Art and the Kingdom

Art and the Kingdom

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Frankenstein (2025)

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Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) teaches us about death, faith in science, divine hiddenness, and forgiveness.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) is a masterpiece and worthy of an Oscar. In fact, it is nominated for nine Oscars and, without a doubt, will win at least a couple. The film tells the well known story of Victor Frankenstein’s mad, ego driven desires to conquer death, and how, in the process, he creates a monster whom he abandons. I cannot comment on how similar the movie is to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel as I shall have to wait until after grad school to checkmark that off my reading list. However, there are four important themes throughout the film that I wish to comment on: death, faith in science, divine hiddenness, and forgiveness.

DEATH

In the film, Victor has a callous but scientifically brilliant father and a soft and loving mother. The abandonment of his father creates the medical complication that kills Victor’s mother during the childbirth of his younger brother William. This death, and Victor’s failing to save her, puts into him the motivation to overcome mortality. Oddly enough, death may be what motivates all of us in all that we do.

The Pulitzer prize winning archeologist Ernest Becker states, “the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else: it is the mainspring of human activity – activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.”1 He continues, “all culture, all man’s creative life-ways, are in some basic part of them a fabricated protest against natural reality, a denial of the truth of the human condition, and an attempt to forget the pathetic creature that man is.”2

All culture is shaped by death, without it, culture would not exist. Most of our choices are subconsciously shaped by death. Hedonistic pleasure, virtuous pursuits, our stories, our health, our relationships, and our religious devotion (both atheistic and theistic) are all driven by the inevitable future that death overtakes all. Death, it terrifies us into searching for life.

Ancient stories echo this terror. In the Ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh says, “how can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death.”3 The critic in Ecclesiastes groans over death and suffering and its seemingly unfair character, and even states that it is better for one to never have been born at all (Ecc. 4:3). Today, more than five hundred studies demonstrate that we are deeply affected by the terror of our knowledge of our own mortality.4 Death can be a great thing to meditate on (Ecc. 7:4), but we often choose incapable and damaging antidotes when we should choose Him as the antidote.

Victor, while presenting his ability to raise the dead to university faculty, beckons, “God is inept, and we must correct his mistakes!” This causes the university to expel him; however, he finds a funder in Heinrich Harlander, and both turn to science to settle their despair over death.

FAITH IN SCIENCE

Frankenstein has always been taken as a cautionary tale against scientific ambition and the people who, as Elizabeth says, “play God”. Today, the scientific ambition to play God is at an all-time high. Transhumanism, a philosophical movement that seeks the promise of immortality through technologies’ ability to overcome human limitations, is where Victor puts his faith. Today’s pioneers do the same. Oracle cofounder Larry Ellision donated $430 million to antiaging research, and Alphabet CEO Larry Page started Calico with a $750 million investment for life-extension research.5

Some put faith into “brain-uploading”. David J. Chalmers, professor of philosophy and neural science at New York University, states that one day, during the “singularity”, that we will be able to upload our brains to a computer, giving us immortality. However, Chalmers also recognizes that we have no idea how to go about consciousness and therefore, brain uploading. He says, “it is true that we have no idea how a nonbiological system, such as a silicon computational system, could be conscious. But the fact is that we also have no idea how a biological system, such as a neural system, could be conscious. The gap is just as wide in both cases.”6 Transhumanism relies on the metaphysical commitment of materialism, but perhaps we have this wide gap because we are much more than simply material beings.

Any time we reduce man to material, we will end up in evil. Victor states, “In seeking life, I created death.” Instead of seeking life Himself, he created a monster. However, del Toro does not think of monsters as most do.

A MARCIONITE DIVINE HIDDENESS

Del Toro connects more with monsters than with Jesus. He says, “monsters are my religion… my grandma has Jesus. I have Boris Karloff. He was my Messiah.”7 He also thinks of monsters as patron saints and sees Frankenstein as Christ. One only has to look at the striking imagery of the monster being crucified:

However, under this framework, he conjures a Marcionite-like heresy where Victor is a careless and angry creator who gave no thought to what would come after his creation and the creature is Christ whom comes with love and salvation. It seems that the creator is the one who needs forgiveness, not creation. It seems that it seems as though it is the creator’s fault for the suffering we experience and not creation’s rejection of their creator. The creator abandons his creation and his creation yells “VICTOOOOOOOOOR!” The chasm we see between the divine and us is a true reality, but it is not the creator’s fault.

