Christian superheroes?

Cafe Society
1

I’m just getting back into comic collecting after a hiatus of a few years, and recently reread my copy of The Amazing Spider-Man, Annual #21, wherein Peter and Mary Jane get married. On this reading, I was struck by the fact that they were married by a judge, on the courthouse steps, rather than by a minister in a church.

Peter’s Aunt May is portrayed in the movies as a Christian woman. I felt that the movie characterizations were remarkably faithful to the comic books, so I assume that May is a Christian in the books as well (it’s not mentioned in any issues I own, so I assume it was at least alluded to at some point in the past.) So I thought it odd that Peter was not married in a church.

That all made me realize that, despite the obvious religious trappings of a number of characters (“god” characters like Thor, other pagan characters, etc), I had never actually seen an acknowleged Christian superhero. It seems to me that, because so many heroes are just everyday people in their “secret identies”, at least some of them would be Christians. Christianity is certainly acknowleged in the comics, as seen in the number of funerals officiated by Christian clergy. With so many mutants out there, some of them ought to be Christians, too.

So are they non-existent, or have I just missed them? The only character who comes to mind is Daredevil, but since I didn’t actively follow his book except when he was involved in crossover events, I can’t say for sure. I’ve seen some hints - he used a church as his base in the movie (and in the comic, too?), and in Daredevil #257 Typhoid Mary says to The Kingpin, about Daredevil, “… if that doesn’t rip the merry Christian’s heart out, nothing will.” Of course, there’s also the independent character Avengelyne, who is accompanied by a priest, but she seems to be an angel, rather than a human Christian.

2

Well, there’s Nightcrawler, from “The X-Men,” who’s always been portrayed as a devout Catholic.

3

Don’t forget Daredevil who (in the movie at least) always goes to church after killing or maiming a bad guy.
But then, a lot of superheroes are driven by a “revenge thing” and that isn’t very Christian, is it?

4

Never mind, you already mentioned DD.

5

How about Willie Aames as Bibleman?

6

If you read any issues taking place near Christmas or buy any holiday specials, it becomes clear that most superheroes are Christians.

OTTOMH

The Fantastic Four- Kirby had originally meant for the Thing to be Jewish, but as he’s been spotted confessing his sins to priests over the years, it seems that he’s Catholic.

Many of the X Men- As mentioned Nightcrawler is a devout Catholic. Wolfsbane is devout Irish Catholic. Shadowcat (and possibly Colossus) is Jewish. Wolverine is an atheist. Storm seems to be some kind of pagan. I have an issue with the priest who baptized Cannonball, But I can’t recall which sect he was a member of (As Cannonball is from coal mine town in West Virginia, I’m guessing Baptist). Everybody else is generic Christian.

The second Ghost Rider, Dan Ketch is Christian. After a loved one dies, Dan’s mom spends a lot of time in church and is eventually deceived by the evil Reverend Styge.

Cloak and Dagger- In one issue, Dagger remembers participating in a nativity pagent as a girl. She also wishes Cloak, her partner for many years, merry Christmas rather than some other holiday wishes. Which leads me to believe that he’s Christian as well.

Firebird/La Espirita, a member of the Avengers, is definitely Christian. While she never accomplished much in the superhero arena, she did find Hank Pym ( Antman, Giant Man, Yellow Jacket, a founding member of the Avengers) holding a loaded gun to his head and was able to talk him out of suicide through witnessing.

In The DC Universe

Azrael- He is the latest in a line of avenging warriors trained by the order of St Dumas. Occasionally, Dumas appears to him in visions. There are times when Azrael is unsure whether this is divine guidance, or hallucinations caused by the mental conditioning that his father performed upon him.

I’m sure I’ve missed plenty of the obvious heroes. But, It’s late and I have a headache.

7

The Thing is Jewish, but Colossus isn’t. I believe Magneto is Jewish too, and also possibly Professor X.

I think Nightwing (Dick Grayson) is Christian, or at least some artist drew him once with Christian rock band CDs or posters in his room.

The Huntress (Helena Bertinelli) is Catholic, and wears a crucifix around her neck.

Superman definitely celebrates Christmas, and was probably raised Christian by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas.

I don’t think Aunt May was ever portrayed as devoutly Christian in the comics, at least not before the Spider-Man movies came out.

8

Son O’God would appear to be Christian.

9

Jim Corrigan, the original JSA’s Spectre, was raised an evangelical Christian, lost his faith, but regained it when he died and became a vessel of the wrath of God. He struggled for many years to come to terms with God and his (and His) mission. Jim’s now retired and in Heaven.

Kitty Pryde (of various code names and X-Teams) is Jewish, and famously burned Dracula with a star of David.

Zauriel (who was briefly in the JLA) was an angel and explicitly invoked Christ like Wonder Woman called up Hera.

Azrael’s Order of St Dumas was heretical at best. They can’t really be identified with any real religious group (they were close to what the Templars were accused of becoming).

Hmm… I sense a theme here. Marvel has more characters who are religious as a character point, while DC has more characters who are explictly about mythological and religious themes (Thor being an exception).

10

What about Larryboy of VeggieTales fame? It is a bunch of kids videos, but he is a cartoon superhero.

11

ISTR a story about the Fantastic Four where the artist has a drawing of Ben Grimm in at least a yarmulke and tallit. I don’t remember where I saw the article, though.

And according to the IMDB, Magneto is Jewish. At the beginning of the original X-Men movie, he’s shown as a young boy being herded through a concentration camp.

Robin

12

The artist in question is Jack Kirby. As I said, Kirby always intended for Ben Grimm to be Jewish. But, AFAIK that was never explicitly shown in the comics. Over the years, other writers have had The Thing put up Christmas trees, attend mass and go to confession. I’ll try to find the thread in which I discussed this with Fenris.

We also discussed Magneto. For a while, some writers attempted to maintain an ambiguity as to whether Magneto was Jewish or Rom. It was finallly shown that Erik Lensherr is a false identity, and that Magneto is Jewish.

13

Rick Jones (perpetual Marvel Comics sidekick) married his fiancee Marlo in a Christian ceremony in an issue of The Incredible Hulk. Made memorable because the Christian minister/father/pastor was drawn to resemble writer Peter David, who’s Jewish. :wink:

14

There’s a superhero team in Kurt Busiek’s Astro City called the Cross Breed. They’re sort of like the X-Men, but with religiously-themed powers and codenames.

Wolfsbane (New Mutants) was a Presbyterian.

15

I think the fact that so many of the great comic creators were Jewish (Lee, Kirby, Gaiman, all the classic DC people) has something to do with the fact that not many of their creations are either openly Christian or Jewish.

16

Damn, krokodil. I should’ve remembered the Crossbreed myself – for the record, they are Noah, Peter, Daniel, Mary and Joshua. Oh, well… there’s the Confessor and Altar Boy. Religiously named, Biblically attired – they operate out of a deconsecrated church – vampire priest and his young holy warrior!

The Samaritan is named for the Biblical character. but it’s unknown about his religious views.

There is a religious villain called the Deacon who’s involved in Astro City’s organized crime…

17

Hotspur, in the Zenith series that ran in 2000 AD, was definitely Christian: he was portayed as a ranting, fundamentalist bigot who came to a nasty end. Slaine, on the other hand, was most definitely a pagan.

18

Ben Grimm is definitely Jewish.

19

That wasn’t the article I remember, but it’s nice to know I’m not crazy. (Thanks also to DocCathode for Jack Kirby’s name.)

Robin

20

Zauriel?

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