The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters

[astro]

The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters (http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html)

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I like how all the atheists are villains. :rolleyes:

[Captain Amazing]

Not all, though. There are a bunch of atheist/agnostic superheroes on that list. From what I can see, you've got:

Mastadon
Black Widow
Blackhawk
Arsenic
The Savage Dragon
The Atheist (duh)
Booster Gold
Starman
Colossus
Green Arrow
Mr. Terrific
Pete Wisdom
the second Flash
the Hulk

[Ranchoth]

Dr. Leslie Thompkins apparently counts as a "goddess worshipper" because she referred to God as a "she" once.

And "pro-abortion activist" is a religion now, I guess.

And, oddly enough, there are about equal numbers of voodoo-practicing heroes and villains.

And they had Wolverine turn to christianity in the first X-Men series? I missed that on. (Saw him playing pool in a bar on Christmas eve in X-Men Evolution, though.)

[smiling bandit]

I think religion doesn't mean quite the same thing after you've met several deities, championed another, done battle with a few more, and seen the up-close-and-personal handiwork of The God.

It's so much that the villains are atheist. They just don't want to admit theres anything more powerful than themselves. :D it would get in the way of all the fun.

[Trion]

So "hates Spider-Man" is a Religious Affiliation?

Ooooooookkkkaaaaaayyyyy.....

[ArrMatey!]

The way J.J. does it? Oh yeah.

[Mtgman]

I just love the fact that Jimmie Olsen(Superman's Pal) is Lutheran.

Enjoy,
Steven

[JThunder]

I like how all the atheists are villains. :rolleyes:
With all due respect, did you even read the list? Talk about demonstrably false.

[Cliffy]

I haven't looked at this but it's getting a lot of pans in the comics fan community, largely because the operating assumption seems to be that bad guys are atheists unless there's textual support to the contrary and heroes are religious unless there's textual support to the contrary.

--Cliffy

[Diogenes the Cynic]

With all due respect, did you even read the list? Talk about demonstrably false.
Yes, I did read the list but I must have searched wrong or something. There was no category for atheists in the religious groupings and the only atheists I saw were villains. I tried to find hero atheists and I don't know why I missed them.

[cbawlmer]

Oliver Queen is an agnostic/liberal Marxist communist? The only correct part of that is "liberal". Dude died and went to live in Heaven, and his best friend used to be the embodiment of God's wrath. That might not make you a part of a particular religion or denomination, but I think it would rule out agnosticism. He might have socialist leanings, but that's not the same as being a communist.

What kind of list leaves off Battle Pope, anyway? ;)

Also, some of the claims they make have very little evidence backing them up. Check out the reference for Booster Gold. All they have is one person claiming he's an athiest on a webboard somewhere.

Even better, Death of the Endless gets tagged pan-denominational/Mormon because one of the real people her look is purportedly based upon is Mormon. Guess we better call all the comic artists ever and start determining the religions of the models they used!

Hates Spider-Man, GLBT, pro-abortion activist and yoga are all listed as religions. And where can I sign up to be chief priest of the Deviants?

[foolsguinea]

OK, Superman as Methodist I can see. But the thing is, Superman is studiously unaffiliated (or worships Rao, depending on the period). Also, don't you know that "Kent" is as likely an alteration of "Cohen" as an English Methodist name? Jonathan Kent was quite possibly of Jewish extraction.

And Peter Parker--Protesant? As if!

[Taber]

I think I'll go join the church of "fundamentalist Enviromentists"

[cbawlmer]

I think I'll go join the church of "fundamentalist Enviromentists"

Of course! I'm completely convinced that the environment exists. I've seen it with my own eyes!

[Lochdale]

OK, Superman as Methodist I can see. But the thing is, Superman is studiously unaffiliated (or worships Rao, depending on the period). Also, don't you know that "Kent" is as likely an alteration of "Cohen" as an English Methodist name? Jonathan Kent was quite possibly of Jewish extraction.

And Peter Parker--Protesant? As if!

Not sure if this is a whoosh or not but my understanding was that Keny was used as an "everyman" sort of Midwestern name for Superman.

