Comic Book Religion: Which is your favorite?

[Gxg (G²)]

In case anyone is interested, a fellow with 'way too much time on his hands has deduced the religion of most superheroes from story clues:

Religion of Comic Book Characters (esp. Super-Heroes)

Appreciate you sharing that - although in the event it was missed, that resource/others were given earlier:

I'm not aware of any. Do you have a list handy?

There's actually a fascinating website that does an amazing job covering all the major religions within the world of comics - as seen here in the following:

• ComicBookReligion.com: Comic Book Religion Database (religion of super-heroes)

• Religion of Comic Book Characters (esp. Super-Heroes)

That said, the resource is still fascinating when seeing how in-depth things go...

Back in the Silver Age when I was actively reading comics, besides the obvious ones that were gods or demi-gods in themselves (Wonder Woman, Thor, Darkseid, et cetera), the one I knew for sure was Ben Grimm, who was easily deduced as Jewish even back then.

Ben Grimm being Jewish is something that's pretty amazing. Of course, what many don't realize is that a lot of the heroes in comics were Jewish.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

Are there any Christian super hero characters in comics? The only one I can think of is Nightcrawler in X-men.

From what I understand, Elektra (who began in the Daredevil series) is one of the main ones who is strongly identified as a Christian.

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To be specific, she's a lapsed Orthodox Christian - but I could show some grace due to her backgrounds....even as an assassian for hire who was amazing. Elektra has never been depicted as a devout Greek Orthodox Christian or a regular churchgoer. This is not surprising given her profession as an assassin. But Elektra is a morally complex character.

here was one comic pic I was thankful for which showed a pic of an Icon her parents had in their home when she was growing up. Specifically, from the Daredevil series, we see an icon of (presumably) St Cyprian in the home of young Elektra Natchios (better known simply as Elektra) during a lengthy flashback sequence (as her parents were involved with organized crime at some point):

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I like Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series, if one considers anthropomorphic personifications and metaphysical topics as religious.

Never heard of The Sandman series....although it seems fascinating. What specific aspect of the series did you enjoy on the matter? From what I could understand, it did seem rather dark in nature..

 

[Gxg (G²)]

The character was first a toy from Ideal. Originally, CA could become "any" superhero (meaning of course "any" for which Ideal had a license). You'd buy the basic character in that blue and black costume, and then separately buy the kits for the other characters -- Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Captain America, Sgt. Fury, Spiderman, the Phantom, the Lone Ranger, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, a few others.

The comic book retained the name and the costume, and in a few panels of the first or second issue, the "Silver Streak" amphibicar, but NOTHING else from the toy line.

The concept in the comics was that CA was archaeologist "Clive Arno" (apparently somehow with Bruce Wayne level money and scientific skills) who with his associate "Krellik" (a Luthor lookalike) discovered a strange site: In a single location, it showed evidence of a dozen or more different cultures from around the ancient world. They came upon a cache of coins, each bearing the face of a different ancient god.

When Arno buffed the coin of Vidar to a pristine shine, he suddenly felt strange, stumbled out of his tent, and somehow realized he could almost effortlessly lift their Jeep over his head.

To speed up the process of cleaning the coins, he and Krellik used some kind of "ionizer" machine. Apparently the beings that left the coins anticipated just such an action, because the energy triggered an immersive holographic message. The "gods" were actually extraterrestrials called "Apsu." They had decided to leave the earth, but elected to leave behind tokens of their presence and power, mainly the coins, which would imbue any *worthy* holder with many of the powers of the featured deity. (Of course, being DC, especially in the '60s, they couldn't have a hero more powerful than the Big Blue Boy Scout, so CA could only have the powers of six gods at a time, because he could only carry five coins in the compartment in his belt, plus one in the lining of his hat -- even though one would have thought the wisdom of Odin could have come up with something WAY better than that. And in the third issue, they "depowered" him even further by having all the coins except four get lost in an earthquake. He kept the three that fused together -- Zeus/Thor, Herakles/Vidar, and Heimdall -- and gave his son Hermes/Hermod, basically turning him into another Kid Flash.)

