Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Superhero Theology

Superhero Theology

Last updated on: July 2, 2019 at 6:48 am by Vance Morgan

Superhero Theology 2019-07-02T06:48:23-04:00 Vance Morgan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I think that a lot of people stop taking their birthdays seriously after a certain age—perhaps fifty. Jeanne and I, however, still expect to be the center of attention on our birthdays, and also expect the spouse who is not having the birthday to plan a few surprises or two. For Jeanne’s birthday two summers ago, we celebrated with a twenty-mile bike ride to the Audubon Society’s environmental education center, a surprise dinner with close friends at a restaurant on the bay, the anticipation of a pair of Claddagh earrings arriving late (they were on back order), and several cards from friends, the dogs, and me. Oh, and we went to see “Wonder Woman.” That was her idea, not mine. But hey, it was her birthday, so what was I to do?

I was surprised that Jeanne wanted to see the movie (I didn’t), because she’s not a fan of science fiction, fantasy, superhero, or summer blockbuster action movies—all of which describe “Wonder Woman.” I share her dislike of science fiction movies and the garden variety summer blockbuster, although I will occasionally obsess over fantasy (“The Lord of the Rings,” but not “Harry Potter”), and have been known to enjoy a superhero on screen (particularly Batman).

A few of Jeanne’s friends told her that she had to see and would love “Wonder Woman,” so off we went on her birthday. I, having spent thirty birthdays with her, was pretty sure that she would be underwhelmed, and I was right. She dozed off a couple of times, and charitably told her friends that “it isn’t my genre” when they asked “Didn’t you love it??” No, she didn’t. The best thing she could say about it is that Gal Gadot, the Israeli-born star of the movie, looked a lot like Lynda Carter, the original television Wonder Woman from the 70s, for those of us past a certain age.

The background of Diana’s (Wonder Woman’s) story is a hodge-podge of selective elements from Greek mythology, the energy of Paradise Lost, and whiffs of Lucifer from the Jewish scriptures, all stirred into a Hollywood brew. Into this mess drops a World War One Allied pilot, who informs the isolated and naïve Amazons that a great war is raging all around them. Diana, daughter of the Amazon queen, is convinced that this is a continuation of a longstanding battle between cosmic forces of good and evil and believes that it is her destiny once and for all to destroy Ares, the Olympian god responsible for all things bad, and make it possible for human beings to move into a future of violence-free goodness and light.

The notion that we humans are pawns in an eternal conflict between forces greater than us has a long pedigree, including in various forms of ancient philosophy and early Christianity. I was raised in a Protestant version of such a Manichean worldview, in which Christians were foot soldiers of Christ at war against Satan and his host. We all expected that at some point, hopefully sooner than later, preferably in our lifetime, the forces of divine goodness would conquer evil and darkness, we would reign together with Jesus in a new heaven and new earth as we moved toward eternal bliss in heaven. Wonder Woman has no doubt that although the battle against Ares will be difficult, goodness will ultimately win and earth will be free of war, evil, violence, and every other nasty thing the bad side is responsible for. As it turns out, matters are much more complex (and interesting) than that.

After killing what she mistakenly thought was Ares, Wonder Woman is shocked to discover that nothing has changed—the war does not end, violence does not cease, and humanity is just as destructive as ever. Once she confronts the real Ares, she learns that good and evil are not external forces battling over the hearts and minds of human beings, but rather are embedded in human nature itself. Ares is not seeking to inflict evil on humanity; rather, his mission is to point out just how malign and twisted these creatures, supposedly the pinnacle of divine creation, truly are. As the usual blockbuster battle ensues between Wonder Woman and Ares at the end of the film, it is clear to all that even the destruction of Ares will not solve the problem of human evil, because such evil is embedded in human nature itself.

Ares reminds me of a character from Marcus Zusek’s The Book Thief. The book is narrated by Death; set during World War Two, Death is very busy. He provides frequent comments about the complexities and contradictions of human beings. Even those characters with glimmers of goodness in them are frequently petty, spiteful and hurtful. Yet it is these bits of goodness in the midst of a very dark and seemingly hopeless world that drive the plot and regularly cause Death to be confused about the nature of the creatures he spends his time with. “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugliness and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both,” Death observes. “The contradictory human being. So much good, so much evil. Just add water.”

I agree. This is why I frequently tell my students that by far the most interesting topic in philosophy is us. Human beings, in all of our glory, tragedy and destruction. In a final soliloquy at the end of The Book Thief, Death ruminates about the main character, Liesel, both about what has happened to her and what her future might hold.

I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant. . . . I am haunted by humans.

Diana/Wonder Woman learns that human beings, in addition to the violence and brutality embedded in their very nature, are also capable of self-sacrifice, love, compassion, and courage. She is faced with a choice—will she, as Ares, seek to destroy human beings because of their evil, or will she embrace their inherent goodness in the face of inherent evil?

This, arguably, is precisely the choice faced by the divine with regard to human beings—the Christian story of the incarnation establishes which way God chooses. Each of us, on a daily basis, is faced with the same choice. Good and evil is in us, as is the capacity to decide which will dominate, at least for today. So much good. So much evil. Just add water.

Previous Post

June 29, 2019

It's My Life, and I'll Die When I Want To

Next Post

July 3, 2019 Compromise is Patriotic

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Advent AI Angels Artificial intelligence atheism attention baptism Baptists beauty belief Benedictines Bible bicycling Big Bird books Bovina Camaldoli hermitage Canada Catholicism cats certainty change Christianity Christmas Collegeville Covid-19 creativity Development of Western Civilization dogs doubt Easter Enneagram Epiphany Episcopal ethics Eucharist evil extroverts Facebook faith family fear flowers forgiveness freedom friends God goodness grace happiness heaven hell history Holy Spirit Holy Week hope human nature humility humor idolatry incarnation introverts irreverence Islam Jeanne Jesus Joe Biden joy Judaism justice Kamala Harris knowledge Lent listen literature liturgy love Marsue Memorial Day miracles movies music mystery mythology NPR Old Testament optimism paradox peace Penguins philosophy piano podcast politics power prayer Protestantism Providence College Religion Rhode Island sabbatical sacrament science seeing silence Simone Weil Socrates soul sports St. John's College stories suffering tattoo teaching technology television theology thinking time tolerance transcendence travel trees trust truth Uncategorized Vermont wisdom wonder writing

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz