3 Lessons From "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) 

 

 

 

SPOILER ALERT BELOW:

 

1.) Superman died and knowingly gave up his life for the world, just like Jesus Christ did for the world.

 

Jesus is both God and man.  Superman was both Kryptonian (as Kal-El) and grew up among Earthlings (as Clark Kent).  In Christ, the two natures (divine and human) in one person is called the Hypostatic Union. 

 

Superman told Lois Lane before dying for her, "This is my world (too).  You are my world."  Just as Superman was stabbed by the Doomsday monster, so too Christ was pierced by the sins of all mankind.  Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.

 

There is a scene where Lois Lane held the dead body of Superman on the ground.  Both Batman and Wonder Woman stood above them.  This is like Mary holding Jesus's dead body after it was lowered from the Cross and holding Jesus's dead body (i.e., the Pieta), while St. John the Beloved Apostle and St. Mary Magdelene stood over Mary and Jesus' dead body.

 

 

2.) Just as Lex Luthor (junior) tricked Superman and Batman to fight each other, so too the devil today tricks the superheroes of God, the saints, to fight each other.

 

This is more true today where, in the words of Bl. Paul VI, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church dramatically pitting bishop against bishop and lay person against lay person, unprecedented in her history.

 

But just as Batman needed help from Wonder Woman, so too we all need a little help from other each to fight evil.

 

Just as Bruce Wayne/Batman eventually asked Diana Prince/Wonder Woman to help him gather other superheroes (Flash, Aquaman, etc.) into the Justice League, so too Christ gathers his superheroes into his holy Catholic Church. 

 

The movie's subtitle "Dawn of Justice" means the beginning of the Justice League.  Bruce says to Diana, "Help me find the others like you."  In real life, a real superhero is a saint.

 

 

3.) The movie ends with the burial of Clark Kent/Superman where Lois Lane threw dirt on his coffin.  At the very last split second of the movie, some of the dirt that appeared over Clark Kent/Superman's coffin seemed to rise, perhaps a foreshadow of Superman's return.  Did you catch that?

 

Just as Superman's death is not the end of the story, so too Christ's death on the Cross is not the end b/c the Resurrection followed.

 

 

 

Mr. P.'s Grade: solid A for its similarities to Christ, the greatest love story ever told.  Cussing and intimacy scenes were not necessary to advance movie plot; remove for an A+.

 

Click HERE for my other review of the original 1978 Superman movie with Christopher Reeve.