SUPERHEROES ARE A UNIQUE and deeply ingrained genre of the comic book medium(so much so that there are many who would be surprised to discover that there are other kinds of comicbooks besides superheroes.) Because o this, I’ve always been puzzled as to why there have always seemed to be so few superheroes in Christian comics.
Personally, I grew up reading superhero comic books. I liked them. I still do. And the stories I want to write involve thebasic traditions of that genre: superheroes, supervillains, monsters and aliens. A story’s drama comes from the responsibilities and consequences of the choices the characters make; the more powerful someone is, the more far-reaching their responsibilities and consequences can be. That’s why I want to tell “superhero”stories. There’s a lot of dramatic potential wrapped up in these kinds of characters.
However, I wanted the stories I wrote to reflect a Christian worldview. Soon after I began writing my stories, I realized
why I hadn’t seen many other Christian superheroes— it’s hard to get such bizarre fictional elements to fit together with spiritual truth. This article will deal with the basic problems I encountered while trying to build a “Superhero Universe” from a Christian worldview. Next issue will deal with my attempts at solving those problems.
Are Christian Superheroes Even Possible? Some people might object that, since the Bible doesn’t mention superheroes,no story with a superhero in it could be “Christian”. I disagree with that
line of argument. I believe that it’s possible to reflect the reality of Christian truths even when the “outer details” of a fictional
world are unrealistic. For example, C.S. Lewis wrote various fantasy and science-fiction novels containing fictional details never mentioned in the Bible. The scriptures never state that God created life on Mars or in a parallel world named Narnia. We have no reason
to believe that God has appointed angels to rule over the planets of outer space.
These stories were not records of what God has actually done (we have the Bible for that). Rather, they are stories of what
might have been if God had done things a little differently. And in the stories of make-believe worlds of Narnia or Mars, Lewis powerfully communicated Christian truths and spiritual realities.
“Reality” is the key word here. “Reality” is the key word here.
Many comic books nowadays use “realism” as an excuse for all sorts of stories. On the surface, many of these stories do seem realistic, but if you dig deeper, you find a morally hollow world without any spiritual foundations. It’s easy enough to copy the exterior details of the world around us—crude language, immoral sex, and senseless violence are very evident in our society. However, that’s hardly a full picture of “reality”.
The authors of this kind of “grim and gritty realism” have copied the external appearance, but left the inside blank. The things which give the “real world” meaning and significance—things like right and wrong, sin and forgiveness, and most of all, God—don’t seem to have a place in most modern comics.
For me, the concept of Christian superheroes isn’t any more impossible than Christian science- fiction or fantasy. All it involves is changing one or two external details of reality(such as aliens, or elves, or guys who can bounce bullets off their chests) and then trying to logically show what kind of world would result from that.
What kind of World?
Other comic books have tried to show what would happen if superheroes and aliens were to suddenly appear in the “real world”. How would we react? What changes in society would take place?
However, trying to create a fictional world based on a Christian view of reality adds certain theological questions as well. How would we account for the existence of superheroes or aliens in a world specially created by God? How would the origin of their powers and the role they’ll play in God’s plan for history be explained?
I want to write stories with aliens or superheroes or monsters in a world where the Bible is true. A world where the moral standards of good and evil don’t change according to public opinion. A sinful world in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. These are some essentials that define a Christian world, no matter what weird details we may toss into it (such as superheroes or aliens).
Weird Detail #1:Space Aliens
I’ve really liked the roles extraterrestrials have played in comic books as heroes, villains, and monsters.
However, fitting them into a Christian worldview takes work. If God created intelligent life on other planets, how does this fit in with Biblical theology? Were they corrupted when Adam sinned? If they sin, can they be saved through what Christ did on earth, or would God have to make a different plan of salvation for them?
It’s possible God created life elsewhere in the cosmos and hasn’t told us about it simply because it’s none of our business. But if I write a story about it, then I put myself into the position of having to answer these questions.
C.S. Lewis wrote stories with the idea that God created many alien races, but the human race is the only one that has fallen into sin. It worked well for his stories, but morally sinless aliens can be somewhat... well, boring...as major characters in an ongoing comic book series.
Weird Detail #2: Superheroes
The origin of super powers in a Christian universe needs a lot of thought. In Marvel or DC’s universes there is a fictional world of aliens, evolution, mutants, “gods”, magic, and abstract cosmic beings. It’s easy to explain a superhero’s origin when there’s so many possibilities to chose from. Trying to explain it in terms of a Christian worldview takes more effort.
One explanation could be that a latent quirk of DNA cause some people to suddenly develop super powers when exposed to something like a radioactive spider bite. A problem with this explanation is that this piece of “Super DNA” would have been present throughout history. While it’s possible to totally rewrite the history of our fictional world, I wanted one that was at least generally consistent with our own. The Bible is the record of God’s involvement in history, so if our fictional world’s history is drastically changed, then the Bible would have to be changed for this world as well... and tinkering with sacred scriptures(even “fictionally”) is something I’d rather not attempt. Also, if superpowers were as common back then as they are in today’s comic books, then miracles performed by God’s prophets—and even Christ’s resurrection—wouldn’t seem all that unique or special.
Another explanation is that superheroes are “mutants” representing the next step in evolution...except that such evolution would not fit a consistent Christian view of all life(including humanity) being a special creation by God.
An advanced futuristic technology could be able to explain super powers, but that won’t work if all your stories are set in the present. Alien technology could work, but first you’d have to explain the aforementioned problems with aliens. And of course, if such technology existed, it would probably be kept “top secret” for use by the military, not handed to some guy in tights and a cape to play superhero.
There’s also obvious problems of giving heroes their powers supernaturally. Captain Marvel is a fine hero in his own little fictional world, but the power of Shazam wouldn’t exist in a Christian world where supernatural power comes only from God or the devil. Evil demonic forces would never give people powers to fight evil. And as far as I can tell, God has only given supernatural powers to His prophets and apostles... and they normally have duties to perform other than dressing in spandex and leaping from rooftops to fight crime.
These are a few of the problems faced when trying to make fictional “comic book universes” fit in with a Christian worldview. These problems are difficult to resolve. Difficult, but not impossible.
Join us next time as I share my attempts at doing so.
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