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Superman: Man of Faith
Arguably one of the biggest comparisons people make when thinking of Jesus and Superman is how they have both died and have been resurrected. Superman’s death in the comics was a huge event in 1992 and carried its way over into movies and cartoons over the past few years. The comic tells the story of Superman fighting the creature Doomsday, a creature that is kryptonian in origin. The creature was being contained after the destruction across many planets. The creature broke free and fought some members of the Justice League using only one hand. This brought him to the attention of Superman, where they fought until his eventual death. This comic has inspired many interpretations like the animated movie Superman: Doomsday based on the comic and the episode of the TV series Justice League called “Hereafter”, which was loosely based on his death from the comics. However, the interpretation with the greatest religious themes was his death in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice directed by Zach Snyder.
Much like the comics, Superman dies defending the world from the creature known as Doomsday. This version of Doomsday was created by Lex Luthor when putting General Zod’s body in the genesis chamber on the kryptonian bioship, a reference more than likely to the book of genesis. The comparisons continue, as rather than having Doomsday created many years ago and crash on earth, they chose to have him be made by a man. Having Lex create a monster for which Superman must stop is him dying for the sins of man, in this case, being Lex’s sin of creating Doomsday who Lex describes in the film as “The Devil”. Even when he dies the Christ imagery doesn’t stop, as Superman is killed by Doomsdays arm that looks like the tip of a spear. Another reference to Jesus being stabbed by one on the cross. Superman is also lowered down the ledge he dies on just like Christ being lowered from the cross. They even use his cape to lower him in the same way they use rags to lower Jesus. Crosses can even be seen in the background of the landscape as coincidentally shaped debris from the battle with Doomsday, acting as another bit of added Christ imagery.
Superman’s resurrection however, doesn’t draw on as much imagery of Jesus as his death does. He is later resurrected in the movie Justice League, also directed by Snyder, where the league decides they need Superman to win against the villain Steppenwolf. Although the way he is resurrected isn’t anything like the way Jesus was, and neither was his resurrection from the comics, a bright light is seen shooting into the sky when he is brought back, and he floats up in the air. In many artworks of Jesus coming back to life a bright light does emit from Jesus and he is also seen floating into the air. This imagery could just be a coincidence, but it is something to note about both of their resurrections. Although the other ways in which Superman dies and is brought back don’t match up well with that of Christ, I do feel that Zach Snyder’s films did a good job by using so many comparisons.
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