Religious Affiliation of Comics Book Characters The

59 Pages·2012·0.93 MB·English

by  Bergman, Rob

Religious Affiliation of Comics Book Characters

The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
Wolverine
Logan, of the X-Men and the New Avengers
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Wolverine.html

Wolverine is the code name of the Marvel Comics character who was
long known simply as "Logan." (Long after his introduction, the
character's real name was revealed to be "James Howlett.") Although
originally a relatively minor character introduced in The Incredible
Hulk #180-181 (October - November, 1974), the character eventually
became Marvel's second-most popular character (after Spider-Man).
Wolverine was for many years one of
Marvel's most mysterious characters,

as he had no memory of his earlier life
Above: Logan
and the origins of his distinctive (Wolverine) prays at a
Adamantium skeleton and claws. Like Shinto temple in Kyoto,
much about the character, his religious Japan.

affiliation is uncertain. It is clear that
[Source: Wolverine:
Wolverine was raised in a devoutly
Soultaker, issue #2 (May
Christian home in Alberta, Canada. His 2005), page 6. Written by
family appears to have been Protestant, Akira Yoshida, illustrated
although this is not certain. At least by Shin "Jason"
Nagasawa; reprinted in
into his teen years, Wolverine had a
Wolverine: Soultaker,
strong belief in God and was a
Marvel Entertainment
prayerful person who strived to live by Group: New York City
specific Christian ethics and moral (2005).]
teachings.
Above: Although Logan
(Wolverine) is not a Catholic, and Over the many decades since he was a
Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) is not
child and youth in 19th Century
really a priest, Logan
Alberta, Wolverine's character has
nevertheless was so troubled by
his recent actions that he changed significantly. It is safe to say
informally sought absolution from that Wolverine, at his core, is now

his old friend. something of a cynic and a skeptic. Above: Holding the
Bible, Wolverine prays in
[Source: Wolverine, volume 3, a Christian church. [From
Some fans characterize Wolverine as
issue #6, page 18. Written by the "Nightcrawler"
Greg Rucka. Pencils by Darick an "atheist," but this may be an episode of X-Men: The
Robertson. Inks by Tom Palmer. oversimplification or a Animated Series.]
Reprinted in Wolverine: The
misidentification with regards to the
Brotherhood trade paperback,
character's current status.
Marvel Entertainment Group:
New York (2003).]
Has Wolverine been an atheist? Yes, absolutely. Has he
identified himself as an atheist in the past? Yes. Is he an atheist today? That is a more difficult
question to answer. Currently, this question seems open to interpretation depending on the writer
or reader. On more than one occasion, Wolverine has been shown having experiences that led
him to have faith in "immaterial" and "metaphysical" phenomenon, including God and Heaven.
Wolverine has indeed expressed disbelief and frustration with God in isolated stories. For
example, Wolverine apparently briefly identified his theological position as an unbeliever in The
Uncanny X-Men during the Brood War saga in the 160s (circa 1983, but not #166). A story
delving into Wolverine's past showed how he became an atheist during World War II after his
girlfriend was killed by the villain Cyber. But Wolverine has certainly changed and developed,
while having many influential experiences and not a few theological dicussions, since then. For
example, Wolverine has actually been to Heaven. It is safe to say to say that Wolverine has been
an atheist in the past, but too many stories have established Logan as having found and practiced
religious faith to characterize the current character as an atheist.
Wolverine has spent considerable time in Japan, and has studied under some Japanese martial
arts masters. Wolverine has been shown praying in Buddhist and Shinto temples, and
participating in Buddhist ceremonies in both the comic books and animated adaptations of The
X-Men. But Wolverine is not known to practice Buddhism regularly nor is known to have ever
overtly identified himself as a Buddhist.
Furthermore, although it is far more common for religious Japanese to identify themselves as
Buddhists than Shintoists, it should be remembered that Wolverine's late fiance, Mariko Yashida,
was from a family that was overtly identified as Shintoist. (Various visual clues indicate the
Yashidas were also Buddhists, as is often the case in Japan.) Mariko worshipped the Shinto sun
goddess Amaterasu. Her cousin, Sunfire, is an acknowledged Shintoist. The wedding of Logan
and Mariko was to have been a Shinto wedding, as shown in Uncanny X-Men #170. However,
Wolverine should in no way be regarded as a Shintoist.
Wolverine has also been depicted praying in a Christian church and seeking advice and
absolution from his devout Catholic teammate Nightcrawler on religious topics.
Although Wolverine has never been portrayed as religiously devout or an orthodox member of
any organized religious denomination, he has frequently expressed sincere religious belief.
Indeed, his various experiences suggest that he has more reason to believe in God than nearly all
other Marvel comic book characters.
Wolverine has a highly developed personal sense of morality and ethics that seems to be of his
own devising, and not derived from any specific belief system. However, Japanese culture
(including Bushido and a Samurai sense of honor), as well as the teachings of Charles Xavier,
have been important influences in the formation of Logan's belief system. Another important
aspect of Wolverine's goals and personal code of ethics is his drive to regain and retain his
humanity in the wake of his transformation into a living weapon at the hands the Weapon X
program, the military/intelligence program which gave infused his skeleton with adamantium
and trained him as a deadly operative. Wolverine also works to keep his anger in check, lest he
slip into one of his deadly berserker rages.
Neither an atheist nor an orthodox religious believer, Wolverine may best be characterized as
one who struggles both with God and himself. He is rarely a static character, but seems always to
be on a journey toward self-improvement and personal redemption.

