Heavenly Heroes: The Surprising Revival Of Superman And Faith
(ANALYSIS) Are Superman and Jesus headed for an American revival?
After decades of declining religious belief and Superman being uncool, there’s evidence that both of those things are changing.
Three recent articles — a Washington Times piece, “Christian Revivals Are Sweeping the Country,” “Is America Experiencing a Religious Revival?” at the National Catholic Register, “How Intellectuals Found God” at The Free Press and “Is Christianity in America Back?” — all note how the decline in Christianity has stopped, even showing some indications that it’s becoming popular again.
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Similarly, Superman was voted the most popular superhero in America in 2020 and has now had multiple popular TV shows in recent years, from “Superman and Lois” to “My Adventures with Superman.” And his new film “Superman” has generated major hype, with the film currently sitting at an 86% critics rating and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s not surprising that interest in Superman would return along with interest in God. Both have long been tightly linked. As the authors of “The Great Dechurching” point out, during the Cold War, religion and patriotism were linked. And Superman was a deeply patriotism-coded and “religious” figure. Superman’s traditional motto was “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
Further, as author Roy Schwartz notes (interviewed by me here), the original Superman creators made his alien father’s (and by extension Superman’s) last name “El,” after God in the Hebrew Bible. Likewise, starting with “Superman: The Movie,” he was made into an explicit Christ allegory with a divine father who sent him to Earth to make the world a better place, where he would be “a light to show the way.”
But this also meant that as cynicism of America rose starting during the 1970s, anything attached to America would also lose market share, including Christianity. Christianity and Superman also increasingly suffered from underlying gender dynamics. Women have been the majority of regular churchgoers since the Industrial Revolution, which has unsurprisingly coincided with increasing secularization, since the phenomenon of “male flight” means men tend to leave environments that are 60% female or more. Superman’s characterization as similar to the “gentle Jesus meek and mild” version of Christianity popular with church ladies (rather than the historical “Jesus, King of the Universe” version) makes it understandable why he could start losing market share in the boy-dominated genre of superheroes.
This came to a head in the ’80s. In the 1986 comic series “The Dark Knight Returns,” which saw an aged Batman trying to clean up Gotham, Superman was sent by Ronald Reagan, a representative of the old-fashioned God-and-country America, to kill Batman. Batman became the symbol of the man’s man who stood up to a corrupt society. Two years later, in 1988, “The Last Temptation of Christ” came out. This film was purposefully deconstructive of Christian orthodox perspectives of Jesus — and created a further divide between mainstream secular culture that loved it and traditional Christians who hated it for that very reason
As such, Batman and secularism’s popularity grew throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, while Superman’s waned in those decades (along with God). “Batman: The Animated Series” was a childhood-defining show for those who grew up in those years. His comics consistently outsold Superman, and “The Dark Knight” trilogy by Christopher Nolan was likewise popular. The other heroes of that era were also edgy and rebellious, like Tyler Durden of “Fight Club,” Neo from “The Matrix” and Marvel’s Iron Man.
The ranks of the “nones” — those who don’t identify with any religion — continued to grow, and books celebrating atheism like “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens’ “God Is Not Great” were driving the conversation.
So it’s fitting that in these eras of Superman films, the connection between America losing faith in this particular superhero and people losing faith in God would become explicit. In 2006’s “Superman Returns,” Lois challenges Superman by saying, “The world doesn’t need a savior. And neither do I.” In 2016’s “Batman v. Superman,” Lex Luthor tries to prove Superman is a fraud because, “If God is all good, he cannot be all-powerful. And if he’s all-powerful, he cannot be all good. And neither can you.”
All these films firmly stand with both Superman and God. In “Superman Returns,” his response to Lois is, “You say the world doesn’t need a savior, but every day I hear people crying out for one.” In “Batman v. Superman” and “Justice League,” Superman is validated by dying and resurrecting for humanity, just like Jesus. Batman’s arc is of him going from distrusting Superman to acting “completely on faith” to bring him back from the dead. However, both films received poor critical acclaim and an underwhelming box office suggesting society wasn’t buying it.
But now both Superman and God seem to be having a resurgence. Why? One reason could be that people are seeking relief in an era of cynicism and depression. As famous filmmaker and comic nerd Kevin Smith noted, “Superman is ascendant whenever the country is doing poorly or it needs help, and that’s when that character plays strongest. … People wanna hope right now. People just want to believe in a fucking thing, man.”
This all comes as rates of anxiety and depression continue to rise, and religion has been shown to be a big factor in improving someone’s mental health. After all, Superman and Jesus both offer positivity in dark times.
Another big factor is that gender dynamics have flipped. Religion is now a “male thing.” Gen Z men outnumber Gen Z women in church pews. Popular male influencers and intellectuals like Jordan Peterson speak positively about God and patriotism and traditional values. Young men are becoming more conservative, where religion is popular. Meanwhile, “secular feminism” is perceived as the bad guy rather than the “church lady” of the past. Even Superman’s positivity is “male-coded” in an era where female depression is much higher than men’s.
Making religion and Superman “masculine-coded” could be good news for the future of faith and Superman. Faith transmission is traditionally strongest through fathers, and men continue to be the most consistent fans of superhero content. And given that men who consistently go to church are less toxic than men who don’t, this could be good for society, too.
But the flip side is men who identify with Christianity without regularly attending are the most toxic. So discipleship, rather than just identity, is needed.
Can the new Superman film take advantage of these trends? It’s unclear. Superman and this latest film are incredibly bright, sincere and positive. And Superman explicitly portrays this positivity as a form of rebellion against a cynical society.
“Maybe that’s the real punk rock,” he says.
Superman also explicitly pursues his values in defiance of Lois Lane, who is more cynical. But there’s also zero religion in the film. And the closest Superman comes to belief in the El side of himself is shown to be based on a lie.
For better or worse, people’s love of Superman and devotion to God have always been tightly fused. Whether this will lead to a long-term revival for both or just a short-term connection remains to be seen. For now, a lot more people are looking up to the heavens than were before.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.