Atheist superheroes?
Andrew Furdell
readers are young atheists (like me, only when I was younger...) I
really could have used a comic book role model then. All we had was
Quasar, and he was a really wimpy atheist, with his whole "maybe I
haven't found the right religion for me" thing. Hey, Kurt Busiek or
Christopher Priest or Erik Larsen...why not write an atheist hero? Even
better, how about if you make an already established character atheist?
Come to think of it, Nova would be a really good one. He fights aliens,
and he's a young enough guy. Make him atheist maybe!
Also something there's not enough of: gay heroes. The only one I can
think of (outside of Watchmen and, er, hehehe, Batman) is Pied Piper,
and he's really only a helpful friend. I'd care about this more if I
was gay...and anyway, probably it would scare off homophobic readers, of
which there are no doubt many. It's probably just the same as a comic
like Black Panther: when you have a minority as the main character, the
writing just has to be that much better. It's a shame, but that's the
way things seem to be.
But there are so many atheist comic fans...why not make the characters
reflect that? At least one or two? Maybe Hawkeye? Or another
avenger...Vision would be good. Anyone! Please? Pretty please?
A
Dwiff
Reed Richards is too. Hawkeye probably, Moonstone.. and given the extrem detail
we get of Peter Parkers life, I'd say he's at least an agnostic. In fact, one
would be better served if they listed the KNOWN religous practices of various
heroes as your more likely to SEE a positive than a negative. (in this context
positive and negative only denote the commision of an act or the omission of
the same act and reflect no religious bias on the basis of this poster)
Hosun Specious Lee
--
\\ \\ Hosun S. Lee // Vorpal Bunny(TM) // http://www.vorpalbunny.com
\\-\\ "The best thing that you can do with your car is to leave the
( 0-0) keys in it in the middle of San Jose, with possibly a sign that
{_^_} says 'steal me, please.' Just don't leave your address or phone
number as they may come back to kill you for unloading such a
lemon!" - Mike Patterson, on why my 97 Chevy Malibu bites.
Andrew Furdell
Dwiff wrote:
>
> Kurt B. has stated that Tony Stark is an atheist
Really?! When and where?!! Kurt, is this true? That's great...I never
would have guessed it about him so much though. Well, he's into the
whole technology/progress/nonmarital sex thing, so I can see that.
Reed Richards makes sense too. Spidey I'm not so sure of...remember, he
was one of the converted during...ahem...the Infinity Crusade...but
maybe that shouldn't count against him. Peter reminds me of me when I
was in elementary school all those years ago, nerdy and not too
accepted, and I turned out atheist, so that would make sense I think. I
would have suggested Moonstone, but she's just too evil...we need good
guys!
A
Andrew Furdell
Hosun Specious Lee wrote:
>
> Quasar's an atheist. It factors into a couple stories.
>
Sure, but like I said: too wimpy. He was all, "oooh, maybe I just
haven't found the religion that's right for me yet." That's not what I
want! I want someone who's willing to say, "No, I don't believe there
is a god," and leave it at that. A super-smart character who relies
more on logic than on faith would be an excellent choice, like Mr
Fantastic. I could just see someone like Mr F saying "Faith is for the
unintellectual. Now, move along, I have to work on this Kirby-esque
device."
A
The Ministry of Disinformation and Popular Enlightenment
wrote:
>Hey, how come there aren't any?
The same reason there's a comics code, the same reason there's no
first-tier gay or black heroes. Northstar? The Black Panther?
Fear of the majority.
Why isn't Superman gay? Why isn't Wonder Woman black? There've been
plenty of reboots to give them the chance to do it.
I'm not judging the fact that they haven't, just speculating as to the
reason.
Alan
---
Please visit my web site at http://www.angelfire.com/on2/thefuture
Hosun Specious Lee
No, he very clearly said I don't believe in God, and he disavowed religion
based entirely on logic. In fact, he thought it was a waste of time to
have a priest at his father's funeral. His father was also an atheist as
well.
Tim Frankovich
Sure, there's the occasional cameo by Firebird, a Roman Catholic.
But where's the devoted Protestant Christian heroes? There's a vast number of
Protestants around, far more than there are gays or probably atheists (that's
not intended as a slam of either), so why not? Huh? Huh?
Give me a break.
Tim
-----
Miss the 1980s GI Joe comic books? Check out my online comic/diorama, GI Joe:
Iconoclasts, at www.thebivouac.com!