Above: Wolverine prays at a Shinto temple in Kyoto, Japan. [Source: Wolverine:
Soultaker, issue #2 (May 2005), pages 3-6. Written by Akira Yoshida, illustrated by
Shin "Jason" Nagasawa; reprinted in Wolverine: Soultaker, Marvel Entertainment
Group: New York City (2005).]
Wolverine is a hero not simply in the spandex-wearing, villain-fighting sense of the word. More
importantly, he is marked as a hero by his constant battle with himself to overcome an inherently
anti-social, violent, sinful, animal nature, while striving to live in a humanistic, spiritual, positive
way.
With regards to the specific question of whether Wolverine/Logan believes in God, a reader of
this website who has read every issue of Wolverine that has been published wrote that there have
been numerous issues in which Logan has had the opportunity to debate about God and religion
in general, always doing so with the sense that he believes God exists, although often wondering
about specific points of doctrine and ethical questions.
Notable among recent storylines was an issue in which he sought out Nightcrawler (Kurt
Wagner), an Catholic priest, to request last rites for a loved one who was dying in his arms. In
Wolverine, volume 3, issue #6, Wolverine sought to receive spiritual absolution from
Nightcrawler after feeling guilty about a recent with a particularly high death toll.
Wolverine is one of only a handful of characters in mainstream comics who is known to have
seen the afterlife. After he lost his Adamantium skeleton because of Magneto, Logan was on his
deathbed and was visited by Illyana Rasputin (a.k.a. "Magik," the sister of Colossus) in the
afterlife, and he begged her to let him come home to heaven, or wherever she was.

Below: Wolverine: Some things have to be taken on faith.

[Source: House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel Comics Group (2005), page 34; reprinted in X-
Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006); written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and
Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III.]

Below: Not long after coming back from the dead, Colossus and Wolverine talk about coming back from
the dead. This scene shows that Wolverine is contemplative, or at least somewhat curious, about the
"afterlife," at least inasmuch as the deaths and returns of Colossus and Psylocke might tell him
something. Wolverine has not made up his mind about what he thinks the afterlife will be like. He is more
of a "skeptical seeker" than somebody who has embraced a particular answer or belief set.

When the typically more philosophical Colossus turns the tables slightly and asks Wolverine why he now
lives yet his sister is still dead, Wolverine isn't about to answer. Wolverine may be "the best he is at what
he does," but answering deep philosophical questions about life and death is not what he does.
[Source: House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel Comics Group (2005), page 34; reprinted in X-
Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006); written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and
Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III.]

Text from scene above, which takes place the day after "M-Day," the day when the Scarlet
Witch's power caused most of the world's mutant population to be de-powered and turned into
normal humans instead of mutants. From House of M: The Day After, published by Marvel
Comics Group (2005), pages 33-34; reprinted in X-Men: The Day After trade paperback (2006);
written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Randy Green and Aaron Lopresti, inked by Rob
Hunter, Norm Rapmund and Don Hillsman III:
Colossus: How many students are left, Logan?

Wolverine: Not a lot. Thirty, maybe. Y'know, Petey -- Magneto, Apocalypse, Sinister,
Sublime, even Cassandra Nova -- at their worst, none of 'em ever hurt us as badly as
this.

Colossus: What is wrong, tovarisch [Russian for: "friend"]?
Wolverine: Just feelin' my age. Usedta be, my life was a mystery. What I wanted
more'n anything, was t' know what I missed.

Colossus: Be careful what you wish for.

Wolverine: Yup.

Colossus: It's been ages since I sketched you . . .

Wolverine: Some other time.

Colossus: I brought beer.

Wolverine: What the hell.

Colossus: So much has changed since I've been gone. I fell like I've been standing
still.

Wolverine: You an' Psylocke both, back from the dead. Ever think to compare notes?

Colossus: For her, that transition was instantaneous. For me . . . day after endless day
of torment.

Wolverine: You look like you're coping.

Colossus: Tell me, Logan. Why am I alive and not my sister? Why do I have my
powers, when so many others have lost theirs?

Wolverine: How the hell should I know?

