Excellent special effects (of course), a better Clark Kent (I thought), a better Lex Luthor, and a rousing revival of the original score by John Williams. Not to mention a heaping dose of some serious typology as well.
Superman's father counsels his son: “Even though you've been raised as a human being you are not one of them. They can be a great people Kal-El. 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.”
Wow. Now, this rather explicit typology stirred up the anger of a few people in the secular press. They are upset that this comic icon is being morphed with “religion.” To which I respond, how could it not? We are by our very nature religious beings. We are a fallen race, a wounded band of travelers in a world that is dying, and we long for redemption. We seek Truth, when so much we hear is mingled with lies. We want the Good, though so much in our culture seems clouded by evil. We thirst after a Beauty that is infinite, though all we taste here is destined to decay. So we create myths and stories and fairy tales with superhuman characters that can lift us up out of our own mortality. Superman is just another incarnation of that longing we all feel for immortality, impassability, and the freedom to soar above our own fallen nature.
So the Caped Wonder got me thinking. Superman Returns had plenty of christological references — he's referred to as a “savior,” hovering in the heavens, listening to our “cries” from earth, battling evil, arms outstretched in the form of a cross as he falls after a showdown with some kryptonite. But ultimately he is a super-man. As touching as it was to feel the Man of Steel's broken heart in Superman Returns, it seems that our superheros are more and more human these days, all battling that perennial ache in the soul for connection and communion with another. Well, that makes sense; because we've created them and that's what we're made for. We have them fighting crime, but ultimately it's sin that has caused the Great Divide, that rupture in our original communion. This is why we need a Savior and not a super-hero made in our image. To restore us to real communion, to the love lost in ages past, we need Jesus.
This is where the Gospel has Superman beat. It's the true fairy tale. God really steps into our story, and beyond our wildest dreams, he becomes one of us. Jesus is not a Man of Steel, but a Man of Flesh! Sure, Superman can stop crime, but he can't stop sin. Robberies, murders, and diabolical real estate plans are only the decayed flowers of the hidden seed of sin in our hearts. Only a God-man can save us from that poison. Only Jesus can dive right into the heart of darkness, literally becoming sin on the Cross to defeat it. And He did. Now that imperishable seed of His love can be planted right in the garden of our hearts through grace. It can blossom into life if we open up the soil of our hearts to receive it.
Thankfully, Jesus saves us, not by deflecting bullets off of His chest, but by taking them right into His heart. He is the Pierced One, and as St. Bernard says, “The piercing nail has become a key to unlock the door, that I may see the good will of the Lord. And what can I see as I look through the hole? Both the nail and the wound cry out that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Through these sacred wounds we can see the secret of His heart, the great mystery of love.”
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Bill Donaghy teaches theology in Malvern, Pennsylvania, speaks on topics of faith, and lives in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, with his wife Rebecca. You can visit his website and semi-serious blog at www.missionmoment.org.
