When I did this post last year, I stated that it had been a tumultuous year (a bit of an understatement). 2021 brought it’s own share of ups and downs and the world continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of authoritarianism, and the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories. I hope everyone is finding…
Tag: MCU
WandaVision and Toxic Self-Care
By Danny Anderson [Spoilers (if that’s even still possible)]. Over the last two months, I was sucked into Wanda Maximoff’s hex like everyone else. Many other people have, or will, write about the gripping meditation on grief that WandaVision provides. Still others (with far more patience than me) will spin out of Wanda’s alternate reality into…
2020: Top Five Posts
2020 was certainly a tumultuous year. I’m proud of all of the contributors to the blog, especially those who contributed something timely to the circumstances we found ourselves in, whether concerning the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, or the rise of of conspiracy theories in our national discourse. I wanted to highlight the most…
Reading Religious Texts as a “Cinematic Universe”
By Jake Doberenz Cinematic universes are becoming more and more a part of our movie watching experience. Vast movie series sharing storylines, characters, and whole mythological worlds are the latest cash grab storytelling tactic to hit the big screens. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, clearly the most famous cinematic universe in existence right now, has a whopping…
Spider-Man: Far from Home – Nature, Truth, and the Distortion of Reality
By John Tuttle 2019 was a year in which the cinemas were full of tales of superheroes and supervillains, one of which was our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Tom Holland reprised his famous role in Spider-Man: Far from Home, the second installment in Holland’s series of films. In it, he attends a high school field trip,…
Spider-Man: Far From Home – Truth, Perception, and the Need to Believe
By Stephanie Pacheco I am a sucker for the Marvel universe. If I am a piano, it can play me all day long. Spider-Man: Far from Home hits all the right notes of emotions for fans after Avengers: Endgame, as well as major cultural and philosophical points, especially perceptions and truth. Its success points to a…
The Bardo, Purgatory, and the Soul Stone
By A.G. Holdier In a matter of hours, fans will learn the fate of Thanos, his victims, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the grand finale to The Infinity Saga. While it’s been almost a year since the Snap (and two more MCU films have since been released) we’ve enjoyed essentially no…
Captain Marvel and a Theology of Abuse
By Corey Patterson The upcoming Captain Marvel film from Marvel Studios has gotten the entire comic book world talking more than ever about the character. The film directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, are charged with the task of introducing this important comic character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe while also tying her story into the…
The Guilt of Being Someone: Daredevil and Martin Heidegger
A few years ago, I (Matthew Brake) co-wrote a piece for the Philosophy and Pop Culture blog on Daredevil and guilt: “Father Lantom’s final point — that Matt’s guilty conscience indicates a wrongdoing for which he must make amends — is an unexpected shift, since Lantom previously says he ‘is sure that [it is] true’…
The Infinite Strangeness of Atonement
By Corey Patterson [WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!] If you’re a Marvel fanatic, you’re probably still wiping the tears from your eyes after Infinity War. The film lived up to the “war” in its name with the mad Titan Thanos wiping out half of the life in the universe. His murderous act was…
Pop Culture and Theology 