One thing that seriously annoyed me even as a kid was that the writer decided all the gods from all the pantheons were really the same, but known by different names. So Zeus was Thor, Vidar was Herakles, Ares was Tyr, etc.

The series only ran for five issues, and apart from the first issue, maybe the second, I don't recall any other evidence of the larger DC continuity.


The "New Gods" quadrilogy (Is that a word?) originally ran only about a year (less for a few titles, 14 months for Mr. Miracle, IIRC). But the characters and approach influenced DC forever.

Fascinating - so his religion was to have the power of all known pantheons which left behind tokens to empower those worthy of them essentially?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

It's quite possible that the Greek icon in Elektra is just an attempt to add "ethnic flavor" to the scene, so readers see at once that they are not in their familiar cultural setting.
The writer might not have intended any actual religious implications - but of course, this does not mean that they're not there, if readers see them.

Meaning in a text is not ultimately determined by the person penning it.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Nightcrawler from the X-Men has always been depicted as a devout catholic (even in the Big Screen adaptation X2), becoming a priest at some point, if memory serves:

It's a relatively obvious choice, given that Nightcrawler looks like an archetypical demon and made his first appearance being persecuted by a superstitious mob. It ties well into the whole "appearances can deceive"-angle, and furthermore makes for some interesting character arcs.

They took it a bit too far when they established that his father was an actual demon, though:

They seem to be aware of just how poor of a choice this was, though, as he's rarely been mentioned.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

To me, the most fascinating character in Gaiman's Sandman-Series has always been Death, Dream's older sister:

She goes totally against the grain of what our culture has come to associate with the archetype. She is not menacing, no Grim Reaper, and her touch can be kind.

(There's a theory that the archetype of Death owes its current shape in our collective consciousness to the trauma of the Black Death, roughly seven hundred years ago, when people all across Europe died like flies and it did indeed seem as if someone was taking a scythe to the populace as if they were a field of wheat.)

 

[TerranceL]

RE:Christian comic book characters, pretty sure Captain America is a christian.

Captain America - "Only one GOD" Awesome Line!!! - YouTube

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

RE:Christian comic book characters, pretty sure Captain America is a christian.

As a living stereotype, it'd be almost impossible for him not to be.

It gets more interesting with characters such as Reed Richards, who is alternately portrayed as an atheist and a Christian, sometime affirming his belief in God and sometimes declaring his disbelief.

 

[TerranceL]

As a living stereotype, it'd be almost impossible for him not to be.

It gets more interesting with characters such as Reed Richards, who is alternately portrayed as an atheist and a Christian, sometime affirming his belief in God and sometimes declaring his disbelief.

I am reminded that there is a wiki for just about everything... goodness.


Characters by Religion - Marvel Comics Database

For those unfamiliar with marvel mythology, "Earth -616" means it's part of the "base" dimension where we find most marvel characters and storylines.

 

[gord44]

I have been reading a lot of Star Wars comics lately and I am reminded how similar the Force is to Taoism or Zen Buddhism. Non emotion, non attachment, etc. The force is portrayed as something out there, that surrounds us and binds us. Something one can tap into if they still their mind. Very similar to the idea of the Tao.

On the opposite side, the dark side embraced by the Sith is all about emotion. Getting scared, angry and hateful. As yoga says....Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

 

[RDKirk]

There was a cross-masthead storyline in Marvel a number of years ago in which a super villain used the superheros' faiths against them -- any and all faiths--and it was revealed as part of the plot which Marvel characters had a faith of any kind.

 

[TerranceL]

There was a cross-masthead storyline in Marvel a number of years ago in which a super villain used the superheros' faiths against them -- any and all faiths--and it was revealed as part of the plot which Marvel characters had a faith of any kind.

