With the upcoming Superman movie and the major marketing mojo that wil be behind it, all sorts of folks will want to tag along. This effort purports to show Superman as Jesus.
In Stephen Skelton s new book The Gospel According to the World s Greatest Superhero, the Superman storytellers based Superman on Jesus on purpose. That s why the Man of Steel actually champions the truth about the Super Man Himself Jesus and this can show readers how to reach friends and family in today s entertainment focused culture.
Stephen Skelton s faster than a speeding bullet discussions reveal that (1) the Superman storytellers confirm they modeled Superman on Christ; (2) Superman and his father share the name El (Hebrew for God )…and his earthly parents were originally named Mary and Joseph ; (3)Superman movies, TV shows, and comics are built on parallels to Christ s death, burial, resurrection, and second coming.
I’ve devoted a significant amount of my time on earth following Superman. It’s the thing that got me into reading and thinking on a big scale. This is the first time in my 23 or so years of Superman “scholarship” that I’ve ever heard this theory.
* Siegel and Shuster were Jewish. They have said numerous times they patterned Superman after a circus performer (hence the tights and bright colors), not Jesus.
* Yes, the original names for his parents were Mary and Joseph, but it seems these were pulled more out of a hat than anything – they were later changed to the now familiar George and Martha. The original name for the Daily Planet was the Daily Star. Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris – all loves of Superman at one point – were all homages to (I think) Shuster’s old flame who’s initials were all LL (you can also throw in Lex Luthor, perhaps some homoeroticism using this silly line of thought). Ascribing more than that to the naming seems like folly.
* Superman died once. It was a marketing gimmick. There’s no ongoing death and rebirth theme through Superman comics.
I hate when people do this. I argued once with a guy over whether Superman was an Ayn Rand objectivist, all evidence to the contrary (Superman does not charge). If you want to ascribe any sort of political/religious ideology to The Man of Steel, its probably old-fashioned 1940s patriotism. It’s no coincidence that Superman was created at the time of Hitler’s march on the world (1938) and became a central part of the homefront spirit-raising against the axis. Superman, in my mind, is among the greatest mythological figures ever with a symbol that is recognized around the world in multiple languages. I know the desire to appropriate him to one pet cause or another is really strong…
But stop. Superman is for all of us.
The Art of Superman Returns
I dunno, there ARE accounts of Superman having children, JUST LIKE JESUS!
Uncanny.
Well it looks like the next step in the course of events is for someone to claim that the REAL comic book accounts of the life of Superman were destroyed by DC Comics in order for them to fabricate a false Superman with “superhuman” powers.
The real Superman created by Friedrich Nietzsche was simply a superior intellectual who possessed the ability to think beyond right and wrong. We can all be “supermen” if we attain this secret knowledge.
This guy isn’t the only one. The “Superman as Jesus” crew includes Bryan Singer, director of the upcoming movie. Is there any other way to interpret the first teaser?
(Yes, yes, the dialogue was from the original movie. But Singer chose THIS particular bit.)
Well wait, havent they already done this? I’ll admit that Ive failed in all three attempts so far to read through and understand the Crisis on Infinite Earths but couldnt that be construed as DC attempting to change the original intent and message of Super-Jesus by basically creating a whole slew of imitators and selecting the one they felt comfortable keeping because it conformed with what benefitted them most?
…wait, I done even agree with the whole Jesus thing why the hell am I arguing this?
That’s because its an iconic bit of dialogue from the first movie and states Superman’s reason to be on earth clearly. Not because he’s Jesus. Sheesh. You know why he’s not one of them?
Because he’s an alien being from the Planet Krypton.
Messiah perhaps, but not Jesus. Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel were both Jewish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman
Question: If Superman is an alien, is he an illegal alien?
Right. And Lenin wasn’t actually a pig. Surely a graduate of the International Baccalaureate program has heard of allegory.
“1) he was granted US citizenship by a special act of Congress”
Don’t tell me that he cut to the front of the line! I’m shocked! That’s so unfair!
Good grief, an Oliver posting I can wholeheartedly agree with.
Superman is not an illegal alien. Comics have covered that in a couple of ways: 1) he was granted US citizenship by a special act of Congress; 2) he was adopted by two American citizens, and therefore has citizenship through them.
