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
Religious Music & Entertainment
To Kill or Not To Kill? That is the Question For Superheroes

To Kill or Not To Kill? That is the Question For Superheroes

Last updated on: February 15, 2016 at 3:45 pm by Paul Asay

To Kill or Not To Kill? That is the Question For Superheroes 2016-02-15T15:45:36-06:00 Paul Asay

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.

Deadpool, courtesy 20th Century Fox

Deadpool, the latest cinematic superhero movie from Marvel, opened big this weekend, banking around $135 million over three days and blasting past all sorts of box office records. But as he’d be the first to admit, the movie’s red-suited protagonist (played by Ryan Reynolds) isn’t particularly heroic.

Near the end of Deadpool (obvious spoiler warning here), our titular protagonist listens to a heartfelt speech from Colossus, a hunk of chrome encouraging him not to kill the enemy staring down the barrel of Deadpool’s gun.

“Four or five moments,” Colossus says. “Four or five moments—that’s all it takes to be a hero. Everyone thinks it’s a full-time job. Wake up a hero. Brush your teeth a hero. Go to work a hero. Not true. Over a lifetime there are only four or five moments that really matter. Moments when you’re offered a choice to make a sacrifice, conquer a flaw, save a friend—spare an enemy. In these moments everything else falls away.”

BLAM! Thus endeth the lesson.

In this scene, a high moral dilemma is played for laughs: When you have no morals, of course, there is no dilemma. But for me, the question at the core of this confrontation is a powerful one—one shaped, in part, by faith.

From Batman: Arkham Knight, from Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

I’m playing through Batman: Arkham Knight—a game that allows me to play as my favorite superhero. Batman, famously, does not kill; it’s one of the reasons why I like the guy so much. And yet playing the game, where I’m sometimes chauffeuring decades-long enemies like Penguin and Firefly back to jail for what, to Batman, would be the umpteenth time, you do wonder whether it gets old. Whether there are times when even Batman wonders whether Gotham’s gallery of killers could use some terminal justice.

“How many times have we done this, Batman?” Two-Face taunts him in the Gotham City lockup. “You put us behind bars only for us to escape. Your life is meaningless. A charade.”

In the comics, Batman does grapple with this issue from time to time, as does his longtime ally, Commissioner Gordon. But before they take a step too far, they always manage to reel each other back. They recognize that that line—the line between taking the life of an enemy and sparing it—is a critical one. Cross that line, they tell each other, and it becomes harder to separate the good guys from the bad.

Deadpool suggests otherwise. So have others. In the latest trailer for the upcoming season of Netflix’s Daredevil (beginning March 18), we meet one of them—The Punisher. He, like Deadpool, believes in terminal justice: That killers should not be saved, that wrath should visit them like an angel of death. Meanwhile Daredevil, like Batman, has sworn not to kill, and has taken that oath at least in part because of his Catholic faith. That conflict looks like it’ll be a central premise in Season Two—and will delve into that conflict in a far more compelling way than Colossus and Deadpool did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_A0Wx0jU4

“You hit ’em and they get back up,” Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, tells Daredevil. “I hit ’em and they stay down!”

The battle-weary Batman of my game, the grizzled Dark Knight who’s been fighting crime in Gotham since before we were born, could perhaps appreciate the finality of the Punisher’s ethos, the exclamation mark at the end of Deadpool’s gun. You put us behind bars only to escape, Batman’s told. His work is never done.

Superheroes like Batman live in an Ecclesiastical world—much as we do. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun,” we’re told in Ecclesiastes 9:3, “that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” Batman sees this truth every night. Daredevil sees it. “Your life is meaningless,” Two-Face says. Ecclesiastes says the same thing. Often.

But then, one verse later, we read this: “But he who is joined with all the living has hope.”

“They say that when you kill a man you not only take away what he was, but all he will ever be,” we hear in the Batman graphic novel Hush. But where there’s life, there’s hope. Hope for a better future. Hope to be a better person.

There’s no promise of redemption in living—but there is the possibility. And holding onto that possibility, in the midst of all the evil under the sun, is an act of optimism. An act, in some ways, of faith—faith that maybe God still has plans for a soul so twisted, a life so wasted. Just like He has for us.

You hit ’em and they get back up, the Punisher says*.* Because maybe—just maybe—they get up better.

Previous Post

February 8, 2016

The Prejudice Against Christian Zombies

Next Post

February 17, 2016 Movies Get Preachy. (But Should We Listen to the Sermon?)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Hebrews states that without faith it is impossible to please God.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »