>> I wish Flip's Mom could be everybody's Mom. <<

If only!

>> She makes a few mistakes, because no one is perfect, but hot damn she gets so many things right. <<

That's what I was aiming for, yes.

>> She would be an amazing heroine in her own right, even as she's shaping Flip toward the all-but-superhero he grows up to be. <<

Hera, the protagonist of her own story, rather than just someone's love-interest.

In my Terramagne slange, Phil Coulson would be a supernary -- an ordinary person whose intense training allows him to function on a super level.