Colossus: Our cause seemed so simple when Professor Xavier explained it. And so . .
. just. Good guys and bad guys, who can argue with that? I remember when we fought
Proteus, who could turn the world to clay and twist it as he pleased. We found a way to
win. I found a way to destroy him.

Wolverine: What's yer point?

Colossus: I want to hit someone. I want to fight. But how can you fight something like
this?

Wolverine: Some things have to be taken on faith.

Colossus: And when that faith is lost?

Wolverine: Still workin' on that one.
Animated Wolverine: praying in church

In the X-Men animated TV series, an episode portrayed Wolverine converting from atheism to
belief in God. The episode, titled "Nightcrawler" (episode #44, Season 3, 13 May 1995),
introduced Kurt Wagner, the overtly Catholic Christian character of the same name.
Nightcrawler's strong faith in God caused Wolverine to question his own disbelief and find faith
in God. This may be one of the most religious, theology-laden episodes ever made in a
mainstream animated cartoon series. The episode is included in the DVD X-Men: The Legend of
Wolverine, which was widely distributed in video stores and other outlets. From: Steve Beard,
"Bamf! The gospel according to Nightcrawler", on Thunderstruck.org website
(http://www.thunderstruck.org/nightcrawler.htm; viewed 8 December 2005):
With the heightened popularity of the X-Men movies, a DVD collection of animated TV
episodes from the early 1990s has been released entitled X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine
(Buena Vista). It includes an entire episode devoted to the origin and theological disposition of
Nightcrawler.
The story takes place within a monastery in a small Bavarian village in Germany. Three of the
X-Men (Wolverine, Gambit, and Rogue) find themselves being aided by monks in the aftermath
of an avalanche. Having been mistaken for a demon by the townspeople because of his looks,
Nightcrawler explains to Wolverine and his friends that his genetic mutations were evident from
birth and that the villagers chased he and his mother of out of town.
His mom (Mystique) also abandoned him as a child (in the comics, she throws him over a
waterfall) and a family of travelling performers took him in. When he was young he was able to
work in the circus, but he was still treated as an outcast, "shunned and hated." In talking with
Wolverine, Nightcrawler says, "Though all people are flawed and struggle with the capacity for
sin, none likes to be reminded of our shared human weakness. My appearance does not make it
easy."
"Don't it make you crazy?" Wolverine asks with incredulity.
"It did once, but then I found peace by devoting my life to God," said Nightcrawler. "He directed
me to this place [the monastery] where they value the character of my heart, not my appearance."
This only sends Wolverine further into a rage. "What are you talking about? God gave up on us
long ago!" Nightcrawler counters, "No, my friend, God does not give up on his children-human
or mutant. He is there for us in our times of joy and to help us when we are in pain--if we let
Him."
Later, Nightcrawler tells Wolverine, "We are alike, you and I--angry at the world. My pain
drives me to seek God, yours drove you away." Wolverine is further infuriated when he asks
why God would have allowed him to be treated so badly. "Our ability to understand God's
purposes are limited," says Nightcrawler, "but take comfort in the fact that his love is limitless."
Amazingly, the episode concludes with Wolverine kneeling in a French cathedral reading the
Bible and saying, "I will give thanks to you O Lord. Though you are angry with me, your anger
is turned away and you have comforted me. I will trust you. I will not be afraid."
Not a bad message -- especially coming from a superhero.
From: Tom Keogh, editorial review of X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine DVD (1992), posted on
Amazon.com website (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000089G5M/002-8167473-
0559256?v=glance&n=130; viewed 22 December 2005):
This animated anthology focuses on Wolverine's mysterious past and his heroic efforts at heavy-
duty anger management. "Out of the Past," parts 1 and 2, find Professor Xavier's most
challenging team member (real name: Logan) lured into a trap by former lover Lady
Deathstryke, who seeks nasty revenge for the unintended destruction of her scientist father.
Emotions run high and Logan's bad luck seems endless, but he is not without fellow-mutant
friends here. (These episodes tell us one version of how Wolverine's body gained its interior
metal frame.) "Nightcrawler" is an interesting variation on Frankenstein, in which Wolverine and
X-Men newcomer/cleric Nightcrawler are attacked by a mob of paranoid villagers. "The Lotus
and the Steel" finds Logan seeking inner peace at a Buddhist monastery in Japan, only to find
himself in a Seven Samurai-derived plot.
From: Scott C., review of X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine DVD (1992), posted on
Needcoffee.com website (http://www.needcoffee.com/html/dvd/xlowolverine.htm; viewed 22
December 2005):
[The episode titled] "Nightcrawler" introduces the bamf-producing mutant who made such a
splash in X-Men 2 and Brother Nightcrawler's faith in God and man makes Wolverine question
his own beliefs. And in "The Lotus and the Steel" Logan goes to a Buddhist temple in Japan to
work on his violent rages. Instead he has to confront a biker gang and a teleporting samurai bent
on extorting a small village.
