Superman :

Superman ( Anti-Christ)
Superman is a reflection of the gospel. Let his fictional story serve to tell a greater story—God’s.

Intro Vid…Superman
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SUPERMAN
In Hebrew, “Kal-El” is interpreted as meaning “voice of God,” where “Kal” is related to the Hebrew word for “voice” and “El” signifies “God.

The Hebrew meaning of Jorel (also Jor-El) is debated, but most sources agree it contains “Jor” or a similar element and “El,” with the latter meaning “God”. Therefore, Jorel could mean “God will uplift,” “God has flowed down,” or “God has descended”

Mother’s name was Mary but changed to Martha

Father ( Jonathan Joseph Kent )

Arrived like Moses

Controls the weather

Hovers over the waters

His “Messianic” public emergence at approx age 30.

Similarities in his birth narrative and separation from his people.

Extraterrestrial Origin: Just as Jesus was sent from heaven, Superman is sent from the heavens of Krypton to Earth.

Mortal Incarnation:

Both are fully or partially human, allowing them to understand and relate to human suffering.

Savior Figure:

Both are selfless figures who offer salvation and reconciliation to humanity.

Public Emergence at Age 33:

Superman’s public life begins around age 33, mirroring Jesus’s crucifixion at that same age.

Symbolic Cross:

In Man of Steel, Superman is shown falling from the spaceship, forming a cross-like shape, symbolizing his sacrifice and role as a mediator between peoples.

“Divine” Identity:

His super-powers are often perceived as god-like, and some speculate the \”el\” in his Kryptonian name (Kal-El) has ties to the Hebrew word for God, though this connection is debated.

Lex Luthor ( Lex = Latin for “Law” )

Ascends up to Heaven

Second, the father’s presence is strong in the life of Superman. His biological father, Jor-El remains present with him in Krypton as well as on earth. He blesses him as he is placed in the space pod. He guides him in spirit. He writes the code of life into his flesh. On earth, he appears to him in Spirit and guides him each step of the way. Even the earthly foster father, Jonathan Kent takes care of Superman, Clark, as if he is his own son. One touching scene is when Clark says something like wishing his earthly father is his father. He replies “I am your father” with a hug. In the prayer of Jesus, John 16:32 reminds us of the words of Jesus: “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” Yes, Superman despite being largely alone in his fight against the Kryptonian villains, the presence of his father is often with him.

Third, there are ample examples of self-sacrifice. Kal-El sacrifices himself, trying to ensure the survival of his son, and as a result becomes distracted and vulnerable to Zod’s stabbing. Likewise, his earthly father Jonathan Kent also sacrifices himself to the horrible twister, in order to preserve Clark’s anonymity and future. Superman eventually follows suit, agreeing to surrender to General Zod in exchange for the safety of the whole world. It reminds me of the beautiful description of Jesus in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “…the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people….”

Surely, handcuffs are nothing. Self-restraint in progress.

Four, Superman shows extreme self-restraint even when he is cruelly bullied and humiliated. It shows his obedience to his father’s words. I remember the scene where some boys try to bully him and challenge him to fight. With great self-control, Clark refuses and his father looks on with approval. It shows me how pleasing the father is more important than trying to even our own things out. Philippians 2:8 reads: “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

Five, saving the weak and the helpless is also the mark of Superman’s life. Among the different soldiers and civilians he save, he also saves the damsel in distress, Lois Lane, several times. Remember how Jesus reaches out to the marginalized during his ministry on earth? While Superman apparently fails to save all, at least his desire to save as many as possible is unquestioned.

Six, Superman despite his superhero status, remains down to earth. Toward the end of the movie, the military was still doubtful of Superman’s allegiance. Superman replies with a cheeky: “I was raised in Kansas, General, so I’m as American as I can get.” Does that not remind us of John 1:14, where it is written: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Like Jesus who dwells among the common people, Clark Kent too lives among humans.

Seven, the way Superman behaves, doing things as quietly as possible, and to live as normal as possible reflects the dual responsibility of Jesus. On the one hand, Jesus is fully human. At the same time, he is fully divine. Superman in a way also walks a tricky balance between being a superhero as well as being human. This lifestyle similarity is worth pondering about. When it comes to us living as Christians on this earth, we can also learn to live like Superman, in the sense that we do good as often as we can. On the one hand, we have God as our Strength and Refuge, our Everlasting Father and Guide. On the other hand, we are to live humbly in our quiet lives, doing the necessary but always with gentleness and love.

