#thinking about how Ben Grimm met the closest thing to G-d and he's still practicing

[stackthedeck]

Okay but Peter finding out that Marc, a fellow Jew, is bound in servitude to a god of the type that the G-d of their ancestors passed judgement upon to the point where we have dinner once a year to talk about it is going to be a priceless conversation.

(Marc Spector’s spiritual beliefs are firmly “It’s Complicated”)

Marc Spector really said "it's complicated" like literally that's what the current Moon Knight run is about and it's fascinating! Like he is a very Jewish character, his grandfather is a rabbi that escaped nazi Germany, and his father is a rabbi, and that caused kids and adults in his neighborhood to target his family and his father encouraged passivism and to not fight back but just be a model minority. The origin of his DID is a nazi posed as a rabbi, as a trusted friend, and was serial killing Marc's community. The origin of his superpowers is an Egyptian god forcing life onto him so that he can be his servant. Like you said anon, that's clearly the Passover story except in reverse. Like who Marc is, is the story of Jewish oppression. And yet, he's non-practicing. Like how do you believe in G-d when there's another god that's puppet you around? Why hasn't G-d delivered Marc like He did His people out of Egypt all those centuries ago? And so he has to deliver himself, he rejects his father's passivism and so rejects his father's faith. Like Marc is Jewish because his life is defined by it but he feels a distance from G-d but not his culture. I would love to see him interact with Magneto because like he's a holocaust survivor like Marc's grandfather. But also I feel like he and Kate Pryd would be interesting together because they're both weird kids from Chicago that are Jewish but they feel weird about it. Like Marc's Judaism is something that he really only talks about with his therapist and I hope in the future it can be a joyful thing for him.

but like Peter Parker kind of has the opposite probably where's technically not Jewish at all. Like he's definitely coded that way, his philosophy and upbringing are very Jewish, the neighborhood he's from is historically Jewish, and his creator is Jewish. I believe there's one comic universe where he is Jewish but it's not 616 and he's canonically Jewish in Into the Spiderverse (Peter B my beloved) and you know technically he's Jewish in the Marc Webb movies because Andrew Garfield is Jewish. Like I personally read him as Jewish because I think it adds depth to his character and his relationship with New York and with Miles. But ultimately he's also non-practicing in this reading because he's not stated as Jewish so we can't see him do any traditions or practices.

These characters' interactions are pretty limited and when they do interact their points of contrast are Spider-Man's no-killing vs Moon Knight's extreme violence and Peter's quippy cute pg humor and Marc's edgelord dry sarcasm. And no one actually ships them like it's a Bendis panel the "little bit" is a gay joke, he just does that. Honestly, there are a lot of gay jokes with Peter, in general, it's weird and I feel like Marvel either needs to stop or just confirm it and let him kiss a dude already. But it would be interesting to see them bound over their different relationships to Judaism. Like being Jewish is a source of trauma for Marc because he's experienced extreme anti-Semitism. Being Jewish for Peter is just another piece of the puzzle of Peter, it's a thing that connects him to his family and New York, but so is Spider-Man and science, you know. And they're both non-practicing. Maybe dating Marc could put Peter back into the faith because he gets to hear about Marc's dad and granddad and their devotion and maybe he wants to bring that back into his life. Maybe Peter can bring Marc back into the faith and the community by showing an upbringing that did have anti-semitism present, but it wasn't as bad because he had just a little bit more support.

like idk obviously the "little bit" thing is a joke and I don't particularly ship them and really don't think they'd have a healthy relationship, but I do think that they could be good together and good for each other and Marvel just let Peter be Jewish and let him talk about it with other Jewish heroes like seriously he and Ben Grimm should be closer

#thinking about how Ben Grimm met the closest thing to G-d and he's still practicing #how religion works in superhero universes is fascinating #like the gods of all the pantheons exist like observably #where's the monotheistic one #asks