Victor as a child prayed to the archangel Michael as he bowed to a comforting statue of him. However, a bloody, dark angel visits him to inspire his journey of overcoming death. Victor should not be thought of as a God who abandons His creation, rather he should be pictured as Adam and Eve who listened to the dark serpent that told them they won’t die. Victor is us humans who miss the mark in the plethora of ways we try to achieve life.

In the Christian story, it is the Father who had a plan all along to reconcile His creation back to Himself, the plan that the seed of the women would crush the head of the snake (Gen. 3:15). And even del Toro seems to maybe hint at this plan near the end of his film.

FORGIVENESS

Del Toro, a lapsed catholic, cannot rid himself of the Christian ideal of forgiveness. While he may paint God as a negligent creator, the message of forgiveness, that is so central to the Christian faith, is the story’s message as Victor ends saying:

“Forgive me. My son. And if you have it in your heart, forgive yourself into existence. If death is not to be, then consider this, my son. While you are alive, what recourse do you have but to live? Live. Say my name. My father gave me that name, and it meant nothing. Now I ask you to give it back to me… one last time. The way you said it at the beginning. When it meant the world to you.”

The creature responds, “Victor. I forgive you. Rest now, Father. Perhaps now, we can both be human.”

We must forgive ourselves into being. If we do not forgive each other and ourselves, we cannot have life. The Psalmist writes:

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the [f]guilt of my sin. Selah.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance. Selah (Ps. 32:3-7).

If the creature does not forgive, he will waste away along the bitter, groanful road of unforgiveness that leads only to sheol, the realm of the dead. However, once the creature forgives, he is able to look upon the sun, which, as Victor said, is life. May we, through these stories that shadow the real story, realize the forgiveness we have in Christ as His light preserves, delivers, and gives life to all those brave enough to look upon the Son.

  1. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, (New York: Free Press, 1973), xvii. ↩︎
  2. Ibid, 32-33. ↩︎
  3. The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sanders, (New York: Penguin, 1972), 42. ↩︎
  4. Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszcynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life, (New York: Penguin, 2006), 10-11. ↩︎
  5. Arina Eunjung Cha, “Tech Titans’ Latest Project: Defy Death,” Washing Post, April 4, 2015. ↩︎
  6. David Chalmers, “The Singularity: A philosophical Analysis,” in Science fiction and Philosophy From Time Travel to Superintelligence, 2nd. Ed. Susan Schneider (West Sussex, UK: Wiley, 2016), 203. ↩︎
  7. https://bgindependentmedia.org/mexican-director-del-toro-frames-frankenstein-as-a-father-son-psycho-drama/#:~:text=Review%20by%20CARROLL%20McCUNE,doing%20a%20horror%20movie%E2%80%94ever. ↩︎

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Batman V Superman (2016) and its Missed Theological Message – Part 2

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Previously, in part one of this article series, we introduced the argument that the message of Batman V Superman was missed by most of the general audience due to theological…

Previously, in part one of this article series, we introduced the argument that the message of Batman V Superman was missed by most of the general audience due to theological apathy and biblical illiteracy. We then dove into the problem of evil, how the foundation for morality has been stripped away, and how Batman is a Nietzsche inspired Übermensch and Killer of God. We now turn Batman’s redemption in Superman.

WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!

While we all made fun of the infamous Martha moment in Batman V Superman, and while it can come off as cheesy, I do think we missed what Zack Snyder was trying to convey.

Batman hates Superman for not being a man, for being deistic, for not being able to relate or to care for humankind. Batman, while fighting Superman, states, “You’re not brave… men are brave. You say that you want to help people, but you can’t feel their pain… their mortality… It’s time you learn what it means to be a man.” At the end of the fight, when Batman is about to kill Superman, he says, “You were never a god, you were never even a man.”

