The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character Clark Kent/Kal-El Superman

Introduction / Superman's religious affiliation

Superman is the archetypal costumed super-hero. He is clearly the most influential character in the comic book super-hero genre. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [often mis-spelled "Joe Schuster"], both of whom were Jewish. The character of Superman, however, has always been depicted as having been raised with a solidly Protestant upbringing by his adoptive Midwestern parents - Jonathan and Martha Kent. Of Clark's parents, Martha is the more devout churchgoer.

Clark Kent was raised as a Methodist. While growing up in Smallville, Kansas, Clark Kent attended Sunday church services at the local Methodist church with his mother, Martha Kent, every week until he was fourteen years old. These aspects of the character are not speculative, but are canonical - established by in-continuity published DC Comics. Action Comics #850 (August 2007), for example, identifies Methodism by name as the denomination that Clark Kent and his mother attended.

Jonathan also raised his adopted son with staunch Protestant values, but Jonathan has never been much of a churchgoer. Clark stopped attending church services when his super-hearing, X-ray vision and other super senses began developing. As Clark later told his wife, Lois Lane, he stopped attending services becaues he "knew too much about their lives -- their problems -- their lies... [he] was afraid" that he might lose his faith in people. So he decided to distance himself from such close-contact, frequent congregational worship and put his faith in "the best that humanity has to offer" (Action Comics #849, July 2007).

As shown in a number of published comics, including Superman: A Man For All Seasons, the adult Clark Kent continued to visit and consult with the minister at his family church, even after he had begun his career as Superman. This does not mean, however, that the adult Superman attends weekly church services (he does not). If asked if he is a Methodist, the adult Superman would not answer "no," but he would defer answering such a pointedly denominational question by suggesting that he respects people of all faiths and backgrounds and considers himself a servant of all humanity.

Superman's Moses-like origin and his Midwestern WASP-ish (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) persona are widely regarded as a symbol of Jewish assimilation. Children of immigrant Jews, Siegel and Shuster were not unlike many in their generation in their desire to fit in to the general goyim population. The creation of Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent was a manifestation of the desire by Siegel and Shuster to "pass" in mainstream population and also to assert control in a world that had often left them feeling powerless, such as when Siegel's father was murdered.

As is often the case with a character or franchise of extraordinary longevity, Superman has been reconceived multiple times ("retconned" in comic book parlance). Throughout all of his incarnations, Superman has maintained his rural Midwestern Protestant upbringing, although rarely have the words "Protestant" or "Christian" been explicitly attached to his background.

Superman is sometimes spoken of as being "Jewish." This may be an attempt to honor the fact that the writer and artist who created the character were Jewish. However, no textual support exists in any of the published comics, novels, films or TV series episodes to support the notion that the character of Superman is actually Jewish.

Above: Influential Superman writer/artist John Byrne rather overtly invoked the character's strongly Protestant Christian background in this scene. Jonathan Kent, the father of Superboy, tells his son that he prayed for him during a recent crisis. The father and super-powered son are framed in front of a Christian church (note the cross on the tower or steeple in the background). Later on this same page, Superman mentions "the solid, moral foundation my foster parents gave" him.

Elliot S! Maggin, an observant Jew who is one of Superman's most popular and influential contemporary chroniclers, stated in a 1998 interview that Clark Kent and the entire family are Methodists. Although possibly not "canonical" at the time that Maggin gave this interview, this notion appeared already to have widespread support and subsequently grew in popularity. Many writers and fans believed this denominational affiliation best captures and explains the character as he has been portrayed over the years. For example, popular comic book writer Mark Millar (Superman Adventures; Superman: Red Son) has written that Superman is a Methodist. Curt Swan, one of the best-known and most influential Superman artists, was raised Presbyterian but also attended Methodist churches while growing up (see: http://theages.superman.ws/swan.php). With the publication of Action Comics #850 in June 2007, the Methodist denominational affiliation of the Kent family was explicitly and overtly established, if it had not already been so.

