His Kryptonian birth name is Kal-El, “El” meaning God in Hebrew. Opinion: The real-life Clark Kent never got his Lois Lane Superman sketch by Joe Shuster, dedicated to Helen Louise. But he was also inspired by Jewish figures of legend. As original as he was, he was cobbled together from a range of influences, including pulp heroes Tarzan and John Carter, the sci-fi novels of Philip Wylie, Popeye cartoons and Douglas Fairbanks movies. I mean the character, in the real world, the one owned by DC Comics (with whom CNN shares a parent company). That guy is Jewish.Īs I explore in my book, Superman is the brainchild of two Jewish teenagers, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the sons of immigrants from Eastern Europe. He’s canonically Christian, usually a nonpracticing Protestant. He’s also always been Jewish.īy that, I don’t mean that the guy from planet Krypton who was raised in Kansas is Jewish. He’s Jewish on his father’s side, while Judaism is traditionally matrilineal, and it’s unclear whether he was raised or identifies as Jewish (Corenswet was unavailable for an interview).īut still, Superman is a reflection of America. In fairness, his Jewishness has been overstated. Corenswet is half Jewish, which has prompted articles in pop culture sites like Inverse, Jewish press like The Jewish Chronicle and even a 1,400-word piece in Rolling Stone on why that matters.
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