Is Superman A Jesus Metaphor?

[Goran]

Not sure if this has been discussed. Sorry if that's the case!

With most of you Americans being quite conservative and very religious do you think it would be a good a idea to see Clark/Superman as a metaphor for Jesus in "MoS"... a type of messiah figure??

I got this idea while listening to Jor-Els words from the teaser trailer. It seemed very religion-themed to me. Jor-El sends his son to earth, who's raised by human parents, simple people. At some point in the comics he even dies and comes back to life shortly after. They could go the same route in a future installment. Also in the MoS teaser, Superman is confronted with the army, people seem to be afraid of him... This could be an analogy to the hatred that Jesus was confronted with.

Don't know if that'd be a good or a "dangerous" idea though... Didn't mean to offend anyone!

[hopefuldreamer]

Have you seen SR?

[Goran]

yeah.. once ^^

But I'm talking about MoS... Could they possibly flesh out that theme in Zack Snyder's film too?

[FilmNerdJamie]

Singer's film. Donner's film.

Not a new concept.

[herolee10]

The interesting thing for me is that I've never considered or known why some would consider Superman to a Jesus Metaphor since Superman's character fits more along the lines of Moses's character from the Old Testament of the bible:

1. Both were sent away by their biological parents in some type of a vessel as a means to protect them from when they were young.

2. Both happen to have arch nemesis who happened to be rich and bald.lol

3. Both were a child of two worlds, Moses being born Hebrew but raised Egyptian, while Clark was born on Krypton and later raised as a human.

4. Both had periods in their lives where they were doing some soul searching before ultimately finding their calling and returning back to their roots.

[LibidoLoca]

And the City of Kandor can represent the slaves and Brainiac the pharaoh... Then we can have a 'let my people go' moment!

[Mindreaper21]

This is exactly what I hate and it was one of the reasons I stopped caring for Superman. I've always felt that, in a way, it forced people to worship Superman. I believe it was the silver age that started to ruin him. Everyone accepted Superman and dubbed him the greatest hero ever. To me, that also took away from what all the other heroes have done. By Superman being Jesus-like, there would be no need for the Justice league and so on. Another reason that I don't like it is because he can be corrupted with red kryptonite and become more of an anti-christ figure making him a "corruptible Jesus". I liked Superman before this forced religion route. Writers should have continued to build on the alien aspect of Superman. Superman's alien heritage is what made me like him because it said to me "No matter who you are or where you come from, you can make a difference." Somewhere that was lost. I loved that Superman was "the hero of hope", but I didn't like him being depicted as being "The Savior".

[SuperFerret]

Originally Posted by Mindreaper21

This is exactly what I hate and it was one of the reasons I stopped caring for Superman. I've always felt that, in a way, it forced people to worship Superman. I believe it was the golden age that started to ruin him. Everyone accepted Superman and dubbed him the greatest hero ever. To me, that also took away from what all the other heroes have done. By Superman being Jesus-like, there would be no need for the Justice league and so on. Another reason that I don't like it is because he can be corrupted with red kryptonite and become more of an anti-christ figure making him a "corruptible Jesus". I liked Superman before this forced religion route. Writers should have continued to build on the alien aspect of Superman. Superman's alien heritage is what made me like him because it said to me "No matter who you are or where you come from, you can make a difference." Somewhere that was lost. I loved that Superman was "the hero of hope", but I didn't like him being depicted as being "The Savior".

1. Superman started in the Golden Age.
2. Superman has always had religious undertones. Look at his origin.
3. Superman being Christ-like has never undermined a need for a Justice League.
4. Superman's alien aspect is directly tied to the Christ metaphor.

I don't even understand where you're getting your ideas from, let alone how you were a fan of Superman's without seeing this stuff.

[Slugster]

the writers were both Jews and they took the Messiah from the Torah promised by God.
and Made him into Superman. So ???

[hopefuldreamer]

Originally Posted by Goran

yeah.. once ^^

But I'm talking about MoS... Could they possibly flesh out that theme in Zack Snyder's film too?

I seriously hope not.

[JosephCAW]

Originally Posted by herolee10

The interesting thing for me is that I've never considered or known why some would consider Superman to a Jesus Metaphor since Superman's character fits more along the lines of Moses's character from the Old Testament of the bible:

1. Both were sent away by their biological parents in some type of a vessel as a means to protect them from when they were young.

2. Both happen to have arch nemesis who happened to be rich and bald.lol

3. Both were a child of two worlds, Moses being born Hebrew but raised Egyptian, while Clark was born on Krypton and later raised as a human.

4. Both had periods in their lives where they were doing some soul searching before ultimately finding their calling and returning back to their roots.

**** FINALLY!!! Someone else who said it, I've been saying that for years and people just laugh, ignorance....what to do lol.

Anyway I agree 100,000%

[superhero#1]

I guess that mean zod is satan.

[The Guard]

The parallells to Moses and Jesus are pretty clear. He's become a Christ Figure over the years, but lots of characters have been. He's kind of inherently a savior type figure, though he's not a literal messiah, other than to his own people occassionally in the comics.

1. Superman started in the Golden Age.
2. Superman has always had religious undertones. Look at his origin.
3. Superman being Christ-like has never undermined a need for a Justice League.
4. Superman's alien aspect is directly tied to the Christ metaphor.

I don't even understand where you're getting your ideas from, let alone how you were a fan of Superman's without seeing this stuff.

This.

[LibidoLoca]

So I guess this still make Jor-El God...