What Bruce Wayne misses is the fact that Superman is human, that he has emptied himself to become a servant, he has wept, he is a man who knows sorrow well, he can sympathize with our weaknesses, he has felt the pain that the Problem of Evil brings. He is not a deistic god who cares not about his people. Rather He is God in the flesh; he is a God who has a mother. It is at this moment in which Batman’s heart changes. Bruce sees Clark beg to save his mom, Martha. Zack Snyder states:

“The Martha moment… is Bruce’s opportunity to reconnect with his own humanity and the humanity of Superman. Batman doesn’t end the fight because their mothers have the same name, but because he recognizes Superman as someone with a mother, and thus a human, despite his alien origins. The battle against Superman is ultimately Bruce’s realization that he can be better and reconnect with humanity again. It’s not a redemption, or a full change, as he does kill mercenaries at the warehouse in the following scene, but it is a start.”1

Batman realizes that Superman shares his humanity; it is the realization of the Incarnation that changes Batman. He realizes that God is not far from our suffering, but is with us in it! Now while Batman still kills, he does eventually return home to his no-kill rule in the Justice League. He finds his true humanity again, a humanity that is transformed and likened to Superman or to Christ.

Superman and the Death of Christ

The religious imagery and comparison of Superman to Christ is obvious throughout both Man of Steel (2013) and Batman V Superman. One only has to look at the images below to understand what Zack Snyder is doing:

The original creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created Superman as Moses-figure. Superman has since been seen as both a Moses and a Christ-figure. In Hebrew, Kal-El, Superman’s Kryptonian name, means “Voice of God”. In Man of Steel, he is thirty-three years of age when he begins making public his Superhero activities. Another powerful image is when Jor-El (Superman’s Kryptonian father) says to Superman, “You can save all of them.” Superman then extends his arms from his sides in a crucifix before going to save humanity from destruction. The Christ imagery is blunt and obvious.

Another comparison to Christ is the fact that Superman chooses to save humanity. His mother, Martha Kent, states, “Be their hero, Clark. Be their angel, be their monument, be anything they need you to be… or be none of it. You don’t owe this world a thing. You never did.” Superman could easily regret ever coming to earth and forgo the saving of humanity. God could regret that he ever made mankind and flood the earth once again, but he does not! Rather, he willingly submits to suffering:

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put more than twelve legions of angels at my disposal? – Matthew 26:53

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. – John 10:18

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. – 1 Timothy 3:4

Superman willingly chooses to save humankind from Doomsday even though he knows that it will cost him his life. Zack Snyder and the concept artists position religious imagery to evoke Superman as the Christ:

Lastly, one of the most striking symbols is the kryptonite spear. A fan asked Zack Snyder on Twitter why Batman, with all the technology he has at his disposal, chose a spear to be the weapon that kills Superman. Zack Snyder responded:

Again, back to the thesis, the general audience, due to theological apathy and biblical illiteracy, did not understand the religious discussion going on within Batman V Superman! When one grasps the imagery and the tough questions that the movie asks, the movie becomes so much more than just a superhero blockbuster movie. It becomes an exploration of the rejection and willful death of the Godman who became incarnate to bear the problem of evil itself and to redeem those who were lost.

The Justice League as Christian Saints

Batman is the one who was redeemed by the Godman. At Clark Kent’s funeral, the hymn “Amazing Grace” plays in the background. The lyrics go as follows:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I’m found

Was blind but now I see

Batman had become cruel; he had become an Übermensch who thought he could will to power his way out of his nihilism. Bruce Wayne was a wretch who branded and killed his enemies, but he was changed by the Godman. One could say that he was as blind as a bat, but now he sees.

Bruce Wayne, while talking to Diana (Wonder-Woman), states, “I’ve failed him… in life. I won’t fail him in death. Help me find the others like you.” Batman, who failed the Godman, is now honoring him with his life and is commissioned to find the others (the Justice League); one could say that he embarks on a great commission to find those that have been called by the death of the Godman, leaving them an example, so that they might follow in the Godman’s steps.

