It appears I’ve reached the stage of parenting when children begin asking hard questions. I’ve gotten some doozies over the years, but the one I’m currently wrestling with is a question my oldest daughter asked two weeks ago.
She didn’t actually ask me the question outright. She authored a contemplative essay on her personal struggle with the topic, and it was this: If Thor exists as a god in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and that universe, though fictional, includes Christianity as we know it (debatable), does it constitute blasphemy to call Thor the god of thunder?
When she first broached the subject I dismissed the question and told her that Chris Hemsworth’s depiction of the Norse mythological character was simply a god in the classical sense — with a little “g,” an entity attributed with power over specific facets of the natural world, such as war, or love, or in his case, thunder.
Neither in classical mythology nor in the MCU do these gods have omnipotent power, that is, power over everything. Their power is limited, and bestowed.
I was satisfied that this settled the conversation. But no. She countered that even though my argument may be true in classical mythology, which does not incorporate the Christian God of the Bible, the MCU does.
“Huh? You may have a point,” I conceded. “Let me ponder this.”
Now, let me back up and say, we love the MCU. I’m a Captain America guy, my wife likes Tony Stark, my son is all about Black Panther, and the daughter in question is chomping at the bit to see Endgame (we haven’t yet, so remember that in the comments). We are fans.
As a young Christian I had the same dilemma reconciling my Star Wars geekdom with The Force in contrast to the Holy Spirit. I’m at peace with it. But no Star Wars character ever said what Captain America said about the god of thunder: “There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”
So Captain America is a Christian, the scene would imply, or at least not an atheist (he’s an American from 1940’s Brooklyn, after all). Add to that the fact that Star Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy, made reference to Jesus as a master one might serve, and we see the MCU is towing the line between a mythological world where characters can manipulate thunder, time, space, reality, etc… and one where at least some characters know of Jesus, but never seem to call on Him.
And this is where I find peace with the MCU.
Believe it or not, there is precedent for this. In The Chronicles of Narnia, mythological characters display dominion over their spheres (the river god over the water, Bacchus and Silenus over the plants and wine) but all bow to the authority of that world’s creator, Aslan, who is also known in parallel worlds by other names. Aslan does not always intervene in the affairs of Narnians or Telmarines, but he can, and often does when he chooses. And if Jesus exists in the fictional world of the MCU, then I will assume the same is true for them as well.
When the Avengers fight off an invasion of Chitauri, they choose not to call on the name of the Lord, but conceivably could have. It would have made things simpler. But there is no guarantee God would have stopped the Chitauri any more than He stopped Rommel from overrunning France in WWII. I’ve seen God perform plenty of miracles, and read about more in history books, but He seems to have his own agenda on where and when He steps in.
When Thanos uses the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all creatures in the universe, he apparently had no power over the microorganisms that make up trees and plants, so apparently God still has all authority. When half of the human/alien creatures get dusted, who is to say all of the Christ followers in the MCU didn’t immediately go to heaven, or were preserved intact until God blows His final whistle? Who does this Thanos think he is, anyway?
(Remember, I haven’t seen Endgame.)
I believe in the supernatural. I’ve seen people used as instruments to facilitate the miraculous power of God, and the Bible is a record of other examples. I say the MCU is merely doing what C.S. Lewis has done, ascribing supernatural power to finite beings and letting them play in God’s world for as long as He chooses to allow them.
They sure do break a lot of things, kill a bunch of people, and wreak havoc. They play with powers they don’t understand, and generally look to their own devices to save the day, and though they sometimes squeak out a win, they suffer a lot of heartache and pain along the way.
The MCU may be a fictional universe, but it does reflect our own pretty well, and one thing is certain: They’re both in need of saving.