Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Analysis of Superman as a Christ figure

Hello all,

I debated whether or not to start this thread, since it is pretty controversial. But the topic fascinated me so much that I decided to go ahead and do so, but also to issue some warnings in order to try to avoid offending anyone.

It is not my intent either to proselytize or to blaspheme; but I could see where readers might perceive the post as an attempt to do one or the other. I apologize in advance for any offense that may be caused by the post. I do not wish to cause offense in either direction, but simply to conduct a semi-scholarly analysis comparing what C. S. Lewis called the "true myth" of Christianity and the LNC mythos; specifically, to consider Superman as a type of Christ-figure. If you find such a topic offensive, please stop reading here. I will leave some blank lines so that anyone who does not wish to read more can avoid doing so accidentally.

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There. If you are reading this far into my post, then I will assume that you find this topic interesting and are not put off or offended by the topic itself.

Although I certainly do not presume to have a mind anywhere near as sharp as that of C. S. Lewis, I do aspire to follow in his footsteps in some regards. Like him, I am a believing Christian who does not feel threatened by the similarities between stories found in the Bible and those outside of it. Nor do I consider it blasphemous to exam the Bible critically as literature. The more I thought about it, the more similarities I found between Superman and Jesus. I'd be interested to read if others have found additional ones, as well as any other thoughts you may have on the matter. Some of the similarities are clearly stronger than others; a few might be considered a bit of a stretch.

For the purposes of the analysis, I will write as if both the Bible and Lois and Clark were true. Whether you consider either one, both or neither to be true in RL is entirely up to you.

Similarities (presented in roughly chronological order) :
- Neither Jesus nor Superman came into the world in the way every other sentient being did.
- Neither had a human biological father.
- Both Jesus' and Superman's arrivals were heralded by a light in the sky which was followed by people (Magi, the Kents).
- Both were able to "pass" as mere humans, but each was much more than just a human.
- Both were able to heal people using extraordinary measures.
- Both were able to perceive things about others that no one else did.
- Both succeeded in "hating the deed but loving the doer" -- both were civil, to the extent possible, even to people who flagrantly violated the L/law. (Yes, there were exceptions to this in both cases -- to people who threatened Lois or who had Kryptonite, or to the scribes, Pharisees, and money changers. But in each case, these were the exceptions rather than the rule.)
- Both used their powers for the good, to help others, even to the point of being willing to die for people who didn't even know them or who sought to do them harm (Ching is the clearest example I can think of from LNC).
- Both also realized and utilized the power of words to try to try to work good in people's lives.
- Both showed their true natures to only a few people during their lifetimes (Jesus on the mountaintop, and only the Kents and Lois knew Clark's alter ego and saw him doing Superman-type things as Clark).
- There was a death-and-resurrection with both of them (although Clark's was, admittedly, staged, in TOGoM).
- Both were able to travel through objects others could not cross, although neither displayed that ability often (Jesus, post-resurrection, suddenly appearing to the disciples in the locked room, and Clark in DToSC going through the force field).
- Both were able to fly (Jesus during his ascension).

Differences:
- Superman only saves people's bodies; although Jesus did heal people physically, his primary concern was to save people's souls. Consequently,
---- Superman's salvation is temporary; Jesus' is permanent.
---- Superman may need to save a given individual (especially Lois!) multiple times. Jesus' act of salvation was once and for all people.
- Neither Clark himself nor anyone else ever claimed Superman to be God or the son of God; they realized that he was a mere mortal, with all the limitations inherent therein.

If you wish to reply in the same vein as this post, by all means do so here; but if you wish to veer into a discussion of religion per se, I would be happy do to that, too, via PM or e-mail.

Cheers,
Lynn

Interesting read.

One addition with the dying/back to life thing: Clark was very nearly disintegrated in the doohickey with the NKers. You could call that almost death/back to life. Maybe not 'really most sincerely dead' but pretty close following laws he didn't understand and certainly didn't agree with because it was the law.

Ditto nearly dying in HIWTHI.

Just a thought to go along with that.

Good point -- he was "mostly dead" then, wasn't he?

Cheers,
Lynn

Interesting post. I'm a non-religious person myself, but that doesn't mean that the comparison between Jesus and Superman isn't valid.

