'Man of Steel' Marketers Target Christians, Draw Parallels to Jesus

Filmmakers behind the new "Man of Steel" movie, which opened last week, are marketing the film to Christian ministers, drawing parallels between Superman and Jesus.

Warner Bros. Studio is “aggressively” marketing “Man of Steel” to Christian pastors, including writing sermon notes and creating film trailers focused on the Christian points in the movie, according to a blog post by Eric Marrapodi on CNN Belief.

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Pastors were invited to early screenings of the movie, and although some were hesitant about the comparison of Jesus and Superman, Marrapodi reported that at least one minister saw the movie and absorbed clear likenesses in the presentation of the two.

The sermon notes, written by a Pepperdine University professor, are called “Jesus: The Original Superhero,” and visuals in the movie tie into that idea.

Superman is the superhero who stands out from even his crime-fighting compatriots, showing strength, courage and morals that are far above the “norm” in that created world, reported Jeff Jensen on EW.com.

And that same hero bears a passing resemblance to the "Son of God/Son of Man," Jensen said.

Various scenes in the movie — including one where Superman is standing with his father, overlooking Earth, and then falls, arms outstretched in a cross shape — make clear references to Christianity.

But some people, despite the matches between the two, are rejecting the idea that Superman is like Jesus in any way.

Minister Mark Sandlin wrote an article on Huff Post Religion explaining that, while he liked the movie for its entertainment value, he wouldn’t be preaching a sermon about it. The problem for him, he said, was the violence.

“Jesus was the antithesis of the might-makes-right solutions which we find in superhero stories,” Sandlin wrote. “In the Christian story, salvation is offered through a cross, through the hero laying down his life rather than wiping out all of the bad guys. His life and death are the embodiment of an argument which says, ‘there is nothing redemptive about violence.’”

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