Above: Superman with artist Curt Swan. From: "I Flew With Superman!", published in Superman Annual #9, DC Comics: New York City (1983), page 7; written by Curt Swan, Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin; art by Curt Swan.

Maggin also said that Superman adheres to "a Kryptonian-based belief system centered on monotheistic philosophy." There is widespread agreement that, based on the lack of any depiction of congregational membership or church activity in his comic stories, Superman has not been a regular churchgoer as an adult. Superman has, however, occasionally visited clergymen of various Christian denominations for purposes of counsel, guidance, or confession. As an adult, Superman has been depicted many times praying.

Action Comics #s 848-849 (June-July 2007, written by Fabian Nicieza) proivde a good overview of many of Superman's feelings about religion in contemporary comics. Not only does this two-part story explicitly point out that Superman attended weekly church services with his mother at a Protestant church in Smallville until the time he was fourteen years old, this story also reveals many other thoughts Superman has about religion. In battling "Redemption (a.k.a. Jarod Dale, a super-powered Protestant missionary), Superman thinks to himself (Action Comics #849, page 6):

I would really rather not turn this into me vs. God. I don't like those odds. This is about a good -- if misguided -- young man who needs to control his actions. . . even if those actions are guided by his beliefs . . . No. I have no problem with relgion. I have a problem with abusing one's power in the name of anything.

Later in this same story, Superman seeks advice from an old friend: Barbara Johnson, a devout Protestant woman who runs the Community Angels Outreach Center in Metropolis, and he prays that Jarod Dale and his family will make the right choice about what to do next (Action Comics #849, pages 10-11, 16). In talking with Barbara Johnson, Superman explains how his experiences has shaped some of his thinking about faith:

...religions have different tenets of belief... The things I've seen . . . The places I've been . . . It enables me -- forces me -- to put certain things into perspective... [things such as] the beliefs of one faith over another. Out there was a planet named Tamaran. They worshipped the goddess X'hal. There is a planet called Rann. They believe science answers all questions. I've fought against and alongside beings who call themselves "New Gods" as well as "old gods" of Greek myth . . . Ares and Zeus. The very gods who were worshipped for centuries by countless thousands . . .

Above: Superman leads a prayer and reads from the Bible at the funeral of a friend: "Into thy hands we commend his spirit!" (This funeral is for Larry Lance, who was the husband of Superman's JSA teammate Dinah Lance, a.k.a. "Black Canary." Larry was killed trying to protect his wife from an attack by the space-creature Aquarius.) [Image source: comic book panel posted at http://www.superdickery.com/oneshot/7.html.]

From: Bruce Bachand, "Interview: Elliot S! Maggin", published in Fanzing (The Independent Online DC Comics Fan Magazine) Issue #9, August 1998 (http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing09/iview.shtml; viewed 6 December 2005):

Elliot S! Maggin was the principal scriptwriter for DC Comics' Superman titles during the 1970's up until the mid-1980's. He has written two Superman novels (Last Son Of Krypton and Miracle Monday, both which are currently out of print) as well as numerous other stories, articles, interviews and projects. One of his most recent publications is the novel KINGDOM COME (which is available through Warner Books) which came out in February 1998. It is based on the very successful DC comic book mini-series KINGDOM COME by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. (It is well worth mentioning that Ross contributes a number of new painted illustrations to the Maggin novel!). Sales have been steady for the Maggin novelization. It is over one hundred thousand words full of action, characterization, and plot sculpting.

BRUCE BACHAND [interviewer]: Do you see Superman as a man who prays and/or worships God regularly? If so, what would the Man of Steel pray about from your perspective?