[fanboiii]

El does mean god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(deity)

Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Israel, etc.

[superhero#1]

God banished satan from heaven.Jor-el (god) banished satan (zod) out of krypton.

[Mindreaper21]

Originally Posted by SuperFerret

1. Superman started in the Golden Age.
2. Superman has always had religious undertones. Look at his origin.
3. Superman being Christ-like has never undermined a need for a Justice League.
4. Superman's alien aspect is directly tied to the Christ metaphor.

I don't even understand where you're getting your ideas from, let alone how you were a fan of Superman's without seeing this stuff.

I actually meant Silver Age and not Golden Age, which I have corrected. Also, I understand that Superman has always had religious undertones in which was not one of the issues I have stated. When I said that by making Superman "Jesus-like", there would be no need for the justice League, I was referring to Superman being all powerful and having the ability to solve most of the world's problem on his own. Being Jesus-like and being Christ-like have two different meanings to me. When someone is Christ-like, that is when you do the positive this as Jesus did. Being Jesus-like is like being a like Jesus in every aspect. Having a Christ-like personality and having that positive hopeful attitude IS what Superman is about. That is something that cannot be denied. Yes, I know that Superman's and Jesus' origin are similar, which is fine, yet again that was not an issue that I have stated.

My issue is with Superman being portrayed as either the second coming of Jesus, a replacement or "The Chosen One". Like some of those that mentioned jokingly Jor-el must be God etc., that is what the situation leads to unfortunately. Like I said...
"I didn't like him being depicted as being 'The Savior' ".
If you still cannot understand, then there is nothing else I can help you with.

[The Guard]

I don't think Superman's ever been portrayed as the second coming of Jesus. Not in mainstream comics/film at least.

[Tequilla]

Not particularly Jesus , but of course he represents a Man God. That's his role , and its one of the most fascinating ideas behind Superman.

[hopefuldreamer]

All this debate needs is one official photo of Superman and Zod having a big ol punch up.

Jesus might turn the other cheek. Superman rams the cheek through a wall.

[SuperFerret]

Originally Posted by Mindreaper21

I actually meant Silver Age and not Golden Age, which I have corrected. Also, I understand that Superman has always had religious undertones in which was not one of the issues I have stated. When I said that by making Superman "Jesus-like", there would be no need for the justice League, I was referring to Superman being all powerful and having the ability to solve most of the world's problem on his own. Being Jesus-like and being Christ-like have two different meanings to me. When someone is Christ-like, that is when you do the positive this as Jesus did. Being Jesus-like is like being a like Jesus in every aspect. Having a Christ-like personality and having that positive hopeful attitude IS what Superman is about. That is something that cannot be denied. Yes, I know that Superman's and Jesus' origin are similar, which is fine, yet again that was not an issue that I have stated.

My issue is with Superman being portrayed as either the second coming of Jesus, a replacement or "The Chosen One". Like some of those that mentioned jokingly Jor-el must be God etc., that is what the situation leads to unfortunately. Like I said...
"I didn't like him being depicted as being 'The Savior' ".
If you still cannot understand, then there is nothing else I can help you with.

I understand. I'm going to just completely disagree. Especially on the idea that using his first name instead of his last name makes the comparison different. But I get a hint as to where this is going, so whatever.

[R_Hythlodeus]

Originally Posted by Goran

Not sure if this has been discussed. Sorry if that's the case!

With most of you Americans being quite conservative and very religious do you think it would be a good a idea to see Clark/Superman as a metaphor for Jesus in "MoS"... a type of messiah figure??

I got this idea while listening to Jor-Els words from the teaser trailer. It seemed very religion-themed to me. Jor-El sends his son to earth, who's raised by human parents, simple people. At some point in the comics he even dies and comes back to life shortly after. They could go the same route in a future installment. Also in the MoS teaser, Superman is confronted with the army, people seem to be afraid of him... This could be an analogy to the hatred that Jesus was confronted with.

Don't know if that'd be a good or a "dangerous" idea though... Didn't mean to offend anyone!

I don't know about Jesus but as far as I can see he certainly was always supposed as a 'metaphor' for the messiah. That's how he was intended to be and I sure hope Snyder once in his life is able to understand subtext.

[Bruce_Begins]

Is Superman a Jesus metaphor?

No offense to anyone but ... They should avoid making him look like one.

[Transcended]

Originally Posted by SuperFerret

1. Superman started in the Golden Age.
2. Superman has always had religious undertones. Look at his origin.
3. Superman being Christ-like has never undermined a need for a Justice League.
4. Superman's alien aspect is directly tied to the Christ metaphor.

I don't even understand where you're getting your ideas from, let alone how you were a fan of Superman's without seeing this stuff.

Yeah, this.

The metaphor has always been inherent in his character; you can't get away from it if you're portraying him correctly. You can play it up or down, but regardless, it'll be there.

Personally, I think it adds pathos to his character – the fact that so many people see him as a god isolates him in many ways, when he is still a man with feelings, doubts, trials, etc. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders and there's no way to shrug it off. (Which is Christ-like in and of itself, of course.)

[LordofhouseEl]

Whatever happened to desperate scientist of a dying world, sent his child to a planet where his child would have the best possibility of survival. Clark Kent/KalEL doesn't help people because a hologram of his alien dead father told him its his destiny. He does it because its in his nature to help people. I like how Superman for all seasons simply had Clark be a good natured child who liked helping people to the point of getting his tuxedo he had saved up to buy dirty just to lend a hand to a person you know want show appreciation.