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Superman is Jewish in origin

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  • Superman is Jewish in origin

    The original creators of Superman in the old, old days were two Jewish guys who used to get picked on a lot as children for being Jewish.

    Apparently, they got the idea of Superman (slightly, not largely) from the myth of the golem, the mythical creature who protected Jews from persecution.

    They didn't set out to make Superman Jewish, of course, but there are some subtle in-roads that they wanted many Jewish kids to identify with.

    Superman is the last of his race. He is, technically, a refugee in a foriegn land. He grows up feeling like an outsider. As a joke, I just want to mention that he comes from a highly intelligent race as well.

    THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND KLAY, a novel (which one the Pulizter Prize) goes into this.

    It's kind of interesting.
    Last edited by connerkent1977; 09-15-2005, 12:42 PM.

  • #2
    If you research the history of Superman, he is very much a Jewish creation. The Golem facet is part of it, although there are many parallels between Superman's story and the story of Moshe (Moses) found in the Bible.

    The Clark Kent persona also reflects Jerry's and Joe's own identity as the "everyman," someone who is average and not particularly heroic. Clark also has a hard time around women, a problem to which any teenage male can relate. They tapped into their own longing to be something greater by having Superman be the alter-ego of the "mild-mannered" Clark Kent. Superman is not only the defender of the weak. He's also a very popular man. Every man in town wants to be him. Every woman in town wants to marry him. It's an escapist fantasy that taps into the longing of young children, particularly young boys. It's also one of the reasons why Superman was such a huge success.

    As for "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay," I had the chance to read that novel recently. Although there is one plot twist that I don't really think is necessary, overall I found the novel to be engaging and entertaining. I very much enjoyed Michael Chabon's writing style, and as a comic book fan, I loved the references to the Golden Age.

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    • #3
      wooooooow. i never new that superman was created for that reason. boruch hashem for them!

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      • #4
        I forgot to mention the fact that Joe and Jerry were the children of Jewish immigrants. This gave them a sort of duel identity and a status as outsiders. You can clearly see this in Clark Kent, as well as in Superman. He is, after all, an immigrant.

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        • #5
          So Superman is the reflection persona of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster?

          I guess that,when they first created the Man of Steel they dint knew what they were making:A legend....

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          • #6
            Superman was protestant, check out the old old comics. They never specified what faith exactly but there is at least one comic with him going to services. I found this out in Wizard Magazine

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            • #7
              Can you please find out which comic that is, because I'd be very interested to know. The only time I remember him going to church is when he got married in Superman: the Wedding Album. It appeared like an Aglican church to me. I say this because I think I recall that the minister wore the garb of an Aglican or Catholic priest, but since there were no signs in the church indicating it was Catholic, I just assumed it was Anglican. I know there are a few other Protestant denominations where the pastor wears a priest's garb (I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the clothing now, but it's the white collar), especially for certain occasions.

              If you look way back in the Golden Age, though, I doubt you'll find any specific references to Christianity. Jerrry and Joe were both Jewish. Not that it wouldn't be logical to assume that Clark was raised as a Christian, given that he grew up in Kansas.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by superman79
                Superman was protestant, check out the old old comics. They never specified what faith exactly but there is at least one comic with him going to services. I found this out in Wizard Magazine

                Oh, fuk off you anti-semite. Superman doesn't have a religion. ANd he's definately not Christian with all the intergalactic stuff he's been exposed to.

                not to mention that one of his good friends is linked to the ancient Greek gods.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by connerkent1977
                  Oh, fuk off you anti-semite. Superman doesn't have a religion. ANd he's definately not Christian with all the intergalactic stuff he's been exposed to.

                  not to mention that one of his good friends is linked to the ancient Greek gods.
                  Watch your mouth, I'm not anti Jew. Read your history, I'm just qouting Wizard Magazine. If you have to know Jewish people are God's chosen people so I won't say a bad thing about it. I'm just qouting fact.