-----
Finrod on bungie.net
www.crossofvalor.com
Dwiff
>>
Which is sort of what I was trying to get at. In the few cases where we are
told of a character's religious leanings it usually stems from an "ethnic"
background ( Catholic, Hebrew) but the mainstream whitebread characters are
complete ciphers in this regard. We can just as easily assume they're all
atheists as they're all scientologists (or would that be Triune
Understanding?). Anyone care to post a list of those characters whose spiritual
beliefs are on record? Of the top of my head:
Firebird: Roman Catholic
Daredevil: Roman Catholic
Nightcrawler: Roman Catholic ( I think...)
Sabra:Hebrew (d'uh)
Quasar: atheist
Storm: murky ill-defined African pagan
Shadowcat: Hebrew
Anybody else?
Todd VerBeek
>Hey, how come there aren't any? I think that a lot of comic book
>readers are young atheists (like me, only when I was younger...) I
>really could have used a comic book role model then. All we had was
>Quasar, and he was a really wimpy atheist, with his whole "maybe I
>haven't found the right religion for me" thing. Hey, Kurt Busiek or
>Christopher Priest or Erik Larsen...why not write an atheist hero? Even
>better, how about if you make an already established character atheist?
Actually, there probably =are= a lot of atheist superheroes. The writers
just don't go out of their way to draw attention to them. (Which - to be
fair - is what they usually do with Christian superheroes as well. How
often do you seem them in church, praying, or talking about their
beliefs?) You pretty much need to =infer= who might be atheist from their
background, their general personality, outlook on the world, etc. For
example, unless shown otherwise, I'd assume that most artificial/android
characters are atheist, since their creators aren't The Creator and its
questionable whether they would even have souls.
>Also something there's not enough of: gay heroes. The only one I can
>think of (outside of Watchmen and, er, hehehe, Batman) is Pied Piper,
>and he's really only a helpful friend.
Actually, there are quite a few others. I have a list of the ones I know
of at <http://www.RZero.com/books/gaysuper.html> DC has the most, Marvel
has a handful, Milestone had a few, and the rest are scattered about
randomly.
Cheers, Todd
David O'Brien
Dwiff <dw...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990921181054...@ng-cf1.aol.com...
> Which is sort of what I was trying to get at. In the few cases where we
are
> told of a character's religious leanings it usually stems from an "ethnic"
> background ( Catholic, Hebrew) but the mainstream whitebread characters
are
> complete ciphers in this regard. We can just as easily assume they're all
> atheists as they're all scientologists (or would that be Triune
> Understanding?). Anyone care to post a list of those characters whose
spiritual
> beliefs are on record? Of the top of my head:
> Firebird: Roman Catholic
> Daredevil: Roman Catholic
> Nightcrawler: Roman Catholic ( I think...)
> Sabra:Hebrew (d'uh)
> Quasar: atheist
> Storm: murky ill-defined African pagan
> Shadowcat: Hebrew
>
Thor-duh:)
Wolverine (Could well be wrong)
Pyro- was in what looked to be a catholic church at one stage confessing.
Banshee: He's a walking racial stereotype.He's definatly a catholic.
Jean and Scott-Got married in a church
Captain Britain: married in what looked to me ot be a straight forward
protestant church.
Consul de Designers
> Dwiff wrote:
> > Kurt B. has stated that Tony Stark is an atheist
> Really?! When and where?!! Kurt, is this true? That's great...I never would
> have guessed it about him so much though. Well, he's into the whole
> technology/progress/nonmarital sex thing, so I can see that.
> Reed Richards makes sense too.
Those three things are some of the most miniscul reasons to not believe
in religion.
--
Consul de Designers,
[Jameson Stalanthas Yu, Shade and Sweet Water, mes amis and Edgerunners]
[Link at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~jamesony -X- ICQ 10208399]
[Joint Educational Project http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/JEP]
[Mutatis mutandis, strive to be humane, not human]
Paul O'Brien
<alf...@emory.edu> writes
>Hey, how come there aren't any?
There are. Wolverine, for example. And there's an awful lot of
characters whose religious beliefs (or lack thereof) have never really
been addressed. I choose to assume that a reasonable proportion of
these people are atheists or agnostics who don't talk about their
religion much simply because they don't have one and don't feel the
urge to make a song and dance about it.
Paul O'Brien
http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk
The law will get there.
Paul O'Brien
<dw...@aol.com> writes
>Kurt B. has stated that Tony Stark is an atheist, and I'd bet dollars to donuts
>Reed Richards is too. Hawkeye probably, Moonstone.. and given the extrem detail
>we get of Peter Parkers life, I'd say he's at least an agnostic.
