The religious super hero and true diversity

[Legion_Quest]

Infinity Crusade highlighted all the characters who held religious beliefs

[IronMagnus]

I keep calling for the Hellscout to become a major character in today's Marvel universe but no one is listening for some reason ...

http://www.comicvine.com/hellscout/29-18253/

It probably didn't help that the story showed an Earth corporation with the power to capture Annihilus and chain him up like an animal with the Fantastic Four exclaiming even Annihilus didn't deserve to be treated like an animal.

I like Hellscout! Probably because I like Solomon Kane.

[dupersuper]

Not Marvel, but Johns JSA had a cool friendship between Dr. Midnight III (believer) and Mr. Terrific II (atheist).

[Ravin' Ray]

I keep calling for the Hellscout to become a major character in today's Marvel universe but no one is listening for some reason ...

Hickman already expressed no interest in using him, so maybe it's up to the next writer. Despite being in the Negative Zone he sticks to his Puritan religious beliefs and considers Annihilus the devil incarnate.

It probably didn't help that the story showed an Earth corporation with the power to capture Annihilus and chain him up like an animal with the Fantastic Four exclaiming even Annihilus didn't deserve to be treated like an animal.

Heh, after the events in FF they're all singing a different tune now.

[RolandJP]

"TRUE" diversity.

What a backhanded slam.


Well played.

[The Black Guardian]

Amidst the calls for true diversity in comics, it occurred to me that people of faith aren't generally well represented in comics (apart from Daredevil that is).

Most religious characters you see are villains (Purifiers, Revered William Stryker e.t.c) and are generally portrayed as hateful, ignorant and generally douches.

Now, a good number of people (a big majority) have religious beliefs in one form or the other and i would imagine that a lot of superheroes (who are religious) would be impacted very strongly by these beliefs.

If comics are to truly represent an increasingly diverse society, why aren't there more religious heroes in comics.

I'd say they're very well represented. It's just that, like most people, they don't wear their religions on their sleeves.

[Hindsight lad]

I keep calling for the Hellscout to become a major character in today's Marvel universe but no one is listening for some reason ...

http://www.comicvine.com/hellscout/29-18253/

Hellscout and his Puritan bretheren are actually an example of the dangers on non-religious writers attempting to write religious people. If memory serves, the Negative Zone Puritans were about to kill the FF as demons until Reed read a passage from the Bible. The only problem was, the passage was the Hail Mary prayer (Hail, Mary, full of grace, etc.), which isn't actually in the Bible. And given Puritan antipathy towards the Catholic Church (their pet name for the Pope was Whore of Babylon) I don't think that woudl have defused the situation.

It can also go overboard in trying to be sincere and respectful. I like the character of Firebird, but Steve Englehart made her Catholocism pretty much her only character trait. She was a very positive, sympathetic portrayal of a person of faith, but she wasn't an especially rounded, three dimensional character. I think Cannonball is a much better representation of Christianity. He doesn't talk about his faith all the time, but he was able to tell Warlock about Heaven and the Resurrection after Cypher died, and he spoke with some nice religious philosophy during "Fatal Attractions"

That said, I think there is room to better represent people of all faiths in the comics. We need better portrayals of Muslims, Hindus, Native Americans, Wiccans, Christians, and non-believers. Religion is a big part of many people's lives, and while it doesn't have to be a defining part of thier character, it would be nice if it was mentioned from time to time.

Hindsight lad

[finfangfool]

Most religious people I know have beliefs but aren't very aggressive in forcing their beliefs on others, nor very strict on keeping with all rules of their faith. Most don't attend church (or the equivalent) regularly or at all, and when pressed in conversation (I'm an atheist and love to discuss the issue to see where their beliefs come from) many don't believe in the white bearded man on a cloud or even a good portion of what's written in their particular holy book. Some say they don't believe in a god, just a "higher power" (still haven't gotten any of them to clarify what the difference is). They believe because they were taught to believe, their family believes and/or their friends believe, some of the beliefs are quite nice (eternal life in some form, the good being rewarded, evil being punished, redemption, etc.) and they've never really investigated other faiths or having none because with some things it's just easier to go along to get along (why I root for the home sports teams, I grew up here so they're "my" team).