However, the Justice League knows that they cannot do this without Superman. Bruce states in the Justice League, “The world needs Superman… the team needs Clark.” Even the villains know that Superman is needed. Steppenwolf, in the Justice League, only comes to earth due to Superman’s death. He says, “No protectors here. No Lanterns. No Kryptonian. This world will fall, like all the others.” Without Christ, our world will fail. But Bruce knows that the death of the Godman is not where the story ends.

The Second Coming

In the ultimate edition of Batman V Superman, the Priest during Clark Kent’s funeral cites Isaiah 26:19: “But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise — Let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy — your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.”

In the Justice League, Bruce Wayne and the team believe that Superman will be resurrected and will come again. Alfred asks Bruce how he knows this, and Bruce responds, “Faith, Alfred, Faith.” Now, contrast this with where our current culture is at. I find a quote from Friedrick Nietzsche to be helpful:

‘Whither is God?’ he cried; ‘I will tell you. We have killed him – you and I. All of us are his murderers… Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose’.2

The beginning question, “after 75 years, is Superman still our hero?” is one that I think our culture answers in the negative. In the Justice Leage, Superman returns and states to Steppenwolf that he is a fan of truth and justice. In our postmodern world, truth and justice do not exist; rather they are merely social constructions. For us in the west, we live in a post-Christian world. This drift away from the Christian story has brought along with it skyrocketing numbers of nihilistic behaviors. It has brought with it a meaning crisis where we are drifting in purposelessness. It has brought a world where the death of our loved ones feels meaningless and which forces us to will-to power fake meanings to cope with the Problem of Evil or forfeit, because there is no problem to be fixed, since problems imply purpose and teleology to which our current story provides none. We now live in a world where demons flourish because they smell the “decomposing God” that we have “killed”.

While Batman V Superman is a fictional comic book movie, the Christian story is our reality. Christ did in fact historically die, was buried, and rose to life, and shall return. In the meantime, how do we make the Godman desirable once again? We make Him desirable by putting on Christ, just like we put on the S of Superman, by having faith like Batman, and by following God’s Great Commission to find those that are to follow in the Godman’s steps. As we participate in the life of God, as Christ redeems our fallen human nature, and as we defeat the Problem of Evil, we shall see a culture that is as blind as a bat become awed with the grace and love of their savior.

  1. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zack-snyder-shares-secrets-lost-batman-v-superman-sequels-1287433/ ↩︎
  2. Fredrick Nietzsche, The Parable of the Mad Man, 1882. ↩︎

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Batman V Superman (2016) and its Missed Theological Message – Part 1

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Bad Movie or Missed Message? Batman V Superman, while far from perfect, is an amazing film. However, back in 2016, my friends and I, as well as most of the…

Bad Movie or Missed Message?

Batman V Superman, while far from perfect, is an amazing film. However, back in 2016, my friends and I, as well as most of the world, did not think so. Everyone who saw the film can remember the hilarious memes:

However, since then, I have grasped the theological significance of the movie and believe that Batman V Superman is an underappreciated, underrated, and over hated movie that has a deep theological message that went over the heads of the general audience. This, I think, is due to the theological apathy and biblical illiteracy of our current culture. While Zack Snyder, the director, is well known for his religious imagery in his films, one first must ask if it was Zack Snyder’s intention to make a theologically motivated film. In an interview with CNN, he says:

When we started to examine the Superman mythology, in the most classic sense, I really wanted to press upon the film the ‘why’ of him, which has been 75 years in the making… The Christ-like parallels, I didn’t make that stuff up. We weren’t like, ‘Hey, let’s add this!’ That stuff is there, in the mythology. That is the tried-and-true Superman metaphor. So rather than be snarky and say that doesn’t exist, we thought it would be fun to allow that mythology to be woven through.1

Snyder also posits one of the main questions of the film: “At 75, is Superman still our hero?”2 Zack Snyder builds upon this question by diving into the Problem of Evil, examining our culture’s attitude towards Christianity, by framing Superman as a Christ-figure, and by creating an amazing character arch for Ben Affleck’s Batman.

