Did ‘The Man of Steel’ Steal Jesus?

Hollywood loves to demean Jesus.  Now that Superman: Man of Steel is about to burst onto the big screen, movie maven Ross McD of Movie Battleground is attempting to unravel the supernatural symbolism associated with Superman.

Ross engaged Zack Snyder, the director of Superman: Man of Steel, to quiz him about what Ross McD calls “Kal-El’s …religious baggage.”

According to a smarmy Ross, Superman is Jesus because Superman and his father Jor-El have a beard.  Superman and his dad have superpowers.  Superman’s dad sent him to Earth to save humanity from itself and to “be a god to them.”  Superman was born in a stable, his earthly father was a tradesman, and Superman’s earthly mother obviously wasn’t seen around the neighborhood in maternity clothes.

When earthly people were cruel to Superman he remained kind.  Not to mention walking on water, the betrayal for money, the unselfish sacrifice of his life at 33-years-old for the good of mankind, and all the religious inferences and symbols, like Superman striking the crucifix pose.Man_Of_Steel_SupermanTrailerPic14.jpg

Interviewing Snyder at Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles, Ross McD, insulting Jesus and all, probably didn’t expect the serious answers Snyder provided him with.

After all, Ross writing that one of the reasons Superman is like Jesus is “He’s friends with Batman,” and because Superman “Punches Darwinites who believe ‘evolution always wins,’” clearly shows that Ross McD wasn’t making a serious connection.

Snyder was a little more thoughtful and acknowledged the Biblical comparisons, then said, “I think the relationship between Jesus and Superman is not a thing we invented in this film, it is a thing that has been talked about since the creation of Superman.”

According to Snyder, “in a weird way,” Superman’s resemblance to Jesus was probably “talked about more when Superman was created than it is now.”

Maybe that’s because society superman-is-based-on-jesus-christhas seen to it that Jesus is majorly uncool – just ask Ross McD.  Zack Snyder said that Superman’s resemblance to Jesus is “one of those things mythologically you take for granted, a little bit.”

You mean like Ross McD associating Jesus with Superman because the Man of Steel is “Mortal enemies with an evil dude with a goatee?” That kind of taking-for-granted?

Waxing mythological, Snyder said that personally he tends toward the fairy-tale nature of the Man of Steel story but said “I think it’s drawing on all mythology: comic book, religion, ancient, philosophical.”

Clearly, the Movie Battleground snarkster wasn’t interviewing Zack Snyder to engage him in thoughtful conversation about the Biblical Jesus, but instead was using sarcasm as a vehicle to démodé Jesus Christ to a cartoon character who, as Ross put it, “[d]idn’t use his superpowers to kick [his enemy’s] asses.”

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