Eight, Superman looks to the interest of others. I remember the scene where Superman surrenders himself to the military, and willingly lets them handcuff him. He knows that the handcuffs, the heavily fortified room, and the see-through mirrors cannot contain him. Yet, he willingly thrusts himself to them for their sake, not his. It reminds me of Paul’s teaching to look to the interest of others more than ourselves.

B) Where Superman is NOT like Jesus

That said, there are also many areas where the similarities fall short.

First and foremost is the extreme violence in the movie. Yes, it is true that in a world of war and terrorism, violence is quite a common sight on earth. Yet, the many scenes of violence make this movie less appealing for me. In fact, halfway through the movie, my stomach begins to churn as the continuous destruction becomes a little overdone. Surely the producers can reduce the amount of violence without reducing the impact of the whole storyline. The gospel has descriptions of violence too, but not to the extent the “Man of Steel” has made it out to be.

Second, there is a big difference in the way Kal-El is conceived. Unlike the baby Kal-El, Jesus is not created. Kal-El is conceived by both Jor-El and Lara. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and through the virgin Mary. Jesus is God, not created, and not humanly conceived. Kal-El has a father and a mother in Krypton. We cannot say that Jesus has a father and mother in heaven.

Third, the similarity fails when we compare the place of origin of Superman. While Krypton is a crumbling planet, one that basically survives through exploitation of other planets to sustain their existence, Heaven is not. Heaven is sustained by God, not energy. In fact, God is self-sustaining. Krypton is not. Moreover, the whole concept of Krypton is rather evil. They exploit everything in order to sustain their own way of life. Eventually, they self-destruct when their own exploited planet implodes, bringing down the rest of the galactic outposts with them. Krypton is more hell than heaven. Superman is coming from a kind of hell rather than an everlasting kingdom of Heaven.

Four, there is no free will on the planet of Krypton. Every individual is designed with a specific purpose, programmed into them. General Zod himself is programmed to be a “warrior.” Thus, he is living out his calling as a warrior to protect his people. The analogy fails when we think about God giving every person a free will to choose. If God had indeed designed into every individual a certain program, where then is the freedom of choice? If God has indeed programmed certain will in people, is there such a thing as programmed to kill in order to survive? I understand that this may raise questions about things like God’s will for our lives. There is a certain mystery in this, but the movie makes it too explicit for comfort.

Five, the suit of Superman is way too lavish and flashy, compared to the humble Jesus. Remember how Jesus instructs his disciples to dress simply? With an imposing visible “S” on his chest, and his amazing power of flight and speed, it is starkly different from the humble Jesus who walks everywhere, who rides on a donkey, and who is a lot more human than superhuman. The symbol of Christianity is the cross. The difference is, while Superman flashes his rather fancy S, no one during the first century likes to be associated with the Cross.

Six, Superman works largely alone. He disciples no one, save maybe an instruction or two to Lois Lane or some officers. While he communicates to his father through a conscience of Jor-El, the hologram image is eventually destroyed by Zod. This is in contrast to Jesus who calls 12 disciples, builds up communities, and prays a lot to God his heavenly Father. Such a close Father-Son relationship can never be destroyed. Neither is it a conscience kind of thing. Superman does not make an effort to ask earth people to be like him in terms of superhuman powers. On the contrary, Jesus asks his disciples to be like him in humility and goodness, and to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Seventh, even though Superman exhibits an extreme reluctance to kill, he still inflicts the fatal blow eventually. Jesus lets himself be the recipient of the harshest final blows.The end of the movie shows him battling Zod, fully intent to destroy all with his laser eye beams. After a seemingly lengthy tussle, he finally decides to make his one kill, so that he can save the rest of the people in the vicinity. Come to think of it, there is very little killing on the part of Superman, save for that one final act. For all the right restraint and self-control, there are moments in which Superman actually loses control and fights back like a typical movie hero.

Finally, the theme of salvation, though strong in the Superman movie, is only a small subset of what the gospel actually represents. I l

1. Other-worldly conflict—the movie starts off with a conflict of power in Krypton, the heavenly realm. General Zod, wanting total power of the planet, gathers a number of natives from the planet to confront and overthrow the leaders of Krypton, mainly Jor-el, Superman’s Father. General Zod and his forces fail, however, and are damned to an eternity of punishment. For a time though, they roam about in the universe aiming to disrupt the plans of the Jor-el.

