Man of Steel – Reacting to Change

As a huge comic book fan, I will admit that we are a very passionate and opinionated fan base. One thing that can get us upset is when writers make changes to our characters. These heroes and villains have many years of history and we have certain expectations about the way they will conduct themselves in the pages of the books and on the screen. Spider-Man needs to be influenced by Uncle Ben’s words, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Batman becomes a vigilante because of the death of his parents but he won’t cross the line by killing his enemies. Tony Stark is an arrogant technology expert who believes he is the smartest man in the room.

Each character has their defining characteristics and their own interesting back story that makes them who they are. Through the years, writers have added layers to their personalities. There are even times when elements of their histories are changed. Sometimes these changes are good for the character and the story. At other times, these changes upset fans and cause endless debate about the merit of these changes. The movies are usually the prime place where details will be changed. Some of the changes make perfect sense since it is difficult to translate everything from a comic book to a live action film. Other changes nearly cause riots because of the anger among fans.

This brings me to the Man of Steel movie from 2013. Let me start by saying that I think that movie is one of the better Superman interpretations that I have seen. Overall I thought it was a good movie. However, in the eyes of some fans, there were a few big changes which should have never happened and nearly ruined the movie. For years and years, Superman has been just like Batman in that he had a rule that he would never kill. Also, Superman is very good about saving innocent bystanders. Sometimes it is almost annoying how good he is at this. I have seen Superman stories where civilians should have died but Superman surprised everyone by saving them all. No one perished.

Man of Steel went against those ideas in major ways. When General Zod and his fellow Kryptonians fought Superman, the collateral damage was devastating. The city of Smallville was nearly destroyed. Metropolis was just about leveled. Buildings were crashing to the ground and people were running in terror as Superman and Zod crashed through their surroundings. At times, Superman barely seemed to care about the innocent bystanders nearby. At the culmination of the final battle, Superman does save civilians. Zod is about to kill them with his heat vision. Superman stops him by snapping his neck and killing him. It makes sense in the story but it breaks the pattern set by years of history. Superman killed his enemy.

Whether you agree with the changes to the Superman mythos for Man of Steel or not, my point is that it causes debate and at times outrage from comic book fans. People get mad at writers for making changes to their beloved characters and stories. At times, people will even claim that they will never go to another movie or pick up another book again because of their anger over what happened. It is interesting how upset people can get about a fictional character. As much as I love my superheroes, at the end of the day, they are simply fictional people. If a writer decides to make a drastic change to a character I love, I might not like it, but it does not significantly change my life. And it certainly doesn’t alter my eternal future.
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I wish people would react with similar outrage when people try to change the message of the Bible. God has given us the Bible to show us the path to eternal salvation. His book is meant to endure through all ages. He stands behind it. It says in Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” God’s message is always there for us. His message of forgiveness through Christ never changes. So why then do we have so many versions of Christianity and so many ideas about what the Bible says?

It is not because of anything wrong with the Bible. The Bible is all true. The Bible is from God. The reason for all the denominations and teachings is because of sinful human beings. Because of our sinful nature, we don’t want to listen to God’s Word. We want to change it to suit our needs. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” We all want a God of our own choosing.

We might even like a god like Superman. He can rescue us from falling off a building but he doesn’t need to tell us how to live our daily lives. He can just take care of the big things but he doesn’t need to speak to our hearts about our lust, greed, jealousy, anger or anything else that infects us. However, we need a God who speaks about the sinfulness of our hearts. We need the words of Scripture which show our sinfulness and our need for a true Savior. We need to resist those temptations to follow after false teachings which take us away from the truth. Even if our sinful nature likes those changes that people make to the Bible, they are not the truth. The truth needs to point out our sins and then point out how Jesus saved us through his death on the cross and his resurrection.

I wish that everyone got as upset about changes to the message of the Bible as they do when changes are made in their favorite stories. It would be great if everyone knew their Bibles so well that they could immediately challenge someone who tried to introduce a false teaching. Comic book fans can talk for hours and hours about Superman and the changes they saw in the Man of Steel movie. Wouldn’t it be great to see that same kind of enthusiasm about God’s Word? I don’t mean to discourage fans from talking about their favorite books and movies. I myself participate in plenty of conversations. What I hope for is this – let’s talk about our Savior Jesus with the same kind of passion. Let’s share the truth of forgiveness. Jesus is the message that everyone needs to hear. His message of salvation never changes.

Superman History

Superman started in Action Comics number 1 back in June 1938. The character Kal-El comes from the planet Krypton. When his planet was dying, his father Jor-El sent him to earth as an infant. Kal-El was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. They adopted him and raised him as their son Clark Kent. He realized his incredible abilities and became Superman. There have been many interesting stories in his history. In the 1990’s he was killed by a villain named Doomsday. This was a huge storyline since Superman has usually seemed too powerful to die. In that “Death of Superman” story, Superman protected everyone by sacrificing himself to stop Doomsday.