The Problem of Evil

Lex Luthor, when confronting Superman, exclaims, “See, what we call God depends upon our tribe, Clark Jo, cause God is tribal. God takes sides. No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to deliver me from Daddy’s fist and abominations. I figured out way back if God is all-powerful, He cannot be all good. And if He is all good, then He cannot be all-powerful. And neither can you be.”

Lex Luthor takes directly from Epicurus’ famous argument: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”3

It is not just villains who ask these questions, but biblical authors as well. David writes, “how long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps. 13:1). The prophet Habakkuk asks, “how long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” (Hab. 1:2-3)

It is of great importance to notice that it is okay and even good to ask the questions that Luthor has; however, they do not demand hatred for God nor the logical conclusion that God does not exist. In fact, philosophers distinguish between the logical problem of evil and the evidential problem of evil because the former, the “Lex-Lutherian” form, fails, since it does not logically follow that God does not exist because evil exists. While there are many, many answers to the Problem of Evil, one answer explored by Zack Snyder is the Incarnation. But before we get to that, we must first analyze the current culture.

Christianity as Evil and Outdated

In our postmodern world, we find power to be evil and oppressive; therefore, an all-powerful character such as Superman, or God, must also be evil. Luthor asks Senator Finch, “do you know the oldest lie in America, Senator?” and answers, “it’s that power can be innocent.” Superman cannot be innocent; God cannot be innocent. Lex even goes as far as saying that Superman is a demon. Referring to a painting seen below, he says, “That should be upside down. We know better now, don’t we? Devils don’t come from hell beneath us. No, they come from the sky.”

Another key factor in understanding our culture today comes from one of Zack Snyder’s favorite lines, in which Superman, and traditional morality, is no longer sought after.4 Perry White, the Editor and Chief of the Daily Planet, yells at Clark for writing on the Batman. The dialogue goes as follows:

Perry White: You don’t get to decide what the right thing is.

Clark Kent: When the Planet was founded, it stood for something, Perry.

Perry White: And so could you if it was 1938, but it’s not 1938. WPA ain’t hiring no more. Apples don’t cost a nickel. Not in here, not out there. You drop this thing! Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman.

There no longer exists a foundation for morality in today’s age. The age in which Superman was made (1938) no longer exists, hence why Zack Snyder’s Superman carries a dark overtone and is no longer the hopeful, bright, traditional Superman. It is not just Superman that finds himself in another world, but Batman as well.

The Nihilistic Übermensch and Killer of God

A problem that many fans took with Zack Snyder’s Batman is the fact that Snyder violated Batman’s famous “no-kill” rule. Batman traditionally does not kill; however, Snyder’s Batman kills without hesitation. This is due to the hardened nature of Ben Affleck’s Batman, who is a Nietzsche inspired Übermensch that has gone beyond good and evil. We get a glimpse of why Batman is this way when he stares at what is, presumably, Jason Todd’s Robin suit:

For those that are unaware, Jason Todd was a Robin who was beat to death with a crowbar by the Joker. In the comic book storyline, “A Death in the Family” we see Batman come the closest he ever has been to killing the Joker, yet he does not. Zack Snyder wished to push the Batman character to the edge to explore what Nihilism does to a hero and what the Übermensch is capable of.

Alfred Pennyworth gives us a glimpse into this nihilistic change in Batman when he says, “Oh, yes it has, sir. Everything’s changed. Men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That’s how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men… cruel.” Bruce Wayne, after the death of Jason Todd, feels powerless; therefore, he must transcend his moral tradition, he must go beyond good and evil, he must forge his own purpose and meaning. We see this most bluntly when Batman is dragging Superman on the ground during their battle and says, “bet your parents taught you that you mean something; that you’re here for a reason. My parents taught me a different lesson; dying in the gutter for no reason at all. They taught me that the world only made sense if you forced it to”. In Nietzsche’s world, Batman must carve out his own meaning to defeat his nihilism.

Sadly, what happens when we forfeit the Christian tradition is the death of God and with it, the character death of our heroes. We get a Batman that kills and that wishes to kill God.

See Part Two for an exploration of Superman as a Christ-figure that redeems Bruce Wayne through the “incarnation” and through his sacrificial death.