Siegel and Shuster lifted a lot of things from a lot of places, and others had hands in the Superman story. The Christ-like elements cited from the first movie are a bit heavy-handed, but the parallel fails when you realize that Jesus wasn’t sent from a dying Heaven while God and the rest of the angels all died.
You got at least one thing wrong, though, Oliver. “George and Martha?” “John” and “Mary” became “Jonathan” and “Martha,” which have pretty much been the Kents’ names since. I don’t think his father was ever “Joseph,” but that apparently is Clark’s middle name.
J.
Can you turn off your assholeness for even just one topic, frame?
That was back in the 60’s or 70’s, I think. Long before the current crisis. Also, there was a certain element of “for services rendered,” along with “let’s give him some ties to the US so he will be more reluctant to move away” feelings.
J.
George and Martha? WTF was I thinking. I deserve to go to the Phantom Zone for that one. As far as his residency status, there was an imaginary story in an annual where he ran for president — the Senate (or maybe Supreme Court) agreed that he was in fact a natural born American because when the Kryptonian birthing matrix opened up in Kansas that was in fact his “birth” (that is based on Byrne’s Man of Steel post-Crisis rework). I know one of the cover stories for Clark Kent was that the Kents were snowed in and Martha had delivered him, though I’m not sure how they got a birth certificate validating that (which I assume he has because he’s got to have a social security number to work at the Daily Planet and sometimes WGBS).
The main thing about the Christ thing that doesn’t jibe is – do you think for their big break in comics two Jewish kids in 1930s America are going to use Jesus as a template? It’s forcing something into a template that doesn’t fit, no moreso than if I said Superman was a liberal because I could cite tons of “evidence” proving my point when in fact Kal-El is apolitical (though he was against Lex Luthor’s presidential run, and that mfer is clearly Republican).
Didn’t his name originaly come from the German, via Neitzsche: “Ubermensch”?
Trying to peg Superman is hard just because of the various writers, even considering just those with the long tenures: from Siegel to Otto Binder to Eliot S. Maggin to John Byrne. (Kal-el’s arrival on earth has been told so many times in different ways. I remember in the 60s reading a version of his origin in which landing on earth was more of an accident than an intended destination.
If anything, Superman is a Moses figure: Orphaned child found by parents who later developed a dual identity (though not at the same time). But the orphaned child is an archetype (like Batman, though with a darker twist).
Skelton is trying to appropriate Americana for Christianity, to show that we are a Christian culture and nation. gak. Ask Pat Roberton or Falwell, and I’m sure they’d say that Superman was a secular humanist who draws his power from himself and not from God.
This speculation is all ridiculous: Superman was a combination of the fantasies of young Siegel and Shuster as well as pulp and movie characters. Slap that many things together, and you’ll get just about any allegorical resemblance you want.
Jerry Siegel: “If you’re interested in what made Superman what it is, here’s one of the keys to what made it universally acceptable. Joe and I had certain inhibitions… which led to wish-fulfillment which we expressed through our interest in science fiction and our comic strip. That’s where the dual-identity concept came from, and Clark Kent’s problems with Lois. I imagine there are a lot of people in this world who are similarly frustrated. Joe and I both felt that way in high school, and he was able to put the feeling into sketches.”
It was about getting the girl.
Jesus?
Sent away from his birthmother on a one-way trip to a foreign land, the last hope of his people…Moses is more like it.
Actually, Oliver, I wouldn’t put it past two Jewish guys in the 1930’s to try to latch on to the Jesus thing, considering the climate for Jews at the time. A little judicious sucking up and a gesture towards the dominant social climate wouldn’t have been a bad idea, considering what was happening to Jews in Europe and, to a certain extent, in the US — Nazism was in full swing when Superman was created.
But while I think it is theoretically feasible that Superman could have been created as a Jesus figure, I don’t think he was. Siegel and Shuster simply weren’t that subtle or politically motivated. They had a good idea and ran with it.
Also, I think Byrne’s “birthing matrix” has been retconned, and he’s back to arriving on Earth as an infant. Personally, I’ll NEVER forgive Byrne for his obliterating Superboy — that screwed up Legion of Super-Heroes continuity of about 30 years at that point, leading to several reboots and trashing decades of history that I, personally, loved. I still miss a bunch of those characters that I was extremely fond of.
