Page - 106 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

106 | Thomas Hausmanninger www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 105–121 times adopt the newer inner-Jewish perspective that reconstructs Jewishness as a culture, with Judaism a vital formative ingredient.3 yet an ultimately reli- gious reading of comics can also be identified – as has also been evident for Christianity.4 the authors, especially when scholars, do not necessarily stem from the re- ligious background they are analyzing in the comics.5 i, too, am not Jewish. i am, however, fascinated by Judaism and its vast history of theological thinking, and i currently work on Judaism in franco-Belgian comics. My non-Jewishness notwithstanding, i would like to present here a Judaistic reading of the Captain America comics and movies. the series was created by Jewish authors and art- ists, although since the time of Joe simon, Jack Kirby and stan Lee, many other authors have worked on the series, not all of them Jewish. furthermore, the movies have been produced, written and directed by a diverse group of crea- tive people, although they draw on material from throughout the series, includ- ing the very first episodes of the 1940s and 1960s. That situation necessitates some methodological reflections at the beginning of this article; subsequently i scrutinize Captain America and ed Brubaker’s reactivation of Bucky Barnes in comics and movies using a Judaistic and Kabbalistic perspective focused on the concept of gilgul. MArVeL COMiCs AND JUDAisM: MethODOLOGiCAL PreLiMiNAries Neither stan Lee nor Jack Kirby intentionally involved Judaism or even Jewish- ness as a cultural trait in their comics. Lee, who was in a mixed marriage, never seems to have had strong ties to his religious background, and he explicitly de- nied ever reflecting on the Jewishness of his creations.6 Kirby, by contrast, came from a religious family and seems to have been a practicing Jew, yet he, too, did not intentionally involve his religion in his co-plotting7 – at least not before he left Marvel in 1971 and created his fourth World saga and, in his later days, comics such as Silverstar. A similar distancing from their religious roots can be seen in other Jewish members of the Marvel bullpen. indeed evident religious references sought to ensure that their Marvel comics blended in with the domi- nant Christian American culture. so, for example, the wedding of reed richards and sue storm of the fantastic four is not carried out as a Jewish marriage, 3 Biale 2002, 2011; Bronner 2008. 4 Weinstein 2006; Garrett 2008. 5 Ahrens/Brinkmann/riemer 2015. 6 Brod 2012, 90. 7 Brod 2012, 85, 89.