Why do you assume he's agnostic? Non-practising, certainly, but that
doesn't necessarily make him a non-believer.
I'd be surprised if there aren't some vampire stories floating around
somewhere that don't establish Spider-Man as being able to use Christian
symbols against them. (Marvel continuity has it that it's strength of
faith in the symbol that makes them effective, not anything intrinsic
to the symbols themselves.) Moreover, Spider-Man was created as an
everyman figure, and I rather suspect the USA everyman in the 1960s
was probably a Christian.
Dwiff
Wolverine (Could well be wrong)
Pyro- was in what looked to be a catholic church at one stage confessing.
Banshee: He's a walking racial stereotype.He's definatly a catholic.
Jean and Scott-Got married in a church
Captain Britain: married in what looked to me ot be a straight forward
protestant church.
>>
And what would Thor's religion be? Self-worship?
Wolverine--what faith?
Banshee-definitely, Pyro I'll take your word for it but
Captain Britain, Cyclops, Phoenix--getting married in a church is no evidence
of belief and practice--its only evidence of a religious background somewhere
in the immediate families, or sense of tradition, not belief.
Dwiff
that God that they'll be together forever. What more do you want? In
Catholicism you certainly have to have letters of attendance (Or some
equivalent) to get married.
>>
My mother, raised protestant, became atheist, my father raised Catholic, became
atheist, married in a Catholic church, both still atheist (ysee, the family
thing...)
my best friend, atheist, married in an episcopal church (ysee, the bride's
family thing)
another friend of no religious background married a devout Catholic in a
Catholic ceremony. She (and about a quarter of the guests) took communion, he
(and the rest of us) didn't.
Another friend, non-practicing Jew, married a Catholic, IN ROME, and had only
to promise to raise the children Catholic.
I could go on...
Hosun Specious Lee
being that when he formed a cross to ward off Dracula, it had no affect as
he did not believe.
Andrew Furdell
Paul O'Brien wrote:
> I'd be surprised if there aren't some vampire stories floating around
> somewhere that don't establish Spider-Man as being able to use Christian
> symbols against them. Moreover, Spider-Man was created as an
> everyman figure, and I rather suspect the USA everyman in the 1960s
> was probably a Christian.
>
Actually, I've found that Stan Lee was way ahead of his time back then.
He was pretty liberal, and his good-guy characters were never racist
like in the decades prior. Anyway, to the best of my Spidey knowledge,
he never did anything remotely religious back then, and furthermore his
vampire adventures are too recent to involve the use of Christian
symbols (remember, they couldn't use vampires until after the anti-drug
Green Goblin stories, around ASM #100). Spidey's first vampire
adventure was against Morbius the Living Vampire, and nothing
conventional worked on him.
A
Andrew Furdell
Paul O'Brien wrote:
>
> In article <37E7D46A...@emory.edu>, Andrew Furdell
> <alf...@emory.edu> writes
> >Hey, how come there aren't any?
>
> There are. Wolverine, for example.
No kidding? I don't know my Wolverine/X-history too well, so, when was
this established?
I choose to assume that a reasonable proportion of
> these people are atheists or agnostics who don't talk about their
> religion much simply because they don't have one and don't feel the
> urge to make a song and dance about it.
For me, it doesn't really matter unless they do make a song and dance
about it. There's so many pressures when you're an atheist (especially
a young atheist). One can often feel like an outsider, people look down
on us a lot and tell us we're going to hell...it's no fun, and I'd like
to see that illustrated.
A
Andrew Furdell
Living Lightning (Catholic)
Invisible Girl (Christian)
Scarlet Witch (Pagan)
Thor (Norse)
Hercules (Ancient Roman...they count too you know!)
That's all off the top of my head...there's probably more.
A
Dwiff wrote:
>
> << Well, heck, where's the blatantly Christian superheroes, then?
> >>
>
> Which is sort of what I was trying to get at. In the few cases where we are
> told of a character's religious leanings it usually stems from an "ethnic"
> background ( Catholic, Hebrew) but the mainstream whitebread characters are
> complete ciphers in this regard. We can just as easily assume they're all
> atheists as they're all scientologists (or would that be Triune
> Understanding?). Anyone care to post a list of those characters whose spiritual
> beliefs are on record? Of the top of my head:
> Firebird: Roman Catholic
> Daredevil: Roman Catholic
> Nightcrawler: Roman Catholic ( I think...)
> Sabra:Hebrew (d'uh)
> Quasar: atheist
> Storm: murky ill-defined African pagan
> Shadowcat: Hebrew
>
> Anybody else?
