For years I easily saw an obvious parallel between the Superman (super hero) character and Jesus. The story of Superman (Kal-El) tells us how Superman was sent to earth by his Father (Jor-El)
(note the El is representative of the Hebrew for God or God-like. Think of this when you read names in the Bible: Samu-el, El-isha, El-ijah, Emmanu-el, Ezeki-el, and so on).
Superman is adopted by his earthly parents and is obedient to them for a time until he goes off to the Fortress of Solitude (think Jesus in the Desert). We could also note that tradition tells us that St. Joseph died sometime during the teen years of Jesus' life just as Superman's adopted father did in the movie. Only after a time in solitude, communicating with his Father, does he re-emerge to basically save the world.
Though not a perfect parallel, the similarities are very striking. I've recently found yet another "super hero" who shares many parallel features with Our Lord, most notably, His Sacred Heart.
Tony Stark is a playboy, millionaire who developed weapons to sell to the government, just like Jesus. Okay, just kidding. However, when Tony is captured by enemies, his heart is pierced in an explosion. His pierced heart becomes the source of his power. This piercing is a catalyst for his designing the Arc-Reactor, the new heart, that keeps him alive and powers his Iron Man suit that will be used for good. And the main part of the suit that is used to protect and defend? His hands.
Of course every analogy ultimately limps but it is an interesting meditation to compare Jesus and Iron Man. Both hearts were pierced by those who hated them yet their "power" is from their "heart". Both use their hands for good (be they lasers or rays of grace). Both have powers that go well beyond natural human ability.
When I originally wrote the above meditation in 2014, I had no idea how on track I was with my analogy. If you are a Marvel Avenger's fan, you now know, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story." In the last movie of the Avenger's series, End Game (2019) we see Iron Man's most perfect imitation of Christ.
(Spoilers alert) Briefly stated, the Avengers find themselves facing an evil warloard, Thanos. However, Thanos is not your typical warlord who simply wants to destroy everything and everyone. His modus operandi is to aquire the infinity stones, snap his fingers, and simply wipe out half of all life in the universe. Sounds nice, right? His goal is a reset, a reduction of life in order for the survivors to have more resources. It's a "mercy killing" of half the entire inhabitants of the universe. In fact, in the previous movie, Avenger's Infinity War, Thanos snaps his fingers and wipes out half of life in the universe. It's not a violent destructive killing. Rather, the individuals quite literally simply fade away, somewhat peacefully. It should not be lost on us that his name, Thanos is based on the Greek word thanantos meaning death. Nor should his method of death be lost to us in it's relationship to euthanasia - "eu" = well, "thanantos" = death...a well death.
Dr. Strange, an Avenger, a former neurosurgeon and powerful mystic, uses his powers to search for a way to defeat Thanos. With his powers he finds that there is only one possible way to defeat Thanos. Interestingly, he does not reveal this one possible way to anyone. I love this! It reminds me that God knows every possible outcome of our lives but respects our free will so much that He will not interfere in any way.
(Big Spoiler Alert) In the end, the only possible way for the Avengers to defeat Thanos is to get the infinity stones themselves and use them to destroy him. In the end, Iron Man, is the only one who can do this and at the cost of his very own life. Here, we see another close analogy of Iron Man and Jesus. If we imagine that the stones are sin, it all makes sense. Like Jesus, Iron Man takes these stones (sins) upon himself and dies, thus sacrificing himself and saving the universe. Unlike Jesus, Iron Man doesn't rise from the dead (at least not yet, you never know with Marvel), and this is a good thing because throughout history, even taking movies into consideration, there is only One who rose from the dead. And this One, continues to do battle for us and beside us each and every day against the powers of sin and death.
My analogies should probably end there before I get too carried away. However, if you can think of any other similarities, let me know in the comment box. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us!
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