Broken Frontier

SPOILER WARNING

Bryan Singer's Superman Returns has stirred fresh interest in the Superman-as-Jesus discussion.  The Dallas Morning News wonders if Superman Returns could be rechristened "The Passion of Kal-El." The Associated Press calls the film a gospel for Christian moviegoers.  Writing for Time, Richard Corliss calls Singer's Superman "Earth's savior: Jesus Christ Superman."  But despite the many allusions to the story of the Christian savior, the movie ultimately serves to distinguish Superman from his divine counterpart, while adding clarity to our understanding of Jesus.

When Superman flies Lois Lane far out into the night sky above the earth, he stops and asks Lois what she hears.  For Lois, there is only wonderful silence.  Superman, with his super hearing, hears a cacophony of calls for help.  Because he can do something to alleviate suffering, he feels an obligation to do so. Superman's sense of duty is a familiar theme.  He is the ultimate boy scout, after all.  But Singer portrays Superman not as a boy scout with unwavering altruism for suffering humanity, but as a son who feels a duty to his father, Jor-El.  Jor-El's parting words for his son echo throughout the film:  "They can be a great people, Kal-El, if they wish to be.  They only lack the light to show the way.  For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you…my only son." 

In a 5 year-long absence from Earth to visit the recently discovered remains of Krypton, Superman has found that  Krypton is nothing but a graveyard.  The discovery forces him to accept that he is truly alone.  His loneliness makes the weight of his father's expectations all the more poignant.  Without even the consolation of Lois Lane, his only companion is his duty to those who cry for help.

In this sense, Superman and Jesus are very much alike.  Jesus was another earnest and lonely outsider, struggling to live up to his father's expectations.  Jesus had been sent by his father to save humanity from original sin, the legacy of evil left over from Eden, where the father's trees of knowledge had been the source of the trouble.  In the wee hours before his arrest and crucifixion, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fell on his face and implored, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Mt. 26:39)  Apparently not receiving a response, Jesus became more resigned, saying, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Mt. 26:42)  Jesus would have been glad of the chance to be released from his duty by his father, but he would not rebel, and would not question.  If his father expected it, he would do it.  He would sacrifice himself for others.

Rescued from the sea by Lois Lane and Richard White, Superman realizes that their son, Jason, is actually his son.  Barely recovered on the helicopter above a turbulent ocean, Superman must go back into the ocean to halt the calamity set in motion by Lex Luthor.  Like Eden's trees of knowledge, the crystals which Superman's father placed in the rocket with the baby Superman hold spectacular power.  Now in the wrong hands, those crystals may doom billions of people to death.

His sense of responsibility drives Superman to correct the wrong and erase the threat, though in all likelihood it will lead to his death.  It is his duty, not only to his father Jor-El, but now also to his son Jason.  How often do fathers use their sons to correct their mistakes, and how often do sons do as their fathers ask, out of a sense of duty?

From the depths of the ocean, Superman pushes the rapidly forming crystal land mass into deep space away from the earth.  We see Superman portrayed as Atlas, his head bowed beneath the gargantuan weight of crystal rock, his arms pushing up in a titanic struggle to overcome gravity.  As portions of the superstructure break off into space, Superman is exposed to giant crystals of kryptonite.  After a final heave to send the crystal mass away from the earth, a weakened Superman falls back to earth.

This is the movie's key allusion to the Christ story, Superman in cruciform pose.  He falls, exhausted, arms outstretched, his back to the earth.  The cape protects him from the heat of reentry.  His outstretched arms slow his descent.  And in this direct recall of Jesus' crucifixion, we see the key difference between Superman and Jesus.  The crucifixion was the resignation of a divine being, Christ, to a sacrificial redemptive fate.  For Superman, this same pose is a fight by a weakened superhuman who is not divine to survive the brutal descent to earth.  After saving the planet, Superman saves himself.

The divine father gave humanity original sin, and then gave his son, Jesus, to redeem humanity from it. Jor-El sent advanced alien technology to earth.  Then his son, Kal-El, had to save humanity from it.  Superman Returns has primed the pump for sequels with great story potential.  "The father becomes the son, and the son becomes the father."  What catastrophe will Superman cause, and how will Jason clean it up?