What Went Wrong With Justice League (and How to Fix It)

About Superman

After his unfortunate killing spree in Man of Steel, D.C.’s Superman has become the franchise’s moral authority—the cape-wearing boy scout we can always trust to do the right thing. And that’s great.

Indeed, one thing that I have appreciated about Justice League Director Zack Snyder’s helming of D.C.’s cinematic universe is his explicit efforts to connect this superhero messiah with our real one: Superman and Jesus are metaphorical cousins in Snyder’s telling, and that has given me plenty to write about over the years.

But in an effort to make Superman as godlike as possible, I think Snyder’s forgotten a truth of basic Christianity: Jesus was fully God and, just as importantly, fully man.

It’s not like Justice League completely ignores the human side of Supes. He gets a little bruised near the end. He reluctantly leaves Lois Lane to do his hero thing. Batman even says that the native Kryptonian is more “human” than he is.

But more often, Big Blue comes across as rather solemn and somber, as perfect and as frozen as Metropolis’s one-time statue of him. He’s a Christ figure frozen in stained glass, serene and silent.

He doesn’t feel very human in Justice League. He feels like someone you bow to, not someone you’d slap on the back.

Superman loses something in that, even when he’s meant as a Christ-like avatar. When I see Jesus on film, the portrayals that attract me the most are the most human, not the most holy: The laughing, joyful Jesus in Risen. The Jesus who jokes with his mother in The Last Temptation of Christ. When you read C.S. Lewis’ description of Aslan, you get the feeling that folks would want to spend an eternity with him. The Superman we see in Justice League feels more like the sort of guy you’d sure appreciate and respect—but would be glad to see walk out the door, just so you could relax a little.

Says Business Insider of Superman (and why no one gets him anymore):

They treat him as a god among mortals, our greatest fear or our great salvation. The problem with this, though, is that it strips the character of his humanity and makes him downright unapproachable. … That was [comics writer Grant] Morrison’s epiphany: The most powerful man alive wouldn’t be tortured but instead would be the friendliest, most relaxed person you ever saw.”

He’d be human.