  1. https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/14/showbiz/zack-snyder-man-of-steel ↩︎
  2. Ibid. ↩︎
  3. Lactantius, De Ira Dei (On the Wrath of God), 1.13. ↩︎
  4. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zack-snyder-shares-secrets-lost-batman-v-superman-sequels-1287433/ ↩︎

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Superman (2025): Who Do We Want Superman to Be?

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In the past two articles in this three part series, I’ve argued that in past Superman movies, Superman was written as a Christ figure, or someone who emulates an important…

In the past two articles in this three part series, I’ve argued that in past Superman movies, Superman was written as a Christ figure, or someone who emulates an important aspect or aspects of Christ’s character, mission or identity. For the newest movie, Superman (2025), I’ve made the case that this Superman is not a Christ figure, and is instead more of a humanist or existentialist exemplar.

But, so what? So what if this Superman is more humanist than messianic? For those that enjoyed the movie (and I certainly did too), this whole article might seem like another pointless addition to the never ending culture war. Superman (2025) is supposed to be a fun summer movie that you enjoy for the visuals and don’t think too deeply about. Right?

The truth is, very few (if any) instances of art and media are truly neutral, philosophically speaking. The significant changes to Superman’s origins and character were clearly deliberate. And if deliberate, then they were likely motivated by a philosophical stance or agenda. Our art, including “fun summer movies”, shapes us and forms us as people. The messages in our movies, shows and literature inform and influence our worldviews. So as Christians, we need to be constantly mindful and vigilant of all the implicit messages that any story, even the fun and silly ones, is trying to communicate. 

Christian Existentialism

So what do we do with this new Superman? Must Superman be a Christ figure to be acceptable? First, it must be said that existentialism isn’t an inherently bad philosophy. There were some Christian existentialists, such as Søren Kierkegaard, Blaise Pascal and Fyodor Dostoevsky. They generally upheld the importance of personal choice. Pascal, for example, is famous for “Pascal’s Wager”, which encourages people to believe in God even in the absence of evidence, as rejecting God could have dire consequences. 

And some existentialist views do correspond to Christian teachings. Existentialism teaches that your choices make you what you are. We can find a similar theme in 2 Peter 1:3-11. Here, Peter tells us that though God has “given us everything we need for a godly life”, we are to “make every effort” to complement our faith with various spiritual virtues. These virtues “will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Whoever does not have them is “nearsighted and blind”. So in some sense, we are responsible for the formation of our own character, and it is up to us (though of course with the help of God’s grace) to make the right choices in order to be a virtuous person. 

This means that there are many positive lessons to learn from Superman (2025). Just like Clark, none of us have a choice when it comes to the parents we have, or the situation we are born into. But we can make the right choices despite our origins, as Clark did. No matter how ungodly or godly our household was during our childhoods, for example, it is up to each of us individually to accept God’s free gift of salvation and choose to obey Him. 

Sisyphus or Savior?

On the other hand, Superman has long been a prominent Christ figure (at least in the movies). One less Christ figure in media means even less Christian influence in contemporary entertainment. And Superman (2025) is not alone. Shows like Invincible and The Boys turn “superman” figures into ruthless conquerors or morally bankrupt, egocentric frauds. These shows teach that you can’t trust the Christ figures. Rather, people must abandon hope in salvation from above and embrace the existentialist idea that you can only save yourself. 

Maybe we as Christians don’t want every single character in our media to be just another flawed human being. Maybe we do want Christ figures in our films, shows and literature. At least, we might sometimes want stronger, more explicit Christian themes in our entertainment rather than just generic ethical messages that can apply to any worldview. The less Christ figures we have in our media, the less interested our culture might become in Christ. The more the gospel gets squeezed out of our stories, the more our entertainment becomes the salt that has lost its taste, or the light which is hidden under a basket. 

Maybe Superman doesn’t have to be messianic for us to enjoy him. But surely we want some character out there to remind us of Christ. 

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Superman (2025): Who is Superman Now?

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In the last article, we saw that Christian theology heavily influenced Superman’s origin story and character in past movies. Superman’s benevolent parents send him to guide humanity and be a…

In the last article, we saw that Christian theology heavily influenced Superman’s origin story and character in past movies. Superman’s benevolent parents send him to guide humanity and be a “light” to them. 

