We continue our review of X-Men: Apocalypse with a discussion about how to deal with persecution, the comic book science of evolution, and the Christian/biblical references and allusions throughout the movie. If you missed the first part of our discussion, where we detailed the Apocalypse character and his resemblance to Satan, please go back and check it out.
Response to Persecution
In X-Men: Apocalypse (as well as most of the X-Men movies), Charles Xavier and Eric (Magneto) constantly argue about how mutants should react to the humans who persecute them. Charles believes you should live your life until you are forced to defend it, and Eric seems to want to take preemptive action, to at least a more generalized reaction.
This is the philosophy driving much of the more violent BLM protests, riots, looting, and destruction of neighborhoods and monuments. They are no longer defending themselves; they are attacking the system they believe to be the root cause of the discrimination. (Of course, they aren’t going deep enough for the ACTUAL root.) However, the organization itself has priorities beyond a response to actual or perceived persecution. Their actions and public goals slide closer to those represented by Eric (Magneto) in the X-Men movies: taking their argument with injustice a step further than mere equality to burning down all the systems and destroying all the potential opposition until they alone remain.
Charles’s position is much closer to what the Christian response under such circumstances should be.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. (Matthew 5:10-11)
But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5:39)
How are we supposed to respond to enemies?
Christians are supposed to be different, respond to injustice with love and compassion, and a selflessness that is hard in our humanity to achieve (without the Holy Spirit’s help).
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:14,19-21)
How would a Christian worldview fix the social problem?
We can’t expect the unsaved in the world to behave like the redeemed, but at the same time, we know as Christians that the real problem with our world is sin, and the real solution is living a redeemed and godly life. There will be no perfect justice until we attain the new heavens and the new earth. Until then, we have to recognize that the source of wars and fighting and covetousness is our own wrong motives and desire for sinful pleasures.
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3)
Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor. Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:7-10)
“Just because there’s not a war doesn’t mean there’s peace.”
Mystique makes this a sage observation. As those of us who have lived through the Cold War can attest, the lack of open warfare doesn’t mean we are at peace. This is often the case on multiple levels.
Mutation vs. Creation
The science of evolution in the 60s (X-Men first appeared in 1963) was a lot less advanced than now. The idea that mutations would drive humanity into a more elite version of itself is a type of comic book science popular before we really understood genetics. Even though evolution is still touted to be a cornerstone of modern science, it doesn’t have the credibility it would like to have now that we know scientifically that mutation is not a driving force for good.
And it runs opposite the biblical worldview in which we know that God created the world perfect, and it has since been marred by sin. In fact, the compilation of the sin curse gets steadily worse the further we get from creation. Apocalypse is supposed to the first mutant, but from a biblical worldview, we’re all mutants from Adam.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:18-23 )
A mutation is viewed as a giver of power instead of what it actually is, a destroyer.
As humans, we cannot attain a higher ideal through mutation. Rather mutation is a destructive force in our genome, resulting in numerous genetic disorders that threaten our populations’ health. Humorously, a select few mutations can cause seeming superpowers, but they aren’t the kind that are seen in the X-Men movies.
Prayers and Judeo/Christian references
X-Men universe contains little of faith, but X-Men: Apocalypse contains a lot of references that a Christian will probably recognize:
“You can fire your arrows from the Tower of Babel, but you can never strike God!”
Tower of Babel was the biblical event where humanity tried to reach heaven to challenge God. Apocalypse references this even as he destroys the nuclear weapons around the world so they cannot fight him (or each other). Ironically, humanity wasn’t capable of getting close to God. He stopped them and divided the nations to prevent the unity that gave humanity the confidence to contemplate challenging God. Biblical prophecy shows us that a return to global unity will once again put man at odds with God in the final days before God’s final judgment on sin.
“Our dear Father… hold me in the light of God. Hold me in the light of God. Protect me from danger. Save me by Your command. Listen to my prayer. And keep me safe.”
Kurt (Nightcrawler) is ironically the most visibly religious character, even though in appearance, he resembles the caricature of a devil. He prays a lot in the movie and is much more relatable to a Christian audience despite his appearance.
TV: “Yes. You were right. The time is past. There is no room for gods.”
While Apocalypse monologues his plans to return to power over weak humanity, a classic Star Trek episode plays on a nearby TV. This deliberate and ironic line from the program echoes in the silence after Apocalypse completes his monologue, displaying modern human disdain for religion.
“It seems only by the grace of God…that the ominous destruction…seen from one end of the globe to the other, has stopped.”
At the end of the movie, the X-Men have destroyed Apocalypse and once again halted the destruction of the world, saving fragile humanity. But do they get the credit? Of course not. Uncharacteristically, the news anchor gives the credit for humanity’s salvation to the “grace of God.”
“Charles! Come! Rescue your weaklings! Give your life for theirs!”
This backhanded allusion to Christ’s sacrifice for sinners comes as a taunt to Charles to sacrifice himself pointlessly. Giving himself to Apocalypse would actually endanger his followers more than if he resisted such a selfless action.
“And wherever this being was, he always had four principal followers. Disciples. Protectors he would imbue with powers. Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” “He got that one from the Bible.” “Or the Bible got it from him.”
This one, I’m not so sure, works within the timeline of the movie. According to the date given in the pre-title scene, Apocalypse fell to his rest long before the biblical prophecy of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation. So the statement that the “Bible got it from him” is probably more accurate, at least in the movie’s context.
“Is this what you want from me? Is this what I am?”
As we see in the original X-Men movie timeline, Eric was raised, at least until he was nine or ten, as a Jew. A desperate call out to the Creator is a natural thing for him. When Eric cried this question to Heaven, his wife and daughter had just been killed by his friends and coworkers who fear him and want to turn him in. He doesn’t really seem to want an answer, though. Scripture answers that question again and again. While we feel Eric’s pain, we recall that it is part of this world.
Who you are vs. what others think you should be
Mystique’s character arc in X-Men: Apocalypse is an interesting metaphor for the Christian life. She has become a heroine for young mutants worldwide, but she sees herself as a failure. Mystique is so tied up in that perception that she cannot see what others do. Those who know her best, like Charles, see the good and the bad. He sees through the mask that she has put on. It is the same for Christians. We often put on different masks for church or work but are not honest with ourselves or others. We need to embrace our identity in Christ and seek to live that every moment of every day.
For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:9-11)
Indeed, this is our boast: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom but by God’s grace. (2 Corinthians 1:12)
We live in and through an amazing God. Through Him, we have access to incredible acts of loving, kindness, and wisdom. If we hide behind one mask for going out with friends and one for going to the game, then we deny our true identity in Christ.
Conclusion
X-Men: Apocalypse is a wonderful example of secular media that cannot get away from Christian themes. Good stories will always point back to God because He is the source of every good thing, including how we define our heroes and our villains. These epic tales of globe-spanning evils serve to remind us that there really is an evil that threatens everything and everyone that we hold dear. Worse, most people, like the newscasters of X-Men: Apocalypse, can’t even see it. Only the redeemed can oppose the enemy. Only the justified are equipped to fight. Like the X-Men, we are as likely to be ostracized or shunned, if we are even recognized at all. In the end, though, we will be recognized by the One who matters most.
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