Spiderman strikes me as probably being Catholic rather than anything else. His parents were Richard Parker and Mary Fitzpatrick-Parker.

[Sean Factotum]

Not sure if this is a whoosh or not but my understanding was that Keny was used as an "everyman" sort of Midwestern name for Superman.

Spiderman strikes me as probably being Catholic rather than anything else. His parents were Richard Parker and Mary Fitzpatrick-Parker.
You can't determine the religious affiliation of anyone just by their last name. And re" Remy LeBeau, what the hell is a "Cajun Catholic"? Roman, Greek Orthodox, sure, but not Cajun.

[cbawlmer]

You can't determine the religious affiliation of anyone just by their last name. And re" Remy LeBeau, what the hell is a "Cajun Catholic"? Roman, Greek Orthodox, sure, but not Cajun.

They're the ones with the extra-spicy communion hosts.

[foolsguinea]

If this guy is just mining random internet chatter, then I have to say: I think I started the "Clark Kent is Methodist" meme, largely out of comparison to Bob Dole.

Whatever. Clark Kent & Peter Parker's religious affiliations are officially undefined. Not atheist, not agnostic, not generically Protestant, but undefined. And they were written by Jews. (OK, I'm not sure about Ditko, but Siegel, Schuster, Lee--all Jews.) Some people!

[Lochdale]

They were indeed written by Jews (except for Ditko who was a Catholic) but they wanted them to appeal to the majority of likely readers so they tended to make them more Protestant-like (if that makes any sense).

Aunt May appears to be some sort of Christian and, given Peter's last name and his Mother's name I doubt he is Jewish.

Certain characters in the Marvel Universe are overtly Jewish such as Ben Grimm and Moon Kinght (or at least he was...I think!).

[Skald the Rhymer]

I like how all the atheists are villains. :rolleyes:

Actually I think that, in current continuity, Batman's on record as being an atheist. Which to mean seems a completely unsupportable position (logically speaking) in the DCU--he's met and fought beside (or against) several angels and knows not a few gods.

[Menocchio]

Actually I think that, in current continuity, Batman's on record as being an atheist. Which to mean seems a completely unsupportable position (logically speaking) in the DCU--he's met and fought beside (or against) several angels and knows not a few gods.

In the latest issue of Infinite Crisis, Mr. Terrific declares himself an atheist, to a man wearing clothing fashioned from human souls.

His rationale is that souls (and presumably gods, magic, and other supernatural phenomena) are just poorly understood physical events.

An alternative view is that the supernatural exists, perhaps just as described in human religions, but that the gods are bastards, and not worthy to be worshipped. I daresay Batman falls into this category.

In the Justice League cartoon, Hawkgirl is an atheist, of a strange kind. Her people believe the gods used to exist, but that her people eventually rose up and killed them.

[foolsguinea]

In the Justice League cartoon, Hawkgirl is an atheist, of a strange kind. Her people believe the gods used to exist, but that her people eventually rose up and killed them.I suspect they ripped that off from somebody. It appeared in one of the Star Trek series as a Klingon tradition.

[enigmatic]

I like how they have god (religous affiliation = god) and jesus down under significant supporting characters.
Also lucifer is there, he's down as lord of the underworld.

As some people already pointed out, atheism is kind of a dumb choice when god does actually show up in person all the time (including fantastic four #511 apparently)

[Antinor01]

Why would Superman (or any of the non-human ones) be christian or any other earth religion? They aren't from here so that just doesn't really make sense to me.

[Ranchoth]

His rationale is that souls (and presumably gods, magic, and other supernatural phenomena) are just poorly understood physical events.

An alternative view is that the supernatural exists, perhaps just as described in human religions, but that the gods are bastards, and not worthy to be worshipped. I daresay Batman falls into this category.

Maybe a hybrid view would be that supernatural deities are "real," but that none of them actually created the universe or humanity, although they want people to THINK that they did (or maybe the deities are delusional, and they think they created the universe).

[Askia]

Well, Superman was raised in America from infancy, so his adopting a middle American religious morality isn't that surprising.

