Superman won’t die for your sins, but it’s better to believe that should the choice be between your life and his, he would give his up for you. Ever since Kal El first came to this world, there have been those who have seen comparisons between him and the Son of God. You might have read books about how Jesus and Superman are almost brothers, heard some preachers weave Superman into their prayers and finish the prayer, “in Jesus name.” The parallels are there, if Superman’s story took place in an alternate world, then Jesus is our own superman in this world. It doesn’t matter if you are agnostic, Buddhist, or atheist; your belief doesn’t change these parallels that from time to time stare themselves in the mirror and see the same man.
In “Man of Steel”, the comparisons come up again, as they have existed in most origin stories of Superman. Wear your conspiracy theorist glasses and let’s see things that aren’t there while we have fun assuming and believing they are there, that is the fun here. Clark Kent becomes Superman at 33, Jesus’ credibility as a savior became established at 33, Superman was sent from another planet to save mankind, Jesus was sent from Heaven to save mankind. It’s a very long list that also includes how they are both human while they are revered by the rest of us as messianic beings who understand what it’s like to be human because they have experienced life as humans.
But Superman isn’t Jesus, neither is Jesus Superman. They might resemble each other from time to time, but they aren’t the same person. It is an irony that the closest person that will resemble the son of God will be this Superman who exists only as pure as we can make him; Jesus’ story unlike that of Superman didn’t have writers constantly updating his mythology to fit these modern times. Perhaps this is the reason why some have a problem with the end of the movie where Superman (a version of him) does the unthinkable. Our heroes must have their hands clean, and that cleanliness is our version of whatever we want it to be. Jesus won’t do what Superman did, will he?
In an alternate world where Superman exists and Metropolis is his city of operation, the people who survived to tell of the day a man flew in their skies to save them, will be grateful that they live for one more day thanks to their savior. We, in this world, simply watched what happened to them and are judging the actions of their savior as something that was less than perfect than our standards here. But can we argue with a god’s actions when those actions save a lot of lives?