Earlier this week Empire Magazine revealed 25 different covers featuring characters from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Empire released a new cover every hour over the course of 25 hours. The covers provided first looks at new additions like Quicksilver and Warpath, along with glimpses of old favorites.
One cover also featured a futuristic Sentinel, which you can see above. The Empire article says that the future Sentinels are composed of metallic plates that can be rearranged on the fly. These plates allow the Sentinels to change their shape for any situation they might face. That is definitely a major upgrade over the giant, plodding, purple robots of old.
Here are some biblical characters who also experienced some major upgrades.
Moses
Other than Robocop, Moses may have experienced the greatest upgrades in human history. He was a murderous child of privilege who was forced into exile. During his time away, though, God completely changed his life and gave him some major upgrades. Moses’s staff represented the power of God and with it he performed amazing miracles. He turned the Nile into blood, he parted the Red Sea and he brought water forth from a rock. The Green Lantern receives his upgrade from a ring; Moses did the same thing but with a staff instead.
Samson
Samson also got some major upgrades in the form of the Spirit of the Lord. I’ve written a lot about Samson here at The Christian Nerd. He’s the Bible’s best example of a super hero because of his super strength and penchant for fighting. Numerous times throughout his life the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, empowering him to do great feats of strength. I can’t imagine a better upgrade than the Holy Spirit. I have felt empowered by the Holy Spirit plenty of times in my life but none as violently as Samson’s experiences. Perhaps that will change, though, if I ever see a lion while walking my dog.
Peter
Peter’s upgrade was definitely super human. Peter was just a normal fisherman but, when he came into contact with Jesus, he was able to walk on water. The Bible never tells us if Peter tried walking on water again, but I like to think that he did. Walking on water would have been very useful when Jesus had died and Peter returned to his previous life. Fishing out of a boat is difficult because all of the nets need to be dragged into the boat. Peter could have simply walked out on the Sea of Galilee, filled his nets and dragged them back to shore. It’s not as impressive as Namor, King of Atlantis, but it’s not too shabby for an uneducated fisherman.
Most of the covers for X-Men Days of Future Past raised my excitement level for the movie. A few (I’m looking at you Quicksilver) strengthened my doubts about the movie. If anything, we know that the future Sentinels get some deadly upgrades. Thankfully we only have to wait a little more than three months to see those upgrades on screen.
What are some of your favorite biblical upgrades?
I guess I will never convince you to stop lifting up Samson as anyone Christians should want to emulate in any way. Everything you said is factually accurate, but the *only* time Samson ever gave public credit to God for *any* of his feats of “super strength” was when he brought down the Philistine temple – out of no great desire to rescue God’s people from oppressors, but “so that with this one act of revenge I might pay back the Philistine for my two eyes.” Samson is one biblical character who should get no personal glory, because his story exists (so far as I can read it) solely to point us to God’s strength and God’s grace. God delivered the Israelites through Samson in spite of him, not because of him. The Bible’s physically strongest character is one of its spiritually weakest.
But, I enjoyed this post, as always! I do not have a huge emotional investment in the X-Men, but have enjoyed the film franchise so far (mostly) and think “Days of Future Past” should be great.
There are definitely better models in the Bible, namely Jesus. Samson’s best example is as a cautionary tale. He’s what can happen when we rely too much on our own strength. In our own strength we may accomplish some good feats, but we’ll also end up falling harder into our weaknesses.