Page - 105 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Deconstructing Gilgul, Finding Identity | 105www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 105–121 Thomas Hausmanninger Deconstructing Gilgul, Finding Identity Captain America and the Winter Soldier in a Judaistic Perspective ABstrACt Captain America and Bucky, characters who appear in Marvel Comics, seem to be temporally displaced. the article scrutinizes that temporal displacement, comparing it with the Judaistic concept of gilgul – the transmigration or reincarnation of the soul – in Kabbalah and hasidism. furthermore, the article compares the presentation of these characters and their displacement in the original comics and the subsequent movies. KeyWOrDs Marvel Comics, Movies of Marvel Comics, Judaism, reincarnation BiOGrAPhy thomas hausmanninger is Professor of Christian social ethics at the Catholic theologi- cal faculty of the University of Augsburg. For about a decade there has been a significant increase in the number of publi- cations about the relationship between Jews, Jewishness and Judaism, on one hand, and comics, on the other. Noteworthy popular or journalistic studies that are the work of comic-industry insiders, comic journalists or savvy fans docu- ment the history of primarily American comics and their Jewish authors.1 Addi- tionally, however, scholarly interest in Jews and comics has grown notably and looks beyond American production.2 in both instances Judaism as religion may be touched upon, but it is infrequently the focus of these studies. instead they tend to concentrate mostly on Jews and their history as a people and some- 1 Fingeroth 2007; Kaplan 2008. 2 Baskind/Omer-Sherman 2010; Benhaïm 2007; Buhle 2008; Strömberg 2012; Tabachnick 2014; Leroy 2015.