Pharyngula

Posted by: geoffmovies | March 29, 2010 11:08 PM

Superman is God.

Posted by: Jadehawk, cascadeuse féministe | March 29, 2010 11:10 PM

:-)

odd question though, since the DC universe is populated with Greek Gods. But I guess those don't count :-p

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/ZmiZc_Z2iYdD4s9Dn4zTDmwIxV1IUQ--#4ab6e | March 29, 2010 11:14 PM

oh noes. next thing you know he will be promoting health care by giving out free x-ray vision tests to people!

Posted by: Stardrake | March 29, 2010 11:18 PM

So he's given up on Rao?

Posted by: Wowbagger, Man-Hating Man of Pharyngula | March 29, 2010 11:24 PM

Considering he was created by two Jewish guys, you could be fairly sure he wasn't intended to be Christian - though of course that would never stop Christians from claiming him; they've stolen pretty much everything else they like to tout as 'theirs'.

Posted by: tacroy | March 29, 2010 11:30 PM

I'm pretty sure Supes has punched God in the face at least once, maybe twice. Much more than that if you don't care about which god in particular.

And yet still the Christians move the goalposts - no, it's not our God, it's Thor! No, our God isn't Darkseid! Geez, it's almost like those guys don't want their precious deity being punched out by Superman.

Posted by: Glen Davidson | March 29, 2010 11:30 PM

Well, clearly if God bailed people out, Superman would have nothing to do.

It's not necessarily a dig at religion, which always manages to put the onus upon you regardless of its promises.

And as a sort of modern religious myth, I can't say that Superman stands against fantasy. Not that those reading it have to believe in fantasy, of course.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p

Posted by: koolaidsoup | March 29, 2010 11:37 PM

Superman's real opinion of Christianity:

http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=28%3Asuperdickery&id=1335%3Atake-that-christianity&Itemid=54

Posted by: Fil | March 30, 2010 12:40 AM

Superman also seems to continue that ancient human misconception that vision requires the eyes to emit rays of some kind.

Except badass Dinosaurs with laser eyes...they were real.

Frankzappasaurus. ;-)

Mmm, these funny mushrooms are nice...

Posted by: jcmartz.myopenid.com | March 30, 2010 1:24 AM

Not really surprising.

Posted by: starbix | March 30, 2010 1:40 AM

Don't forget, Superman has already sold his soul to Satan.

Posted by: dannystevens.myopenid.com | March 30, 2010 2:22 AM

Has anyone tried bring a class action against soups for exposing everyone to x-rays all the time? Especially all the females he must have purved.

Posted by: finback | March 30, 2010 3:11 AM

Actually, there's a LOT of gods in the DCU. There's the Judaeo-Christian one (who is connected to the Spectre and Eclipso); there's the Greek pantheon, as per Wonder Woman; Doctor Fate works for the Lords of Order (vs the Lords of Chaos, who might be "above" gods in power). There's the New Gods of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, who are more like demi-gods; they're powerful but not necessarily omnipotent. The hero Aztek had powers derived from Quetzalcoatl.. and those are just off the top of my head for DC. I'm sure there's more.

Marvel brought out a "guide" to their gods for their Marvel Universe Handbook series; there's a good thousand or so deities hanging around there.. plus they have gods for half their aliens like the Skrulls..

Posted by: kiki.klank | March 30, 2010 3:13 AM

Oh, and Superman is not even Human, he's from Krypton!

Posted by: mattheath | March 30, 2010 5:48 AM

Tell everybody waiting for Superman,
That they should try to hold on the best they can,
He hasn't dropped them,
Forgot them,
Or anything,
It's just to heavy for Superman to lift.

Posted by: Colin | March 30, 2010 6:23 AM

@30 : Yup, Superman would have voted for healthcare.

Posted by: squealpiggy | March 30, 2010 6:59 AM

I'm pretty sure that Batman is an atheist though.

Posted by: ursulamajor | March 30, 2010 7:31 AM

OT if you don't think he's Superman. Hitchens is on Morning Joe in a few (MSNBC 7:30am EST). The subject is the catholic church and, well, you know...

Posted by: Becca Stareyes | March 30, 2010 7:59 AM

In universes like DC/Marvel, I tend to assume any people who are atheists are what I like to think of as 'Granny Weatherwax atheists' -- they acknowledge that all those pantheons actually exist, but they don't particularly believe in them giving a damn (at least no more than they believe in any one). So someone like Superman might assume that a godlike being is a good person until he sees them doing bad things, but that's not because of any special belief about gods, but more because Supes likes people, including the powerful ones.

Posted by: Cerberus, unnatural product of en-OMnomnom-ification | March 30, 2010 8:15 AM

Mr T @6

Actually Superman is his "real identity" and Clark Kent is the strangely costumed character he's hiding behind.

He's always been an interesting superhero character, because most of them are the alter-ego, I mean, they are hiding their powers, but that human shmuck is who they were and are, whereas, Superman is that red and blue tighted alien, that costume is a gift from his father and was in the spaceship with him. Clark Kent is the persona his adoptive parents asked him to adopt.

But yeah, the whole "secret identity" thing in general does make it so he'd not be well expected to "come out" anytime soon.

