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The craze started in 1938 with a man in a red cape and underwear outside of his clothes. Wielding extraordinary strength and a strong desire for justice, Superman flew across comic book pages—defeating mob bosses, promoting New Deal programs.
Then came Batman. The Fantastic Four. The X-Men.
Fifty years later, we toted superman lunchboxes to school filled with the perfect ingredients for superhuman strength: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for flying and milk for x-ray vision.
Superheroes and Society
The thing about superheroes is that they might be anyone: a neighbor, the guy in the next cube, even the mail carrier could be a crime fighting genius in disguise.
What if that quiet guy in the office down the hall doesn’t go home at night and watch TV? What if he stands on top of 801 Grand surveying the city, ready to aid those in distress and prevent crime from running rampant?
People have always been fascinated by superhero stories like these, says Matt Johnson, co-owner of Cup o’ Kryptonite, a coffee and comic shop in Des Moines. “I think we tell these stories because they’re engrained in our society, our cultural inheritance,” he says. “Most of them were good versus evil stories. Most of them had some sort of flash to them.”
Superheroes are a combination of strength, bravery, and cleverness. Crowds cheer when they come into view. The local media loves them but never know who they are. Media attention often comes from the flashy, almost theatrical way superheroes save the day. Spider-Man is able to shoot webs from his arms so he can swing from building to building and escape quickly. Batman speeds away in his bat car and uses martial arts to capture his enemies.
“Back in 1938, Superman was created,” Johnson says. “In essence, he was a lower class champion. He actually was dressed more like a circus performer. He had Greco-Roman type clothing. His boots were Herculean.” He fought the villains of the time: monopolies, organized crime, and any threat to “truth, justice, and the American way.”
Superheroes can also offer a glimpse of what we as a society value, who we hope to be. They are champions of justice, above the law, filling in where not-so-super humans fail. “For example, Captain America is not what America is; he’s what America could be or should be or strives to be,” Johnson says. “In that sense, he is quintessential—the embodiment of the American spirit, the best that America can be.”
The Archetype and the Antithesis
Another hero came from humble beginnings. For the first thirty years of his life, few people noticed a real difference in him. He worked with his father, wasn’t incredibly handsome, and didn’t have influential friends.
Like most superheroes, he did miraculous things. He overcame evil, made the sick well, the blind see. People followed him around to see what he would do next. They crowded around him in the streets. A few men cut a hole in a roof to get their friend close to him. (If cameras had existed at the time, he would have been a cover story in the local newspapers.)
Jesus embodied characteristics that the traditional superhero would see as weaknesses. He numbered tax collectors and prostitutes among his friends. He had compassion on every person because he understood that they were all sinful. Jesus was God, but he chose to become human. He gave up his rights as creator of the universe to spend time on earth with people.
Jesus’ death wasn’t met with applause. Before he was crucified, his best friends deserted him. He knew this was going to happen, but he chose to die. Unlike the typical superhero, he took care of the root of the problem: sin. He didn’t just put a few villains behind bars or restore order to a town; he died for those villains so they wouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of sin.
Traditional superheroes teach that justice means taking out the enemy. Christ asked those around him to turn the other cheek, to continually place others’ interests before their own. Jesus asked those who followed him to faithfully proclaim the truth about who he was. They were encouraged to follow his example over the world’s, even though they would be hated for it.
Jesus never denied who he was. He never had an alter ego. He was never a Peter Parker by day and a Spider-Man by night. His character remained. Endlessly questioned by religious leaders of the time, government officials, even his disciples, Jesus never denied who he was or who his father was. His message always pierces the heart of humanity; his character doesn’t bend and flex and change with time.
Costume Change
Before Jesus ascended to heaven he told his disciples that God would send them a helper. Everyone who believes with their heart and confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord would receive the Holy Spirit. God would dwell within each believer. And that’s more than Superman can say.
Although the Holy Spirit doesn’t give powers to fly or see through walls, he does give strength that comes from God alone. Access to this power isn’t gained from changing in a phone booth, but from a life in submission to God. God’s power is made perfect in weakness, transforming lives that are used to impact other people.
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2 Cents:Your Thoughts
Tim Laehn
04/29/2008
14:13:33
14:13:33
Take in the baby bird...baby! What a maaaaarvelous ideeeeea. Tootles.
Matt Crummy
06/22/2008
21:22:37
21:22:37
I've always been a fan of superheros!
17:37:36