The Infinity Crusade!

I remember that.

Infinity Crusade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Gxg (G²)]

The Infinity Crusade!

I remember that.

Infinity Crusade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That event seemed reminiscent of how trials are designed to test our faith and shape us in where we stand - or helping us see where we all truly stand. It was essentially an arc dealing with science vs. religion.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I have been reading a lot of Star Wars comics lately and I am reminded how similar the Force is to Taoism or Zen Buddhism.

I'm not aware that Taoism preaches "non-emotion". I don't think that it actually does.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[gord44]

I'm not aware that Taoism preaches "non-emotion". I don't think that it actually does.


eudaimonia,

Mark

I've read the Tao Te Ching twice in the last week and I get non-emotion from it. Maybe not what you're thinking, but the whole book screams 'chill out' and don't worry about stuff.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

Nightcrawler from the X-Men has always been depicted as a devout catholic (even in the Big Screen adaptation X2), becoming a priest at some point, if memory serves:

It's a relatively obvious choice, given that Nightcrawler looks like an archetypical demon and made his first appearance being persecuted by a superstitious mob. It ties well into the whole "appearances can deceive"-angle, and furthermore makes for some interesting character arcs.

They took it a bit too far when they established that his father was an actual demon, though:

They seem to be aware of just how poor of a choice this was, though, as he's rarely been mentioned.

It was always fascinating seeing Nightcrawler - Night Crawler--a Mutant who was OVERTLY Christian.

I'm reminded of what went down with X-Men, as it concerns how Wolverine will always stand out to me in the way his religious views have gone through so much transformation as a mutant/one being tormented for decades on a host of issues....and when seeing the way he interacts with God, it is always a trip---as seen here. In the animated version of X-Men back in the 90s, I was shocked seeing the ways that they took what was in the comics and brought it to life when showing Nightcrawler (a Devout Catholic) helping Wolverine come to terms with faith in the Lord--and reconcilliation despite their sins:

Wolverine is a Christian​

Christian X-Men ​

Christian X-Men Part 2
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For more on Night Crawler's Faith:
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• The religion of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) of the X-Men​
• The Nightcrawler as a Roman Catholic Superhero FAQ​

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  [SIZE=-1]"Jesus died for our salvation": Kurt Wagner (the X-Man known as Nightcrawler) expresses his faith openly.[/SIZE]
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And of course, Nightcrawler is simply cool

That said, it's actually the case that his father was actually NOT a demon - but a mutant himself from Biblical times. He was descended from an ancient race of mutants that tended to evoke the legends of demons - in the same way that earlier strains of mutations reminded people of angels (and had an ancient feud with those mutants looking like demons)...but he was banished to another dimension by the angel mutants and the dimension is the same one Kurt teleports to whenever he disappears into smoke. And even in the X-Men movies, he was portrayed as a mutant. And as it turns out, one of Azazel’s progeny is a New Zealand mutant, called Kiwi Black, who also has beef with his father since the dad never showed up for any of his children.



For more on Azazel:

• http://marvel.com/universe/Azazel_(mutant)

• Azazel (Character) - Comic Vine

 

[Gxg (G²)]

As a living stereotype, it'd be almost impossible for him not to be.

It gets more interesting with characters such as Reed Richards, who is alternately portrayed as an atheist and a Christian, sometime affirming his belief in God and sometimes declaring his disbelief.

Reed Richards would be what you'd call a Christian Atheist...

But as it concerns the ways he goes back and forth, it seemed circumstances were big factor for his lack of trust - as he noted during "The Age of Ultron" story:

 

[abysmul]

I pick Cthulhu, which has been spattered about in a few odd comics. H.P. Lovecraft was a nut, but what a mythos.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I pick Cthulhu, which has been spattered about in a few odd comics. H.P. Lovecraft was a nut, but what a mythos.

Intensive...