From: "Even superpowers cannot save Western individualism: X-Men take up failed Liberal
integrationist strategy" (review of X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine animated DVD), posted on
movie review section of "Maoist Internationalist Movement" website
(http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/movies/long/xmenwolverine.html; viewed 22 December
2005):
One episode celebrates Christian monks and another Buddhism in Japan. In the dialogues, a
Christian with superpowers turned monk says that most people in the world believe in a God
who loves them, "can so many be wrong?" Wolverine says "God gave up on us," the mutants,
but in a later episode we see him praying in church after changing his mind.
Obviously the whole idea of X-Men appeals to the idea of people seeking special powers. Each
character has a special power, often lasers of some kind, the ability to fly and admantium claws
in the case of Wolverine. Each mutant character has a unique "special" power--in line with
Western individualism. We can only say that if people lived in a communist society after
perfecting the science and art of cooperation, they would not need to look like a Wolverine with
metal claws to feel "powerful" and nor would they stand in front of burning candles in churches
to feel "connected" Nor would humyns [humans] face the constant fighting that Wolverine
deplored in the Buddhist episode. Because workers do not control the means of production in
day-to-day life, they feel a lack of power and pine for the X-Men and similar artistic works to
make up for their alienation from power.
On the plus side, the farming and fishing toilers in Japan in the Buddhist episode do liberate
themselves from their humyn oppressors extorting "tribute" taxes. They only need Wolverine to
fight a similar superhero character on the other side... In the Christian episode and throughout,
there is an underlying mob distrust of mutants including the X-Men. The main political theme of
X-Men is the question of tolerance and getting along. In the Christian episode, X-Men have to
beat up some intolerant Amerikkkans [Americans] before these Amerikkkans realize they are
wrong about mutants. Instead of changing their ideas completely, the mob realizes it has
"sinned." Still it took a gang of mutants with superpowers to get the Amerikkkans to make peace
with their neighbors.
From: Jim Harvey, interview with Len Uhley (writer of "Nightcrawler" episode of X-Men: The
Animated Series), published in Toon Zone News in 2003, posted on Marvel Animation Age
website (; viewed 22 December 2005):
This interview was conducted by Jim Harvey for Toon Zone News in 2003. It is duplicated here
in it's entirety.
The new X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine DVD, from Buena Vista Home Video, is scheduled to
hit shelves on April 29, 2003. The DVD, a compilation of various X-Men: The Animated Series
episodes, features one episode focusing on a certain furry elf called Nightcrawler.
Toon Zone caught up with Len Uhley, the writer of "Nightcrawler," an episode featured on the
DVD. Uhley says he made sure that the animated version of Nightcrawler stayed close to the
comic book version, something he was interested in.
"I was more of a DC guy when I was a kid and reading comics," said Uhley. "However, then I
started doing research in order to write for the X-Men animated series, and I was immediately
taken with Nightcrawler's back-story. I campaigned shamelessly with Eric Lewald, the executive
story editor, to get a crack at him."
The topic of religion is always a controversial subject matter for any series, whether it be live-
action or animated. It turns out that dealing with such subject matter wasn't the difficult part for
Uhley, but finding enough time to fully explore it.
"Writing it was hard, not only because it is a highly personal and delicate subject, but also
because of the time constraints under which most TV animation is written," said Uhley. "I felt
this one was a Big Deal, and I didn't want to blow it, you know?
"As for censorship, I don't recall any at all," said Uhley. "In fact, it was quite the opposite. When
Lewald turned in our first draft of the outline, the Fox creative executive on the show, Sidney
Iwanter, was adamant. Iwanter said 'Don't beat around the bush. Where's God in all this? I want
to see them talking about a living, caring God!'
"I also heard from Lewald that Avery Coburn, in broadcast standards, told him, 'As long as
you've handled the topic with respect, we have no problem with it.' Of course, we were thrilled,"
said Uhley. "This all flew in the face of our usual jaded expectations, you know, that the
networks want to take the edge off everything. I will always be thankful to Iwanter for his
support and encouragement. And to Lewald, who let me have my head on the religious content.
He also did his usual skillful job amping up the action sequences, so hats off to him there as
well."
One aspect of the episode that raised eyebrows was Wolverine's views on religion. Stating that
he abandoned religion because of what happened to him in his past, Wolverine learns a powerful
lesson when he meets Nightcrawler and experiences his unique point of view.
"I don't think Wolverine 'found' religion, I think he was just reminded of the faith he'd
abandoned," said Uhley. "Remember, earlier in the episode, he said that he used to believe in
God, but no more, thank you very much, after all the horrors he had seen. And yet, there was
Nightcrawler, who certainly had cause to be bitter, looking at the world from a very different,
hopeful, faithful perspective.