Superman has also had some really interesting writing lately as writers have pretty much noticed that the range of powers Superman has makes him fundamentally similar to a minor deity, so there's been a lot of humanist and liberal religious sort of dealies going on about taking from Superman the strength to be a humanist and take care of yourself instead of just relying on him to get you out of each and every jam.

Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline. | March 30, 2010 8:45 AM

@geekysteven #24: But...but...you'll believe a man can fly!

Posted by: Free Lunch | March 30, 2010 9:15 AM

Since Siegel and Shuster gave everyone on Krypton deistic names, maybe they were just saying that Superman was one of the gods from that council of the gods.

Posted by: Richard Wolford | March 30, 2010 9:21 AM

Actually, meant to post my store's infantile website, http://www.dmccomics.com. If any of you guys are ever in the Charleston-Huntington, WV area, stop by and say hi, I'm in the shop every Sunday.

Posted by: thethyme | March 30, 2010 9:57 AM

What is Clark Kent?

Posted by: llewelly | March 30, 2010 10:26 AM

Fil | March 30, 2010 12:40 AM:

Superman also seems to continue that ancient human misconception that vision requires the eyes to emit rays of some kind.

Posted by: Givesgoodemail | March 30, 2010 10:49 AM

@40: "Nah, Bruce Wayne/Kal-El matchup! That's the one for the ages, as Dark Knight fans know."

Nah, been done. Wayne/Batman always wins, because the Kal-El, the Big Blue Boy Scout that he is, is too naive and Wayne is WAY too crafty--he always has plans within plans within plans.

Posted by: The Pint | March 30, 2010 11:07 AM

Superman as a humanist encouraging people to take care of themselves rather than wait to be saved by a "higher power" makes sense when you think about it. He can't save everyone all the time so it makes sense that he'd want to encourage people to look out for themselves rather than wait for him (or anything else) to save them.

This however is the idealistic version of Superman - there have been some very interesting alternate universe/1-shot stories examining how circumstances could alter Superman's general belief in humanity's strength and goodness. Red Son was a really good What-If Superman had crashed in the USSR and been raised with Communist values? And [SPOILER ALERT] Kingdom Come has all the aged DC heroes dealing with a world that Superman abandoned after the death of Lois Lane at the hands of the Joker. The Kingdom Come Superman is a lot more of a "take charge for humanity's own good" and of course, it doesn't turn out well.

Posted by: Randomfactor | March 30, 2010 11:17 AM

Spot-welding, Krystaline Apostate.

Posted by: Richard Wolford | March 30, 2010 12:05 PM

Kingdom Come has all the aged DC heroes dealing with a world that Superman abandoned after the death of Lois Lane at the hands of the Joker. The Kingdom Come Superman is a lot more of a "take charge for humanity's own good" and of course, it doesn't turn out well.

If you like this version of Superman, you should read Irredeemable by Mark Waid.

Posted by: Knockgoats | March 30, 2010 12:58 PM

Sorry, there's no room on Superman's chest for the big red A. Its already covered with the big red S. - procrastinator

The secret meaning of that big red S is Skeptic! Before every Tom, Dick and Graeme started abusing it, that was an honourable title, and implied agnosticism if not atheism.

Posted by: tutone21 | March 30, 2010 1:00 PM

I may be a bit behind in this forum, but the Cat-licks are recruiting using 3D

http://www.examiner.com/x-10284-Episcopal-Examiner~y2010m3d26-Youthful-fascination-with-3D

In the midst of all that is going on they are trying to get more kids into the church!!

Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | March 30, 2010 1:40 PM

His birth name is Kal-El, and his buddies in the Justice League call him Kal.

And if Kal-El is a humanist, he's an apostate Methodist.

Posted by: The Pint | March 30, 2010 3:18 PM

@ Richard #57 - Thanks for the recommendation. I've been lax on keeping up with the Capes & Cowls titles for awhile and will definitely check it out. Been reading more of the Fables/League of Extraordinary Gentlemen titles, but Kingdom Come is one of my all-time favorite superheroes stories.

btw - that's awesome that you own your own comics store! Stereotypes are meant to be shattered and anyway, comic book geekery crosses a whole host of boundaries. In my experience, comic stores make for great social spots and you can build friendships with people you normally wouldn't meet because of a shared love of comics. One of my friends runs a social club for nerds in Chicago and recently hosted a series of seminars at city comic store over the topic of comic books in academia - ended up meeting someone who's focusing his doctoral studies on comic book history & symbolism. And back in high school we had our regular new release Wednesday crowd and the owner often let us stay past closing to order a pizza and hang out - probably wouldn't have survived high school without those people, and the owner was a stand up guy for providing that space for us. So I've got a special soft spot for people who run comic stores.

Posted by: Fil | March 30, 2010 6:16 PM

In regard to the serious unresolved question of Super Duper vision (lol, little optic joke there). I realise that he has at least two separate super powers. One, his x-ray vision and two, the heat form used to weld up his mates' cars and stuff.

Thing is, with the x-ray type, does he emit x-rays and hope some bounce back? Or are his eyes so sensitive he only needs the few high frequency photons around naturally to spot people's junk? (eww)

Also, when welding, does he emit laser light or just lots of infra red or something?

Why am I writing this nonsense?