While doing some reasearch for a review I wrote on the new mini series Venom Dark Origin recently, I discovered this website which takes into account the religious background of comic book characters and villains. While I had read a thesis on this very subject in an old issue of Wizard, I thought it was fascinating that some one had carefully crafted and taken time to devote an entire site to this subject.
While it is commonly understood that some characters would be associated with religion in some form or another, I thought most heroes would be of Jewish faith, considering a lot of the writers and creators from the golden age were Jewish Americans who could draw upon their own faiths for motivation.
While it is tricky to incorporate religion with fictional material as there is the likelihood of alienation of some readers, I thoght it nevertheless an interesting topic considering how religion plays a big part in a lot of people’s lives.
Here’s a partial list of some of the best known characters (and a few not so well known ones) and their religious associations. For a more extensive list take a look at the above mentioned website.
| Superman | Methodist | |
| Spider-Man | Protestant | |
| Batman | Episcopalian/Catholic (lapsed) | |
| Wonder Woman | Greco-Roman Classical Religion | |
| Aquaman | Greco-Roman Classical Religion | |
| The Hulk | Catholic (lapsed) | |
| Captain America | Protestant | |
| Invisible Woman | Episcopalian | |
| Nightcrawler | Catholic | |
| Shadowcat | Jewish | |
| Daredevil | Catholic | |
| Hawkman | Egyptian classical religion | |
| The Thing | Jewish | |
| The Atom | Jewish (lapsed) | |
| Zatanna | Dianic Wiccan | |
| Elektra | Greek Orthodox |
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