As far as Supes’ political leanings… I agree, it’s not fair to assign political beliefs to those who can’t speak for themselves. In the case of fictional characters, it’s usually a projection of the writer’s beliefs than of the character himself. Similarly, I don’t like it when people claim that dead people would endorse their position — this came up most recently, when folks started arguing Dr. Martin Luther King’s theoretical position on certain issues. In Dr. King’s case, a good argument can be made for both sides, depending on which statements and actions of his you cite — and it was distasteful for both sides.
J.
Considering that Jesus Christ is one of the key figures in all of human history — the politically correct “BCE”, “before the Christian era” isn’t even catching on — I would be surprised if some elements of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” didn’t creep into a comic about the “Greatest Superhero of All Time.”
As to whether “two Jewish kids in 1930s America are going to use Jesus as a template”, try to remember, Oliver, that things were different in the 1930’s. This was pre – special interest politics, pre – politically correct sensitivity, pre – ADL, pre – Holocaust, pre – “every hates everybody” partisanship expressed in all areas of life, public and private.
Most importantly, this was a time when America proudly called itself a Christian nation, and it didn’t mean that everyone had to go to a Protestant church on Sunday. When I first went to college in 1963, I went to a progressive college (read “liberal”) in the State University of New York system, and we spent several classes discussing (hold on to your hats) the Bible!
Another comment sent to the Bizarro world…
Not bad, Frank, but I think “Phantom Zone” might be a better analogy — I often can “see” my moderated posting, but it has the “awaiting approval” message there, and it cannot interact with the rest of the world.
J.
“Can you turn off your assholeness for even just one topic, frame?”
My hopes were that it would provoke a brief smile, or even a slight wince, and lighten the mood.
If you consider that sort of thing out of bounds, then tough shit. Last time I checked, one person sets the rules around here, and it ain t you.
Actually, King’s liberal credentials are simply not so easily waved away. It’s not a Rorschach thing.
JT, I thought of the Phantom Zone, but it was getting overused, so I switched up.
I was reading Superman before he ran around the world backwards to travel in time, before the Fortress of Solitude, and the Phantom Zone, before red kryptonite (and the other colors), before the JLA, even before Bizarro world, and, possibly, if I remember correctly, before Supergirl.
NOT gonna sidetrack this into a discussion about MLK, Oliver, but a case can be made that “liberalism” has changed since his day — and likewise, whether or not he would be in favor of where it has gone. Regardless, it’s an exercise in tastelessness. His legacy is one for all of us.
Frame: the topic was pretty light-weight to begin with.
OK, we got a LOT of comic-book readers here. How about a debate about the single best rendition of Superman? I now Alex Ross and John Byrne will get a lot of votes, and Curt Swan and Wayne Boring will get the traditionalists’ support, but I have to go for George Perez — especially in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
J.
1) he was granted US citizenship by a special act of Congress
Don t tell me that he cut to the front of the line! I m shocked! That s so unfair!
Hey, if you can lift a bus over your head, you can cut in front.
duros may be on to something: Any illegal alien who can lift a bus over his head, gets an automatic exemption, and become a citizen immediately. Every other illegal alien should head over the nearest border.
goatchowder, see Mike’s post (#2). Nietzsche’s Ubermensch has really no relation to either the superhero of DC comics nor the bastardization heralded by the Nazis. Walter Kauffman translated the word more literally as “overman,” a coinage that actually parallels a number of other Nietzsche concepts (such as “overcoming”).
As for the Christ metaphor (which I do recognize, for all its flimsiness), I don’t understand why a Christian would be interested in it. Jesus wasn’t a superhero saving old ladies from onrushing chariots. His whole shtick was about saving souls. Kal-el doesn’t have anything to do with that sort of salvation. If you say Jesus=Superman, it’s actually disrespecting the concept of Christ, who came to earth not to make life on earth better, but to help people get into heaven. (So I’m told.)
But if Superman is Jesus, I wanna know who Krypto is.
Fun with “In Their Own Words”! Match the quote with the source…
1) “Superman is the Jesus Christ of superheroes.” Superman Returns is “a story about what happens when Messiahs come back…”
2) “The metaphor was clearly there when Jor-El sends Superman to Earth with God sending Christ to save humanity.”
3) “I thought there were a lot of metaphors between Clark and Jesus actually. And I tried to throw in as many of them as I could.”
a) Bryan Singer, director of Superman Returns
b) Tom Mankiewicz, writer of Superman: The Movie
c) David Nutter, director of Smallville pilot episode
Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. c