Andrew Furdell
Hosun Specious Lee wrote:
> No, he very clearly said I don't believe in God, and he disavowed religion
> based entirely on logic. In fact, he thought it was a waste of time to
> have a priest at his father's funeral. His father was also an atheist as
> well.
I stand corrected. I was basing what I said on the word of an atheist
friend who had the whole Quasar run. I trust both of you; probably
there were some issues where he was more namby-pamby. If his father was
an atheist, there shouldn't have been a priest at the funural; it's not
what he would have wanted.
A
Andrew Furdell
Tim Frankovich wrote:
> Give me a break.
Okayyyy...well, I'll tell you what my mom tells me anytime I complain
that there's no White Male Appreciation Day: "Every day is white male
day." Since the majority of people is religious, it's usually assumed
that the characters are too. And Infinity Crusade, not that it counts,
establishes lots of characters as being religious, especially Invisible
Woman. (I remember Living Lightning being Catholic too).
I mean, you wouldn't say "I want more heterosexual heroes." Because you
assume they are anyway. I want atheist heroes!
A
Andrew Furdell
Consul de Designers wrote:
Well, he's into the whole
> > technology/progress/nonmarital sex thing, so I can see that.
> > Reed Richards makes sense too.
>
> Those three things are some of the most miniscul reasons to not believe
> in religion.
> --
They work for me. When I was younger, it was the denouncement of
Christianity that led me to atheism, and the denouncement of
Christianity came through the disbelief in its moral system (especially
in the idea that nonbelievers would be punished). Therefore it makes
sense to me, you bad speller you.
A
Elmer J. Fudd
David O'Brien wrote:
> Dwiff <dw...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:19990921181054...@ng-cf1.aol.com...
>
> > Which is sort of what I was trying to get at. In the few cases where we
> are
> > told of a character's religious leanings it usually stems from an "ethnic"
> > background ( Catholic, Hebrew) but the mainstream whitebread characters
> are
> > complete ciphers in this regard. We can just as easily assume they're all
> > atheists as they're all scientologists (or would that be Triune
> > Understanding?). Anyone care to post a list of those characters whose
> spiritual
> > beliefs are on record? Of the top of my head:
> > Firebird: Roman Catholic
> > Daredevil: Roman Catholic
> > Nightcrawler: Roman Catholic ( I think...)
> > Sabra:Hebrew (d'uh)
> > Quasar: atheist
> > Storm: murky ill-defined African pagan
> > Shadowcat: Hebrew
> >
Andrew Furdell
> << They're not allowed marry unless they have that belief. They swear before
> that God that they'll be together forever. What more do you want? In
> Catholicism you certainly have to have letters of attendance (Or some
> equivalent) to get married.
>
>>
In a related note, Peter Parker and Mary Jane got married on the steps
of City Hall. Now, excuse me, but I think that if either one of them
was religious, that one would want a church wedding, and the other would
oblige. Hmmm...
A
Steven L Cox
wrote:
>Wolverine is not Christian. He may be another faith though. THe reason
>being that when he formed a cross to ward off Dracula, it had no affect as
>he did not believe.
Might simply be a lapsed Christian and lacked faith enuf to "trigger"
the symbol. Marvel has made it pretty clear that just about any holy
symbol will work against vampires as long as the possessor truly
believes.
-s-
Steven L Cox
wrote:
>
>
I'd suppose that a good deal of atheists *wouldnt care* about what
goes on at their funeral. Why should they?
-s-
Andrew Furdell
Steven L Cox wrote:
> I'd suppose that a good deal of atheists *wouldnt care* about what
> goes on at their funeral. Why should they?
I care. Even though I don't believe I'll be sentient in any form after
I die, I do care what happens to my body in certain respects (for
instance, I'd rather be buried than creamated, so that my cells could be
reclaimed by the earth). I wouldn't want a priest at my funeral because
that would go against everything I've done in life, it would be
hypocritical. I hate the church! Am I gonna have a church funeral?
Heck no! I've hated the church most of my life, should that change
after death? No way.
A lot of people have all sorts of crazy misconceptions about atheists.
I just heard Dr. Laura Schlesinger on the radio the other day, saying
that only religious people are happy...sigh. ah well.
A
Andrew Furdell
Infinity Crusade! I hated that series! Hated it hated it hated it!
But you keep making me...grrrrrrrr....
Anyway, Thor was one of the ones on the Goddess's side, since he saw a
religious symbol in the sky or whatever in issue 1. Remember? IT had a
gold foil cover! Oooh, sparkly!