I would like to point out that since Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (the creators of Superman) were Jewish, it is not so likely that they wanted their creation to be compared with Jesus. Indeed, I have read someplace that Jerry Siegel was inspired by the story of Samson, the great strongman from the Old Testament, when he created Superman. Maybe that's why Superman has traditionally been far more afraid of a relationship with Lois than LnC Lois has ever been afraid of a relationship with LnC Clark - you know, because Siegel's original creation thought that Lois was his Delilah?

Ann

Hi Ann,

Thank you. I figure that for the purposes this thread, one's own personal beliefs really don't matter.

Probably not, then. Then again, one thing about the creative process is that if you achieve something really worthwhile creatively, it will take on a life of its own and different people will be able to bring things to it that you did not necessarily intend when you created it.

I never knew that. That is fascinating! Fortunately, they made Clark a lot smarter than Samson appeared to be. I don't know whether it is true or not, but I've long thought of Samson as the origin of the stereotype for the "dumb jock". (To paraphrase a certain villainous time traveler, "Hello! Duh! Delilah betrays you twice, and then you tell her the TRUTH about the source of your strength? Can you say, 'galactically stupid'?!?") I'm glad that Lois and Clark (finally!) did manage to get together in LNC. That is one of the myriad reasons I prefer it over the more traditional interpretations of Superman.

cheers,
Lynn

Clark/Superman helped/rescued people but I can't think of a single instance where he actually healed someone. **

As for a glimpse into the origins of Superman and how Jerry Siegel envisioned the character... Superman - Man of Tomorrow

**ETA: Yes, he turned back time in the original Superman movie to undo Lois' death, but that wasn't a healing, it was turning back time.

I was thinking specifically of Clark's cauterizing Luthor's wound in Fly Hard. OK, maybe "treating" would be a better word than "healing" in Clark's case...

OTOH, it could also be argued that Clark reviving Lois in AtAI was reminiscent of Jesus raising Lazarus. (Again, I realize that the comparison is imperfect, since Lois only appeared to be dead.)

cheers,
Lynn

I just read the letter. Fascinating indeed! I'm glad we have the Clark Kent we all grew to love, but it would have been interesting to see that other development as well. Hmmm...Alternate universe fanfic, anyone? ;-)

cheers,
Lynn

There was the guy in the ep that had the psycho guy with the snakes and the pins and the wedding planner from... yeah. He used the base of a light pole [or something] to shock his heart... in the healing genre. He also does a lot of life saving in general.

Some random thoughts:

The voice-over at the beginning of the first Superman movie certainly drew parallels between Superman and Jesus--I can't recall the exact words but Jor-El says something like "to you I have sent my only son." It comes through in other parts of that movie too. In Superman II he must sacrifice himself (or at least the life he wants) to save the world. I found the parallel so strong that I was uncomfortable with it.

Although Siegel and Shuster were not Christian, they would have been familiar with the idea of a Messiah. However, I never got that parallel during my limited reading of Superman comics. (Comic books never had enough story in them for me.)

LnC intentionally presents a much more human Superman. I find it interesting, however, that many of the fanfics in the archive present Clark as an extremely charismatic figure, and Superman even more so. Whether or not you believe that Jesus was the Son of God, the historical Jesus must have been an extremely charismatic person to draw the following he did during his lifetime. (As distinguished from those who became Christians based on the accounts of his crucifixion/death/resurrection.) Superman is not, however, without sin. "Superman doesn't lie" except that Clark lies constantly to hide who he is. He also makes human mistakes. And he depends heavily on his human parents for advice--presumably Jesus did not do so. So the comparison falls apart considerably in the version of Superman that so many of us love. But it's a good topic for discussion.

I read somewhere that Superman was an analogy of Moses (set adrift in the bulrushes in hopes of getting to a better life). But I have to admit that your comparison with Jesus Christ has a lot more parallels.

And thanks for bringing up this very thought-provoking and interesting topic.

If I may chip in my opinions...

Like Iolanthe said, I'm pretty sure Shuster and Siegel based Superman off of Moses. However, bear in mind that Superman has since had 70 years or so to develop in predominantly Christian country, and Joe and Jerry didn't exactly have exclusive author control. Moses himself was/is a messianic figure, and so it's very easy to make the transition to Christ.

Personally, I've always been annoyed by the movie's attempts to forge a Superman/Christ parallel. The one thing they do have in common, however, is the messianic archetype. This is not a coincidence; Superman was, AFAIK, intended as a messiah from the beginning: A powerful figure, saving helpless people from oppression and crime. The difference is in the messianic type: Secular vs. Religious.