Superman (2025) turns this Christian message on its head. At first, it seems as though Clark’s Kryptonian parents are exactly like the Jor-El and Lara (Superman’s mother) of past portrayals. In the Fortress of Solitude, Superman’s Arctic base, Clark listens to a message from his parents. This message definitely seems messianic. Lara explains, “we have searched the universe for a home where you can do the most good and live out Krypton’s truth.” Jor-El then says, “that place is Earth”. Unfortunately, the message is damaged and only a portion of it can be played. 

So far, so good, right? Well, it turns out that Superman’s parents didn’t really have the best intentions in mind for Earth. Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor later exposes the missing portion of Jor-El and Lara’s message, revealing a sinister, imperialist plot. 

Jor-El tells his son, “The people there (Earth) are simple and profoundly confused, weak of mind and spirit and body.” So Jor-El commands Superman to “lord over the planet as the last son of Krypton” and to “rule without mercy”. Lara twists the knife with this spectacular advice: “Dispatch of anyone unable or unwilling to serve you, Kal-El. Take as many wives as you can so your genes and Krypton’s might and legacy will live on in this new frontier.”  

Message Denied

Obviously, Clark and the denizens of Earth don’t receive this message so well. So, a distraught Clark turns to his adoptive human father, Jonathan Kent, for advice. Jonathan, in a tenderhearted tone that reflects his down-to-earth wisdom, tells his son that “parents aren’t for telling their children who they’re supposed to be”. 

We can already see how Superman (2025) changes Clark’s Christian origins somewhat radically. Instead of godlike, benevolent parental figures, Clark’s Kryptonian parents are chauvinistic and authoritarian. Clark’s messianic mission is nothing more than an imperialist plot. And we learn that not only should Clark’s biological parents be rejected as moral guides, but actually no parent should tell their children who they’re supposed to be (including divine parents?). It’s not hard to see how these are all significant departures from the Superman of previous films. 

Superman turns more humanist as Jonathan Kent reveals more of his philosophy of identity. Jonathan says, “Your choices, Clark. Your actions. That’s what makes you who you are.”

Sartre’s Superman

Students of existentialism will recognize this message very quickly. It is the classic existentialist motto, “existence precedes essence”. Existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre taught that the fact that you exist (existence) comes before facts about what you are (essence). In other words, you start off in the world as an existing thing, but we have no idea what kind of thing or person you are. Why? Because it is your own choices that define what or who you are. Until you start making your own choices and defining who you are for yourself, you are a blank slate, and your essence is indeterminate. 

In his book Existentialism is a Humanism, Sartre explains his philosophy in detail. He writes, “What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? (…) If man as the existentialist sees him is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself”.

This view sharply diverges from traditional philosophy, which holds that essence precedes existence. For example, there is such a thing as a universal “human nature” which human beings participate in or take on when they are conceived. But Sartre writes, “there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it”. Beyond rejecting traditional philosophy, this statement illuminates the atheistic element of Sartre’s existentialism. It also closely relates to Superman’s origins in Superman (2025). 

Kryptonian Enlightenment

As we saw, in stark contrast to the previous Superman films, Superman does not have benevolent, quasi-divine parents to define his identity and mission for him. His parents, like all forms of “organized religion”, turn out to be moral frauds, and Clark must cast their teachings aside. Since he has no guide (like Sartre has no God), Clark must figure out the meaning of life for himself.

As Clark himself declares to his nemesis Lex Luthor at the climax of the movie, “I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices I can. I screw up all the time. But that is being human. And that’s my greatest strength.” 

Maybe nobody created Superman’s new origin story with an anti-religion or anti-theist agenda. But it’s still telling that Superman (2025) not only replaces Superman’s Christian origins and mission, but conspicuously and intentionally subverts them. 

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Superman (2025): Who Did Superman Used to Be? 

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In the newest movie, Superman is much less of a Christ figure and much more of an existentialist hero. Whether or not this change is welcome will depend on what kind of character we want Superman to be. I’ll explore all these questions in a three part article series, beginning with the theme of Superman as a Christ figure in past Superman films. 