[Kat]

I've seen that list before. I'm still disappointed that they left off Jesse Custer and the Preacher crew.

[DocCathode]

I suspect they ripped that off from somebody. It appeared in one of the Star Trek series as a Klingon tradition.
In an episode of Voyager, we see the boat that takes the souls of the dishonored to Grehthor. The boat is helmed by the first Klingon. He killed the gods who created him, the rest of the pantheon made him steer the boat as punishment.

Re The Thing

I was thrilled when it was announced that Ben was Jewish. Then Fenris corrected me. Kirby and Lee meant for Ben Grimm to be a Jew. But, there are plenty of stories with Grimm attending mass, saying confession, etc. Every What If that shows Grimm getting married depicts a Christian wedding. To say 'He's a Jew' is to deny decades of Grimm's being a practicing Catholic.

Re Arthur AKA The Moth

When did Arthur become "The Mothman"? I admit that I only have a handful of Tick issues. But, they all refer to Arthur as "The Moth"

Re Preacher

Crud, OTTOMH I can't recall if Granma and the church in Anneville were Baptist, Lutheran, or Methodist.

Granma- Southern (whichever sect it was) Devout. Has met God

Jesse Custer- former priest. Anti-theist, he believes that God exists and that He is a total bastard.

Tulip- Was resurrected by God and spoke with him. Believes He is full of sh*t. Anti-theist

Pronsias Cassidy- Irish Protestant/Irish Catholic. Lived by maxim "Do you believe in God? Let me put it this way, do you give a f*ck if there's a God?'. Has met God. Considers him to be a wanker.

Allfather D'Aronique-Catholic. Extremely Devout. He guards the Blood Of The Lamb and believes that he is carrying out God's plan.

Herr Starr- Atheist. When confronted with an angel, Starr kicked it in the testicles. He then called for stout men with baseball bats so he could interrogate the fallen Seraph.

Saint Of Killers-Agnostic. Although he has been given power by God and acts under Heaven's mandate, the Saint doesn't care much about God. He later changes his views to Anti-Theist.

Jesus DeSade- Homotheist, he worships himself. Has buggered his way round the local zoo, produces child pornography, urinates into Demi Moore's cleavage at parties

Arseface- Presumed Christian, specifics unknown.

[astorian]

Funny thing is, while I'm a practicing Catholic, atheism and agnosticism are perfectly understandable to me in the real world. It's only in the comic book universe that they seem like ridiculous choices.

In the real world, I can understand how an intelligent person could decide that God is just another superstitious fantasy, like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, etc. But in the comic book world, where vampires, werewolves, ghosts and demons, etc. are REAL, and all the superheroes have SEEN them, it's hard to imagine an intelligent character dismissing the supernatural entirely.

[Ranchoth]

In an episode of Voyager, we see the boat that takes the souls of the dishonored to Grehthor. The boat is helmed by the first Klingon. He killed the gods who created him, the rest of the pantheon made him steer the boat as punishment.

I don't know if Voyager mentioned it, but according to Worf in a DS9 episode, the rest of the Klingon gods are (now) dead, too. (As of about 1400 A.D., or 600 years ago...around the "year one" of the Klingon calander, as I remember.)

As Worf put it: "They were...more trouble than they were worth."

Always liked that quote. :D

[Revenant Threshold]

Funny thing is, while I'm a practicing Catholic, atheism and agnosticism are perfectly understandable to me in the real world. It's only in the comic book universe that they seem like ridiculous choices.

In the real world, I can understand how an intelligent person could decide that God is just another superstitious fantasy, like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, etc. But in the comic book world, where vampires, werewolves, ghosts and demons, etc. are REAL, and all the superheroes have SEEN them, it's hard to imagine an intelligent character dismissing the supernatural entirely.

Less atheism I can understand, but less agnosticism? I doubt it. Evidence of the supernatural suggests possibility, but says nothing about the existence of a set pantheon/supreme deity above all of that (even other "gods"). It's not that agnostics aren't sure of the supernatural, but of the existence of gods. An agnostic could believe in the supernatural and still be an agnostic.