Although I saw Iron Man 2 this past weekend, I had completely missed the significance of a line spoken by the villain, Russian super-genius Ivan Vanko, until Eve Tushnet pointed it out. Vanko says that it’s not necessary to kill Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) to make him ineffectual:
If you make God bleed, then people will not believe in him.
As Tushnet says, this is “the least scientifically-accurate line from Iron Man 2. Spoken by a Russian, no less!” Indeed, a Jew named Paul once gave the premier counter-example to Vanko’s claim:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
By the way, Vanko likely acquired this theological conviction from watching an episode of Star Trek entitled, “ The Paradise Syndrome .” After landing on an earthlike planet, Captain Kirk revives a stricken child with artificial resuscitation, causing the natives to think he is a god who has the power of resurrection. Later, the village medicine chief cuts Kirk on the hand and, seeing the blood, claims he cannot be a god by stating, “Behold a god who bleeds!”
(Also, I know this post should be titled “Vanko Theology”—or, for my fellow comic book geeks, “Blacklash Theology”—but that seemed too obscure.)
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