Elliot S! Maggin: I give all my characters religions. I think I always have. It's part of the backstory. It's part of the process of getting to know a character well enough to write about him or her. Jimmy Olson is Lutheran. Lois is Catholic. Perry is Baptist. Luthor is Jewish (though non-observant, thank heaven). Bruce and Batman are both Episcopalian and I said so in the text though it was edited out erroneously. Clark - like the Kents - is Methodist. Superman is something else, but I never did buy all that Kryptonian "Great Rao" nonsense. I do think Superman essentially adheres to a kind of interplanetary-oriented Kryptonian-based belief system centered on monotheistic philosophy, and I've got some ideas about it that I haven't yet articulated other than as backstory. I think Superman is too humble to ask for things in prayer, but I think he prays by rote, and constantly, the way some of us talk to ourselves in the shower.

From: Mark Millar, "Superman: Red Son", published 27 April 2003 in Sunday Times in Scotland (http://toothwatch.tripod.com/redson1.html; viewed 10 January 2006):

Mark Millar wrote a feature article about his upcoming three part prestige format Elseworlds mini series Superman: Red Son, published by DC Comics.

I started at the beginning and went straight for the jugular. Instead of Superman's rocket ship crash landing in the wheat fields of Kansas, Superman: Red Son details his landing on a Soviet collective farm somewhere in Ukraine. Instead of being raised by simple, Methodist farming folk, he is raised during the cold war with an appreciation for Karl Marx and a devotion to Comrade Stalin. Instead of making his big trip to the fictional New York of Metropolis, he makes his way to Moscow to become not only the darling of the 1950s communist elite, but also the country's primary defence initiative...

Writing such a story, which starts with a simple high concept in the 1950s and brings us up to date (where Superman narrates the whole thing shortly before his suicide), was always going to be a laugh. Playing around with reversals on this kind of scale was really my only original intention, but events in the real world were having a bigger influence on my plans. People say that all the best science fiction is really a commentary on how we live today, so this alternate history I was creating was becoming more and more about what America was becoming, particularly in light of a few hanging chads in a Florida polling booth. Here was a country that had become an empire. Like Superman's fictional Soviet Union, it was making pre-emptive strikes on infinite targets until the whole world bowed before the orthodoxy of its single religion and nobody was powerful enough to stand in its way. Just as Superman's existence causes Stalin to proclaim that there was only one real superpower now, events in the real world created a hyper-powered America, which, I fear, might only just be beginning to flex its muscles. The more I was writing, the more I realised this was a cautionary tale for America... Superman: Red Son had become an Orwellian fable of what happens when too much power ends up in one pair of hands and when huge power goes unchecked. In the series, we lament the cold war stalemate because the zealotry of an individual nation was always neutralised by the nuclear triggers of the enemy. But how do you stop a man who could take a Polaris missile on the chin? Similarly, how do you stop a man who declares a war on evil when he's backed up by more weapons than the rest of the world combined?

From: Joe Williams, "A Super Symbol", published 25 June 2006 in St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/movies/story/8618BC11277299708625719600324FB8?OpenDocument; viewed 25 June 2006):

Like Elvis Presley, he's a pop-culture icon that can be stretched to fit different points of view. Because Superman was created by two Jews, and the character fought against the Nazis before the United States officially entered World War II, some academics have interpreted him as a modern Moses or a golem, a mythical creature that will rise up to save the Jewish people from annihilation.

Others counter that Superman is the very embodiment of Midwestern values and probably a Methodist.

Above: Although he comes from a Protestant background, Superman is apparently flexible in his Christianity. In the story arc "Superman: For Tomorrow," which appeared Superman issues 209 through 215, Superman spends considerable time visiting a Catholic priest for confessional and later returning to further counsel with the clergyman. The image on the left above, depicting Superman standing before a statue of Jesus Christ on the cross in a Catholic church, is from Superman issue #209, published by DC Comics: New York (2004), page 13. The issue was written by Brian Azzarello, with pencils by Jim Lee and inks by Scott Williams. The image on the right, depicting Superman with the priest he has come to confide in, is from page 28 of the same issue. From: Action Comics #591, DC Comics: New York City (August 1987), written and illustrated by John Byrne, page 20; reprinted in Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 4 trade paperback, DC Comics: New York City (2005), page 133.

