Dawn of Justice and Victorious Sacrifice
Superman dies! A few months
back I went to see this way over-due production, and the scene was visually
shocking, yet expected. This was the way things ended in the comic bout with
Doomsday. Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice’s twist was the foe was something
created by arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. This is all part of “a mythological journey for Superman,” according
to film director Zach
Snyder, which includes “the
birth, death and resurrection.” Accordingly, the final frame includes a faint
heartbeat and soil levitating from the casket.
Hope of resurrection, victory
over the enemy of death, is the yearning within the hearts of many. The very
idea makes a fine fixture to incorporate into our Superman mythology. Perhaps we
can get a foretaste of this victory in present, like in recovering from a brush
with death; yet, the human experience is the reign of death. What if this enemy
could be destroyed? For the Christian, the victory over death is rooted in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the apex of redemptive history, the epicenter of a monumental
happening that shook the fabric of time and space. The Apostle Paul writes, “But now Christ has been
raised from the dead, the first fruits
of those who are asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20).1 God sent the Son to die
upon the cross for sinners, the Son resurrected on the third day, and those who
believe have eternal life.
When Jesus Christ appears again, the dead shall
be raised from the graves. The saints shall be resurrected to eternal life in a
new heaven and new hearth and the sinners to eternal condemnation in the lake
of fire (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:1-58; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Heb. 9:27-28; Rev.
20:11-12; cf. Dan. 12:2).
Another
theme explored in Dawn of Justice is the corruptive effects of evil. Luthor
wants to both mar and destroy Superman. The villain uses the collateral damage
from the previous battle with General Zod to fuel public distrust in the
Kryptonian’s goodness. Luthor even utilizes extraterrestrial artifacts and
technology to construct weapons for the purpose of killing Superman. The mad
man thinks a god-like Superman intervening in human affairs is an evil that the
world can do without. Even the mind of Bruce Wayne becomes poisoned with
anti-Kryptonian sentiments and the Batman nearly succeeds yet stops short of killing
Superman after coming to a true evaluation of things. (Luthor had taken Martha
Kent, and used to adoptive mother to manipulate Superman into battling the Dark
Knight).
The
Bible depicts God’s people in spiritual warfare against the sinful flesh, the
world, and the Devil. Luthor embodies the way of the Deceiver in leading a
campaign of misinformation to slander Superman, and lead masses into
questioning the goodness of hero’s attempts to rescue earthlings from their
distress. The serpent says, “Indeed, has God said…” (Gen. 3:1), and calls into
question the truthfulness and goodness of Yahweh’s prohibition against eating
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “You surely will not die!” said the serpent,
who then asserted, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” the serpent
said (Gen. 3:4-5).
New Atheist works like Christopher Hitchen’s God is
not Good: How Religion Poisons Everything follows the same tactic. Although
arguments against theism are pretty flimsy in such works, the fierceness and
dogmatism of the presentation can easily poison minds against belief in any
benevolent deity. Christians who fail in knowing why they believe what they
believe can easily be led astray by the ruse.
Christianity’s place in this epic battle between the
Light and darkness is to realize this. Yes, there are many sinners who have
been duped by Satan into serving in the army of darkness and waging war against
God and the people of God, but Jesus Christ brings sinners out of the darkness
into the light, and the Christian serves as agents behind enemy lines calling enemy
soldiers to defect towards the other side.
Nobel
death is another theme explored in the Dawn of Justice mythology. When Luthor
realizes the plan to have the two superheroes has been foiled, he creates Doomsday
to destroy them both. Superman and Batman are joined by Wonder Woman to defeat
Luthor’s monster. The three heroes are unable to bring down the beast, and all
hope appears to be lost. Yet, Superman leads one last foray armed with a kryptonite
spear, and stabs Doomsday in the heart. There is also a great cost to this
victory, for Kal El is pierced through the heart by one of the bony spines protruding
from the beast. Superman gives his own life to deliver the earth from the
destructive force of Doomsday.
It is Superman’s noble death which
inspires Batman to form the Justice League. The Dark Knight realized that other
threats to earth’s existence would come, and a world without Superman would
need a force of metahumans to thwart off those attacks. This Justice League
would include Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman, and the Flash.
Nobel death, self-sacrifice, or
martyrdom is something truly powerful, which can inspire others to do something
greater than themselves. Christianity see in the death and resurrection of
Jesus as the motivating force behind leaving behind an old sinful life and
taking on a new righteous life. Paul writes, “We have been buried with Him
through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
The disciple of Christ enters into the kingdom on the basis of Jesus’ death and
resurrection, and the same death and resurrection motif is carried out in all
areas of Christian living, like the foregoing of selfish ambition and empty
conceit addressed in Philippians 2.
I’ll have to hold off on Dawn
of Justice being one of the best 2016 comic book superhero action films to
come out, but there are redemptive elements explored in the storyline (like
resurrection, corruptive effects of sin, and noble death), which make this an
interesting story. So it was at minimum worth paying the admission.
WGN
WGN
Notes:
1. All Scripture cited from New
American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
(LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), unless noted.
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