Do we want a Christlike Superman or a humanist Superman? The (relatively) new movie Superman (2025) depicts Superman in a way that challenges previous film portrayals of this classic superhero, such as the movies Superman (1978) and Man of Steel. Underneath the colorfully diverse cast of comic book characters, and the bright and chaotic superpowered fights, there are interesting questions to be explored in light of this film’s reinterpretation of Superman’s character, origins and philosophical significance. 

In the newest movie, Superman is much less of a Christ figure and much more of an existentialist hero. Whether or not this change is welcome will depend on what kind of character we want Superman to be. I’ll explore all these questions in a three part article series, beginning with the theme of Superman as a Christ figure in past Superman films. 

The Ghost of Superman Past

Should we think of Superman as a Christ figure? By “Christ figure”, I mean a person who embodies or represents some important aspect (or aspects) of Jesus Christ’s messianic character, identity and/or mission. For example, C.S. Lewis’s character Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia is a very clear example of a Christ figure. Aslan sacrifices himself to save Edmund’s life, and then later resurrects from the dead. 

So, is Superman like Aslan? Does Superman resemble Christ in any significant way? In old film portrayals of Superman, I think the answer to this question is a definite “yes”. In the newest rendition of Superman, or the movie Superman (2025), I think the answer to this question is “not really”. Again, in this film, the theme is way more humanist than it is Christian. But before we can explore this thematic subversion, and why it matters, we must travel back in time to see how older films depicted Superman as a Christ figure. 

It is not hard to see the Christian elements of Superman in films like Man of Steel and especially Superman (1978). The character of Superman naturally has messianic undertones, as he is a godlike being who can fly, is nigh invulnerable, and who has all sorts of other overpowered abilities like super strength, super speed, and heat vision. He also spends his free time flying around Metropolis saving people. If that wasn’t enough, his typical origin story is that his parents sent him from the dying planet Krypton to Earth to guide humanity and give them hope. This sounds a lot like what a divine Messiah might do.

 

Man of Steel and the Messiah

Take Man of Steel, for example. In this movie, Clark Kent (his Kryptonian name is Kal-El) boards a Kryptonian ship in the Arctic and talks to Jor-El, his Kryptonian father, who is now just an Artificial Intelligence aboard the ship. 

“The people of earth are different from us, it’s true. But ultimately I believe that’s a good thing,” Jor-El says. “They won’t necessarily make the same mistakes we did. Not if you guide them, Kal. Not if you give them hope.” 

Jor-El explains that the “S” symbol, Superman’s symbol, means “hope”. He says, “Embodied within that hope is the fundamental belief in the potential of every person to be a force for good. That’s what you can bring them.” 

So here, Superman is meant to give humans guidance and hope. Specifically, he’s tasked by his father to carry out this spiritual mission. Jor-El tells his son, “You’re as much a child of Earth now as you are of Krypton. You can embody the best of both worlds.”

Sound familiar? John 1:14 declares “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”. And Philippians 2:6-7 says that Jesus “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

So just as Clark is Kryptonian, yet can also identify with humanity, Jesus is fully divine and fully human. 

The Savior in Superman (1978)

Superman (1978) presents Superman as even more of a Christ figure. In this movie, Jor-El tells Clark, “It is now time for you to rejoin your new world and to serve its collective humanity…They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son.”

Two of Jor-El’s terms here are conspicuously Christian. First, Clark is to be a “light to show the way”. In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Second, Jor-El sends his “only son” to be this light for humanity. This echoes John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Back to the Future

All in all, it seems pretty clear that past portrayals of Superman in film have presented him as a Messianic, Christlike figure who is sent to Earth by his father Jor-El (a parallel of God the Father) to guide and save humanity. 

But as we’ll see, this is not at all how Superman’s origins play out in Superman (2025). In this movie, Superman’s parents are a lot more like Nazis than they are like God the Father, and the mission they give Superman is malevolent, not messianic. This revision of Superman’s origin story fundamentally changes Superman’s philosophical and religious significance.

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