I was at DragonCon, and this one place was giving out signed IC#1 or
signed X-Men comic with Magneto removing adamantium issues with
purchases of $5 or more. but anyway, there you go...
A
Dwiff wrote:
>
> << Thor (Norse)
> Hercules (Ancient Roman...they count too you know!) >>
>
> Y'know, I really got to object to people putting Her and Thor down as being
> religious. They are (or were) the OBJECTS of worship, not worshippers
> themselves (at least we've never seen them pray, sacrifice, fast to Odin and
> Zeus). I mean. its not like Thor looks at Herc and says "i'm sorry, I don't
> believe in yoy, I'm Norse." He says "Well met, fellow deity." Being a god, or
> demi god, doesn't preclude either of them from believing, or disbelieving, in
> some "higher deity."
Andrew Furdell
MeanGenes6 wrote:
> Bruce Banner is an Atheist.
Please, PLEASE, what issues are you guys getting these from? I'm very
interested to know! So far people have mentioned Iron Man and Bruce
Banner, but nobody will say where they read this...
By the way, once I read a comic where someone asked Cap what his
religion was. I think he said he didn't affiliate himself with any
church...how very US government of him.
A
Andrew Furdell
BSE wrote:
> Its funny thinking of the majority being religious. here in England its
> only about 10% of the population that ever go to
> church/synagogue/mosque, so its a wierd way of thinking.
I'm ashamed to say that for such a progressive young nation, we're
pretty backwards here in the states. We had slavery a lot longer than
anyone else, and now we still have guns all over the place. But then
again, we're the most powerful country in the world. Maybe it's because
we're so damned big, it takes us longer to progress...
A
Cthulhu
>Bruce Banner is an Atheist.
>particular religion). I also think the various Hulks believed in a god in
one
>form or another, but Bruce Banner was always the non-believer.
non-belief does not make an atheism automatically, otherwise I'd imagine
a bunch of agnostics would take issue.
And Hulk has many different opinions. That issue where he met Freedom
Force he stated he was agnostic. Mainly because as a scientist he can't
reason why there could be a God, but he says he hopes there is one so
he can ask why he had to suffer all his life and for what reason.
During Marlo's wedding, he accepts Mephisto as the traditional Christian
"devil" and then hypothesizes that if a devil is there, then, a god must
exist
somewhere. This doesn't make him believe, but agnostic.
So, no, sorry, Banner is not atheist.
He's killed before as well, one of the few heroes who has along with
Wolverine, Punisher, Ghost Rider.
Either way, he's pretty much your standard agnostic.
I believe Richards is the same way, but leaning strongly towards atheism. I
seem to recall around
the birth of his kids something along these lines.. perhaps the death of the
2nd child was a
catalyst.
And Stark, I can definately see as atheist, his alcoholism, very narrow
minded when it comes to anything
not purely scientific (see: avengers v3.1-3), etc.
Here's a quick guide for those who don't know the terms...
Agnostic - "They may be, or may not be a God"
Atheist - "There is no God"
Theist - "God exists"
Either way, none of the characters are always portrayed in a consistent
manner and sometimes
they change their views.
Cth
Andrew Furdell
really like that run of Hulk. I don't really like any Hulk stuff other
than the old TV show, but maybe I should give him another chance...
A
MeanGenes6 wrote:
>
> >> Bruce Banner is an Atheist.
> >
> >Please, PLEASE, what issues are you guys getting these from?
>
> I believe it was #369. It was during the Grey Hulk run. Hulk vs. Freedom
> Force. Bruce is staying with some family and helping them out and Bruce and
> the Family's father discuss religion and Bruce says he's not a believer.
>
> -MeanGenes
>
> "Violence is good. Violence is funny. Violence is golden."
> -Bruce Campbell
Andrew Furdell
Cthulhu wrote:
> I believe Richards is the same way, but leaning strongly towards atheism.
I don't believe Mr. Fantastic could be an agnostic. He thinks too much
to resort to the agnostic ideal of "I'll never know, so why think about
it?" He's definitely inquisitive and methodical enough to ponder
heavily on the subject, and he's probably smart enough to figure out
just how the universe actually came to be ("It seems we were all created
by a man named Stan Lee...")
> And Stark, I can definately see as atheist, his alcoholism, very narrow
> minded when it comes to anything
> not purely scientific (see: avengers v3.1-3), etc.
>
OK...I only find that mildly offensive I guess...
> Either way, none of the characters are always portrayed in a consistent
> manner and sometimes
> they change their views.
Understandable. A hardcore Christian writer wouldn't enjoy writing an
atheist character so much, no doubt...
A