Superman's religious affiliation was mentioned in Newsweek. (Steven Waldman and Michael Kress, "BeliefWatch: Good Fight", published in Newseek, cover-dated 19 June 2006, page 12):

From: Jake Tapper, "'How Gay is Superman?' Or Jewish. Or Christ-Like. The Battle to Claim Superman as an Icon", published 19 June 2006 on ABCNews.com website (http://sendtofriend.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=2094503; viewed 20 June 2006):

...truth be told, Superman in the comics has always been vaguely Methodist, recently marrying Lois Lane in a church.

From: Julia Baird, "A Sunday sermon from Superman", published 22 June 2006 in The Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-sunday-sermon-from-superman/2006/06/21/1150845241006.html; viewed 21 June 2006):

Some say [Superman] is Jewish, as he was created by two Jewish cartoonists and could be viewed as part of the golem myth...

The scholarly consensus, though, seems to be that he must be Methodist, largely because Clark Kent was brought up in the American Midwest...

Like Maggin, John Byrne is one of Superman's most popular and influential chroniclers. It was Byrne who was charged with the re-creating Superman from the ground up for post-Crisis continuity. Byrne's take on the character is an influential one. Byrne's description of Superman's religiosity is an attempt to distill how this aspect of the character has been portrayed over many decades, and not an attempt to inject anything new or different. From: "Religious Beliefs of Marvel Characters" forum discussion page, started 20 October 2004, on Comic-Forum.com website (http://www.comic-forum.com/marvel/Religious_beliefs_of_Marvel_characters_397905.html; viewed 10 January 2006):

John Byrne
14 May 2004 at 4:31 am

There are no specific editorial instructions, that I am aware of, dictating the religiosity of characters -- but I would assume the populations of the imaginary worlds are religious in the same numbers, the same faiths, as here. Superheroes would therefore be no different.

Raised in the Bible Belt, for instance, I always imagined Superman to have a fairly matter-of-fact attitude toward faith -- he believes in God, but he does not make a big deal about it. Wonder Woman obviously believes in her gods, since she has met them! (That is a central theme of my novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses.)

From: Michael C. Lorah, "Doug TenNapel on Black Cherry" (interview), published 16 May 2007 on Newsarama (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=112821; viewed 28 June 2007):

NRAMA: Faith and mentors seem to be big themes in much of your work, and it looks like Eddie has both in Father McHugh. [Editor: "Eddie" and "Father McHugh" are two of the central characters in Black Cherry] Why do find these themes continually inspiring?

DT [Doug TenNapel]: Ask any person about what they think about God and you will get an amazing story. It won't just be any old story either, it will likely cut straight to the core of who that person is. It's so bizarre to me that this most personal, dramatic, amazing story device is getting pressure to be removed by story-telling industries... including the supposedly progressive comics industry.

The fact that Superman was born and raised in Kansas by conservative farmers yet he never even talks about the Bible stinks to high hell to me. It's idiotic and it ends up making these characters less human instead of more. Superman has exactly dick to do with any "Smallville" I've ever been to. This is why I actually LOVED the Red Son Superman so much; they finally gave us a contrast of what would happen if Superman didn't carry Kansas in his worldview. More of this! Less of draining worldviews and philosophies out of comics! Especially worldviews that are considered "anti-comic" like certain conservative ones.

It is the pulp nature of comics that makes is such an incredibly powerful medium. I don't think you could get funding to make a Red Son Superman movie with a 250-million-dollar budget, but you could do a limited-run book series to explore a philosophy... no harm done.

It's why I laugh so hard at a vocal minority in comics that just freaks out if my characters bring up Jesus Christ. They don't freak out if a character says the word "____" or decides to be gay in a series, but if Spiderman ever converted to Christianity these critics would have a period. I thought we were farther along than that in the discussion and debate department of comics. I'm shocked at the level of groupthink within a medium that should be anything but a monolith of worldview. There should be a robust debate of worldviews within comics... it's why I so look forward to Frank Miller's Batman vs. Islamic terror. That kind of material should be the norm not the controversial rarity that it is.