities of each superhero.

First, we asked her about both Superman and Wonder Woman’s individual personalities:

Superman:

“An acute sense of justice and fairness are traits linked with the testosterone system in the brain. So Superman’s affiliation with the “Justice League” is an immediate tipoff to his personality type: a high testosterone male. Most important, this “Man of Steel” saves people he doesn’t know. Known as ‘heroic altruism,’ this willingness to confront severe danger to save a stranger is linked with elevated levels of testosterone. Directors want to be needed, to help, to fix the problems of the world. Superman personifies this primitive male role: the protector.”

Wonder Woman:

“Wonder Woman exudes qualities built by estrogen. This type is compassionate and nurturing; they seek peace and harmony, as Wonder Woman does. Estrogen is linked with verbal skills, with intuition, and with the ability to read faces, postures, gestures and tone of voice. Wonder Woman has these elevated estrogen qualities– but she’s no doormat. She is highly independent, like many women. Moreover, with her social skills, she can be cunning. And she will fight. It is this genuine warrior spirit within a beautiful, tenderhearted woman that makes her the embodiment of all high estrogen women– and a mystifying creature to most men.”

After assessing their personalities, we wondered– could such different heroes have the potential for a long-term relationship?

Are They A Match?

“Superman and Wonder Woman are a classic match, as a very high testosterone male and a very high estrogen female. They also have many cultural and biological traits that will fuel their romance. People also tend to fall in love with those of the same background. Although Superman comes from a different planet, while Wonder Woman harks from an isolated island, both are aliens to our modern world. More important, Superman and Wonder Woman share the same values and goals: They are both dedicated to truth and justice and both fight evil to save the good—traits shared by both the high testosterone and high estrogen type. Lastly, both value independence.”

What About Their First Kiss?

“A great first kiss can be thrilling—and trigger feelings of intense romantic love, due to the way the brain responds to novelty. If their first kiss is novel and exciting, it might push Superman and Wonder Woman over the threshold toward falling in love.”

“In fact, the first kiss can be dangerous. Because as you kiss, you can see your partner clearly, as well as smell, taste, hear and feel them. Instantly these messages from your senses provide vivid data about the other person’s health and their state of mind–whether they are rough and impatient or tender and calm.”

“But if Superman and Wonder Woman like their first kiss, their kisses may trigger even deeper feelings for one another. Kissing among long-term partners produces feelings of trust and attachment. As Superman and Wonder Woman have their first kiss, they embark on one of nature’s oldest- and most exciting- journeys. A kiss is far more than just a kiss, its nature’s way to start a partnership.”

Well there you have it– Superman and Wonder Woman have potential to be one of our world’s greatest (super) power couples!

Dr. Fisher is a leading expert on the biology of love and attraction.^[4] She is currently the most referenced scholar in the love research community. In 2005 she was hired by match.com to help build chemistry.com, which used her research and experience to create both hormone-based and personality-based matching systems. She was one of the main speakers at the 2006 and 2008 TED conference.^[5]