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"TThe world doesn't need a savior. And neither do I."

So states plucky reporter Lois Lane in the long-awaited Superman Returns, opening in theaters this week. Of course, the statement radiates irony the way Kryptonite gives off poison. In the comic book reality Lois inhabits, not only is she in constant need of a rescuer, but her world is as well.

Christians and even the most casual observers of pop culture have long recognized the similarities between this red-and-blue swaddled infant rocketed to earth and another babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Before we delve more deeply into the Christ-Superman connection, however, let's review the history of an American icon.

In 1933, the mad clown Hitler begins to enthrall the German masses with Nietzsche's doctrine of the superman (ubermensch). Meanwhile, half a world away in Cleveland, two Jewish high school students, Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster, have just created a superman of their own. 

While no Nazi ubermensch, Superman's ruthless pursuit of justice was terrifying. In the first comic to bear his name, Superman hurls a wife beater against the wall ("You're not fighting a woman now!") and pitches a wailing warmonger over a stand of trees. Mild-mannered this Superman was not!   

Superman was the product of the Great Depression, an era draped with the shadow of war and acrid with the smell of the gangster's Tommy gun. It was a day of strongmen with strong ideas about government—FDR, Franco, Mussolini. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Superman was the little guy backed into a corner, the stoop-shouldered victim who suddenly whipped off his round-rimmed glasses, ripped open his shirt, straightened up and took charge.

It's this above-and-beyond-ness that still attracts us to Superman seventy years later. The superhero concept is more popular than ever—especially at the cineplex. Why? Must be this wonderful quality of being super. Despite our medical expertise and remarkable technologies, despite the fact that we live longer and healthier, we're still nowhere near "super." Our spirits soar, but our bodies fail. To paraphrase Chevy Chase's old Saturday Night Live line, "I'm Superman—and you're not." It's this simple, poignant knowledge that keeps us lining up at the box office to watch him fly.  

Not that Superman flew in the beginning. Initially, he got around by means of eighth-of-a-mile leaps. Though knives broke on his chest, bursting shells could penetrate his skin. For 1938, this was plenty. But as time passed and competitors tried to muscle in on his territory, Superman had to become more super. Within a decade, he could withstand an atomic blast. By the 1960s, Superman could see across the universe and bathe in the sun. He had become a veritable god. 

Of course, a series about a hero incapable of failure is a quick recipe for boredom—thus the introduction of Kryptonite, to keep things interesting. Thanks to the alien element, a now vulnerable Superman gave his writers new ideas for plots and storylines. But even that creative well began to run dry.

As Superman entered his fourth decade of publishing, he faced his deadliest foe—time. Rust had appeared on the Man of Steel. Sales figures had fallen from the millions in the 1940s, to the hundreds of thousands in the late '60s. Today, a Superman title rarely sells more than 100,000 copies.

Was Lois Lane right? Perhaps we didn't need a savior after all.

And yet, Superman has enjoyed a resurrection of sorts in recent years—saved by the electronic media explosion. Kids may have abandoned his comics for Harry Potter, but, thanks to movies, cable TV, video games, and the Internet, the mighty S-shield is more visible today than ever. Smallville is flying high in the TV ratings. And Superman Returns is expected to be a huge box-office success.

Superman doesn't seem to be going anywhere but up, up, and away.

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The 'Savior' Returns	Printer view
Bryan Singer, director of the highly anticipated Superman Returns, says it makes sense to compare his protagonist to Jesus because, after all, "Superman is a savior."