Similarly, the Bible describes a metanarrative of other-worldly conflict where Lucifer—who was the highest ranking angel in God’s kingdom—desires total power like God and leads a war upon God’s establishment. Lucifer takes a 1/3 of the angels from heaven with him in this endeavor, and while they ultimately fail and are damned for eternity, they nonetheless strive to thwart and disrupt the plans of God. (Heb 12:22; Rev 12:3-9).

2. The name of Superman, Kal-El, is actually a Hebrew word, transliterated as “Voice of God”. Similarly, Jesus is referred to as “the Word of God” (Jn. 1; Heb. 1; Col. 1).

In addition, Jor-el also has spiritual meaning because “El” in Hebrew means “God”—however, I’m not going to act like I know anymore Hebrew than “El”, so I don’t know what ‘Jor’ means. I have seen in some sources that it refers to Jehovah, but in others, it was something different.

3. Furthermore, in the back-story of the conflict in Krypton—before Superman comes on the scene—Jor-el encodes the codex, which contains all possibility of life in the heavenly realms, into the blood of Kal-el, Superman.

Similarly, Christianity holds the same notion for life and salvation—that it is only found in the blood of the Son of God. (Lev. 17:11; Rom. 3:23-25, 5:9; Jn. 6:53-56; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7, 2:13; Col. 1:20; Heb. 10:19; 11:28, 12:24, 13:20; 1 Jn. 1:7).

4. Jor-el sent Kal-el to Earth knowing that humanity would reject him, but he did it anyway because it was the only way. In the same way, God sent Jesus to save the world all the while knowing that the world would nevertheless reject him. (Mt. 41:22; Mk. 8:31; Lk. 17:25; Jn. 1:10-11; 15:18-19)

5. Clark Kent waited until the “appointed time” to save the world, at which point he was 33 years old. Similarly, Jesus began proclaiming his lordship and saviorship when he was 30, but actually made atoning salvation for the world when he was 33. (Lk. 3:23)

6. Jor-el commissioned Kal-el to be the “bridge between two peoples”. In response, Kal-el agreed, stated “I will save them”, and then fell out of the space shuttle in the shape of a cross. Similarly, Jesus was commissioned by the Father to be the bridge between God and humanity—the mediator of heaven and earth—through the saving power of reconciliation by the cross. (Eph. 2:15-16; Rom. 5:11; 2 Co. 5:18-19)

7. Jor-el said that it was necessary for Kal-el to go to earth so that he could truly relate to humanity, knowing and experiencing their sufferings, as that would qualify him to be their adequate leader and savior. Similarly, Jesus was Son of Man and Son of God—both humanly and other-worldly—that he might be able to truly relate to us, knowing and experiencing our sufferings, so that he would be qualified as our perfect mediator, leader, and savior. (Heb. 2:9-14; 4:15-16)

8. When General Zod went to destroy Superman and Earth, he erected two giant, magnetic devices on opposite sides of the planet to pulsate a new atmospheric composition and level of gravity—fundamentally reversing the natural order of earth, and making it more like his own dark kingdom. In the same way, the curse of sin under Satan’s rule reverses the natural order of creation—making life morally corruptible and the cosmos inhospitably inhumane. (Gen. 1-3; Eph. 2; Mk. 2:15; Rev. 12:9)

9. The symbol on Superman’s chest “S” actually stands for ‘hope’ in his worldly context. Likewise, Jesus stands as the only hope for humanity, and the clearest picture of that hope is emblazoned on his stretched frame as he hangs at the intersection of the cross, the final junction of justice and peace. (Eph. 2:13-16; Acts 4:12; Jn. 14:6; 1 Jn. 2:2)

10. At the end of the movie, an American general tells Superman that they cannot be sure they can trust him. Superman responds that he is one of them—born and raised alongside them—and that his rescuing of them proves he is for them. But ultimately, they must trust his authority over them is good by remembering his rescue of them was good.

In the same way, Jesus rules with all deserving authority, and we can trust that his authority over us is good because his rescue of us was good. Indeed, Jesus’ suffering for and rescuing of us proves He is for us—this enables us to humbly submit to his authority and know that it is good. (Col. 1:15-20, Mt. 28:18-20, Rom. 8:28-36)

11. Louis Lane, the famous news reporter, has no connection to Mary Magdalene. I asked the director about this, you can trust me, ha. But if anything, Louis Lane resembles the church, the bride of Christ, who is collectively called to participate in his mission by spreading the news of the saving work of Christ to the world. Christians are news reporters—not saviors.