As Lynn stated, Superman saves people physically but not spiritually. What bothers me is when people try to blur that line or cross it. Heck, it's the very reason my Mom was uncomfortable with me watching the cartoons! o_O

Everybody here has made interesting and worthy points.

Personally I'm pretty dead certain that I have read somewhere that Samson served as an inspiration for Superman, but that most certainly doesn't mean that Moses couldn't have been another inspiration. In fact, it seems most likely that Moses, too, gave Siegel some ideas. I want to point out, however, that Moses was primarily a leader, leading his people out of the desert, toward the land of Canaan. I don't see Superman as that kind of leader. Indeed, Superman is a lot more like Jesus, because Jesus wasn't the kind of leader that Moses was. Yes, Jesus certainly had many followers, but it wasn't as if all those who were Jewish and lived in Palestine at that time followed Jesus as he led them somewhere.



Everybody was following Moses. Superman isn't "leading his people" like that.

C-mom said that Clark "sins", because he sometimes lies. Interestingly, the Gospel of Mark says that Jesus also lied sometimes, or more precisely, Jesus "evaded", just like Clark. I don't have the strength to look it up, sorry, but if you read the Gospel of Mark yourself you will see that Jesus "evades" several times. He asks people he has healed not to tell others who has healed them, for example. And he doesn't want to admit that he is the Messiah. It is almost as if the Jesus we meet in the Gospel of Mark was trying to protect his secret identity.

Ann

In the latest Superman movie, Superman was very clearly a Christ figure. It was particularly obvious when Luthor tortured and battered him so badly. I couldn't bear to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", but I thought that the torture that Superman had to endure in "Superman Returns" was meant to remind us both of Gibson's movie and of Jesus' suffering in general. Jesus had to suffer to save humanity and overcome the power of death, and Superman had to suffer in order to eventually save humanity and overcome the power of Luthor. The idea that a man can triumph through pain and death is a particularly Christian idea.

Ann

This is my third post in a row. Oh well.

I don't think that TOGOM is a very important part of the Superman mythology, and I don't think we can use it to prove that Superman died and was resurrected just like Jesus (particularly since Superman didn't die in TOGOM).

However, in the nineties there was a long comic book arc, The Death of Superman and The Return of Superman, where Superman officially died. I read it, and I remember that I was devastated. I particularly remember reading one comic book which ended by saying something like this: There is no information on when or if there will be another issue of the Superman comics.

After a hiatus of several weeks, maybe two or three months, the Superman comics returned. At first they were back without Superman himself, but eventually, Superman was raised from the dead -yes, really, though I don't remember if we were told exactly how it happened. When he came back, he had long Jesus-hair, to boot.

So I guess we can say that, yes, Superman was raised from the dead just like Jesus.

Ann

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy...

They kill off most comic book heroes now and again - I'm slightly out of touch, but Superman has been "killed" at least twice (in the Death of Superman arc it turned out he was in a healing coma indistinguishable from death), I'm pretty sure that Batman is currently dead, Captain America was dead for several months recently, etc. etc.

That's an absolutely fascinating separation of the two halves of the Superman/Clark personality, cookiesmom. One that had never occurred to me to notice until now.

LabRat

You're right. I had forgotten about that, at least consciously. Maybe my some part of me remembered that voiceover and that was what sparked the idea for me.

Good point. Although I hadn't explicitly thought of this with my list, it could be included under the bulleted item that Clark "was a mere mortal, with all the limitations inherent therein." In the Christian worldview, it is believed, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Very true.

A fascinating post, cookiesmom. Thanks! :-)

cheers,
Lynn S. M.

You are very welcome. And thanks to all who have responded in kind -- with analyses that have been thoughtful and have been able to discuss Christianity in a way that is respectful of everyone's beliefs. So far, there hasn't been a flame in sight. That speaks volumes about the FoLCs here. And to think I had been so nervous about starting this thread -- I guess I can change out of my fireproof clothing now. ;-)

cheers,
Lynn S. M.

I'll second that. And the discussion of other possible inspirations for Superman is fascinating. One common theme among them is that from what I've read in this thread so far, at least, everyone who has posted ideas about the inspiration has cited a Biblical character.

I agree. Clark was eager to use his powers for good, but he had no desire to be a leader, and was also very uncomfortable with the adulation he received. While Moses balked at the leadership task, he did take on the responsibility, along with his brother Aaron.

What a cool take on it! I think that is precisely what he was trying to do, although I had never thought of putting it in those words before.

cheers,
Lynn