                  Originally posted by yeshuamyking7
                  Can you please find out which comic that is, because I'd be very interested to know. The only time I remember him going to church is when he got married in Superman: the Wedding Album. It appeared like an Aglican church to me. I say this because I think I recall that the minister wore the garb of an Aglican or Catholic priest, but since there were no signs in the church indicating it was Catholic, I just assumed it was Anglican. I know there are a few other Protestant denominations where the pastor wears a priest's garb (I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the clothing now, but it's the white collar), especially for certain occasions.

                  If you look way back in the Golden Age, though, I doubt you'll find any specific references to Christianity. Jerrry and Joe were both Jewish. Not that it wouldn't be logical to assume that Clark was raised as a Christian, given that he grew up in Kansas.
                  I'll have to check my Wizard mags. And you're right, it was a special that wasn't included into the main titles which is why it's a bit more obscure. But yeah, they never made it a point because it really doesn't matter. Superman is a good guy but I'll look into it for you.
                  Last edited by superman79; 09-17-2005, 05:38 PM.

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                  • #10
                    I don't think someone's an anti-semite because he/she referred to one panel of Superman doing some Protestant thing. I could be wrong, but probably not.

                    Superman is very much a creation of his writers and handlers. In the Golden and Silver ages, that would be Siegel, and Weisenger. Later, Maggin and Waid seemed to incorporate Christian themes into their work. For example, CW Saturn is a nemesis based on Satan, who only certain groups of Christians believe in.

                    But Julius Schwartz was editor at the time. Lots of good Jews to choose from! And not only Jews....John Byrne's primary religion is John Byrne, and Alan Moore now believes that all religious stories are true, but was an atheist when he wrote his first Superman stories. Hooray diversity!

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Gangbuster
                      I don't think someone's an anti-semite because he/she referred to one panel of Superman doing some Protestant thing. I could be wrong, but probably not.

                      Superman is very much a creation of his writers and handlers. In the Golden and Silver ages, that would be Siegel, and Weisenger. Later, Maggin and Waid seemed to incorporate Christian themes into their work. For example, CW Saturn is a nemesis based on Satan, who only certain groups of Christians believe in.

                      But Julius Schwartz was editor at the time. Lots of good Jews to choose from! And not only Jews....John Byrne's primary religion is John Byrne, and Alan Moore now believes that all religious stories are true, but was an atheist when he wrote his first Superman stories. Hooray diversity!
                      Thanks, and yes thats what makes this great. We can all have opinions and should still get along. And it's those opinions that made Superman a great character

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                      • #12
                        I alwasy thought Superman was a Raoist, or at least the pre-crisis verison was. Wasn't Rao the God of Krypton or something?


                        Yeah, post-crisis I'm quite certain He'd be a protestant of some kind and Linda Danvers of course is a Methodist.

                        But you are right, CK, There are a great many parrallels with Superman and Moses, and there is no doubt in my mind that Supermans creators orignally intended him to be a moses-like figure.

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                        • #13
                          Well spoken, in Kingdom Come that was part of the influence.

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                          • #14
                            I'm just starting to read an excellent book on this - or around this topic. "Men of Tomorrow", about the creators of Superman, and their immigrant story. Super stuff, recommend it to anyone.

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                            • #15
                              Interesting. I did not know the original creators of Superman were Jewish.

                              In another thread in the 'Superman in other media' genre I wrote a full length novel about a Christian Superman. His family name, the house of 'El', is one of the names of God in Hebrew, a fact that I weaved into my story. I went two steps further.

                              First, in my story, the Kryptonian House of El was already the house of leaders of Krypton. I kept that and also made them the keepers of prophecy God had given their world.

                              Second, I made the written language and alphabet of Krypton identical to ancient Hebrew (though the pronunciation is different, much like the Chinese and Japanese can read significant portions of each others' written language but cannot speak to each other). When KalEl is first exposed to the original Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 he accurately translates it into English using his knowledge of the Kryptonian language.

                              go to www.kryptonianembassy.com to get the story. I need people to give my constructive criticism (good or bad). This is my first jab at writing such a story so any help would be appreciated.

                              One thing I have been told is that die hard superman fans get 'anally retentive' if things change, like the names of people or things from the orignal series. I'm in the process of updating my story with corrections to changes I either didn't know were wrong, or I decided can be changed back to how they were in the original story as much as possible.

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