I think this type of passive believer is well-represented in the Marvel U and elsewhere in comics. If you told me any member of the Avengers or the X-Men (who don't already have strong belief as a standout character trait like Nightcrawler) held beliefs similar to the ones mentioned above it wouldn't surprise or bother me at all. The problem comes when you have someone who is outspoken on their faith. Even if the writer portrays a person of faith in an accurate and respectful manner, given the subject you're going to have people with similar but slightly different beliefs having a major problem with those differences. Or worse yet (and far more common) they're not accurate or respectful and you upset people that way. Nightcrawler is the only character that comes to mind who has been handled well on the topic. I don't count books like Preacher, Proposition Player, or Chronicles of Wormwood because I don't think they're trying to be respectful.

As I said earlier in the thread I'd like to see characters of different faiths than the ones most commonly used (Christian, Jewish, atheist), and I'd prefer it wasn't used in a heavy-handed way but more as a character trait that helps flesh out individuals rather than being their entire purpose for existence (like Wolverine enjoying beer or Deadpool lusting after Bea Arthur).

[josh straightedge]

What about Thor and Hercules? Dr. Druid? Shaman? For that matter, there was an entire storyline (Infinity Crusade) featuring a battle between the religious and secular heroes of the Marvel Universe.

This is what I'm going with for the rest of my life.

[Corey W]

I am religious myself and wouldn't mind seeing religion explored during times of extreme crisis. As someone mentioned, OMD was a time that if Peter was religious would have been a natural.

But, that said:

(a) there are several religious characters. Punisher has been shown in confession. Religion has been a major plot point for DD several times. Nightcrawler is very religious. So is Moon Knight. All of them are A listers or nearly so. Among the B and C lists there are even more: Faiza, Sabre, Crusader, etc.

(b) as others have said religion is often kept close to the vest and is often not a spectacle. I don't know Mockingbird's religion, but I don't know her favorite food either. Some things get less attention in an action book. It isn't the Truman show.

(c) the superhero community is probably jaded. If you know Thor, Hercules, Silverclaw, and other small "g" gods and demigods and have met Odin and Zeus, and fought Galactus and the Beyonder, and seen the Infinity Gauntlet up close . . . well, it might be easy to become agnostic.

(d) most of the A list superheros are busier than anyone we know. Between adverntures, training, keeping tabs on villains, sharing information with other heroes, patrolling, etc., there is not a lot of time left for other activities.

[Brandon McKinnis]

Initially, i wanted to actually make it about christian characters but i remembered that are literally thousands of faiths in the world.

The only characters that i can think of that are actually openly religious are those in the X-universe (the dead Nightcrawler, Dust and Indra e.t.c). However, we don't see many religious characters in the main Marvel universe.

Black Panther.

[Rasputin9977]

What about Thor and Hercules? Dr. Druid? Shaman? For that matter, there was an entire storyline (Infinity Crusade) featuring a battle between the religious and secular heroes of the Marvel Universe.

LOL that's a fantastic image.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Not Marvel, but Johns JSA had a cool friendship between Dr. Midnight III (believer) and Mr. Terrific II (atheist).

Very true.

In Infinite Crisis there was a scene where some superheroes were praying in Church before a big battle. Geoff Johns said that he picked some specific heroes for that scene because he felt that some superheroes will be affected by their religious beliefs in certain situations.

Now, I don't necessarily want to see comics that preach to us about how good or bad religion is but I wouldn't mind seeing a hero reflect on his religion before he takes a big decision.

[The Black Guardian]

Nightcrawler is the only character that comes to mind who has been handled well on the topic.

I'm a huge fan of Nightcrawler, and I do agree that he was handled well with the subject. However, there was a certain point where the handling became horrible, and imo, this is what led to his death. Nightcrawler used to be a fun, swashbuckler, and full of life, but he became this overbearingly thoughtful religious brooder that sucked the life and soul out of every scene he was in. Frankly, everything post-2001 about Nightcrawler stunk. And it wasn't brimstone.

[timeismoney]

The thing is flogging is part of most people religion, as they use it to rid themselves of their sins.