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Hunters achieves what no superhero show has done before

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

From Digital Spy

Early on in Amazon's Hunters, Al Pacino's character tells Jonah and audiences alike, "You should read the Torah more. It’s the original comic book." As reductive as that might sound, there is some truth to this claim.

Widely considered to be the first superhero, Superman technically arrived on Earth via a Kryptonian rocket. In reality though, he actually sprang from the minds of two Jewish creators who longed to help and inspire fellow Jews who were being persecuted in Nazi Europe.

Drawing on biblical descriptions of Moses and mythological stories of The Golem, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel created a hero who fought Nazis and even choked out Adolf Hitler:

"I had the great urge to help the downtrodden masses, somehow," says Siegel. How could I help them when I could barely help myself? Superman was the answer."

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

As The Independent points out, the Third Reich were well aware of Superman's power as a symbol of strength for the Jewish community. Circa 1940, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels even denounced the Man of Steel (and Jerry Siegel too) in the SS newspaper Das Schwarze Korps.

Unfortunately, Superman's Jewish origins have been sidelined in recent years, to the point where Zack Snyder's movies even repurposed the Last Son of Krypton into the Last Son of God, transforming him into a Christ-like figure instead.

It's no wonder then that Hunters creator David Weil sought to explore Jewish trauma through a comic book lens in his show.

While some might argue that references to Batman or Peter Parker trivialise Hunters' subject matter, these many allusions to well-known superhero tropes actually reframe Jewish characters as strong and aspirational, directly subverting the weak, often harmful antisemitic stereotypes which continue to be perpetuated in pop culture today.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

Speaking to Digital Spy and other press, Weil expanded on why it was so important to make Jewish culture an integral aspect of this revenge fantasy:

"It was definitely wish fulfilment, for sure, and catharsis for sure. I think as a young Jewish kid growing up on Long Island in New York, there are feelings of wanting to be powerful. You rarely see Jews depicted as superheroes; as having might and strength."

"They’re often nebbishes or Woody Allen or very intellectual. But to have power to reclaim your place and get justice for your ancestors is definitely a wish fulfilment. And that’s what Hunters became."

Whether Jonah is fighting back against local bullies or killing Nazis to avenge his grandmother's murder, the pilot deliberately plays out like a Jewish variation of the typical superhero origin story — and that's because they're still all too rare.

A few years back, Arrow briefly introduced a Jewish hero in the form of Ragman, but it wasn't long before he was cut out of the show completely while the rest of Team Arrow remained. A Bat Mitzvah scene was also cut out of the Batwoman pilot just last year in 2019, although the writers promise Kate Kane's Jewish heritage will be addressed more in the future.

Photo credit: The CW
Photo credit: The CW

And then there's all the heroes you probably didn't even know are supposed to be Jewish. Scarlet Witch, Kitty Pryde, The Thing... even Harley Quinn! Unless you're a devoted comic book fan, it's likely that the Semitic roots of these characters passed you by completely, and this erasure isn't just limited to TV.

During our interview, Weil told us that Hunters was created as a direct response to the "lack of Jewish superheroes" on screen:

"You have films like Schindler’s List or Inglourious Basterds, which are both led by non-Jewish protagonists. So it was really exciting and important to have a Jewish protagonist in Jonah who could kind of reclaim power for Jews who were often portrayed in this Holocaust oeuvre as defenceless and just persecuted."

"It was important in the flashbacks to also show the heroism, and you’ll see that in the series, in the camps of these Jewish prisoners."

While the show has drawn criticism for both its approach to violence, historical accuracy and its portrayal of the Holocaust, there's still something admirable in how Hunters foregrounds the notion of "The Jew-perhero," as star Saul Rubinek describes it.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime - Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime - Amazon Prime

During our interview, Rubinek recounted the story of the Golem, a mythical creature sculpted from clay that protected Hebrew people from harm using its great strength. This monster is traditionally seen as a hero, but it's tale is also a cautionary one too:

"The lesson in that myth is that monster which grows violent and protects the Jews, also turns violent inappropriately and has to be put down. Ultimately the violence is not the answer."

The Jewish Hunters in Weil's show have clearly forgotten their teachings in this respect, punishing violence with violence. Throughout each episode, Jonah and his teammates grapple with this dilemma, to the point where their own heroism comes into question.

As Rubinek pointed out to us, this is "one of the consequences of revenge on the people who are acting out the revenge. Does the cure become worse than the disease, or at least as bad as the disease?"

Photo credit: Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Amazon Prime

There's no easy answer, but what's clear is that the conversations this show raises around antisemitism are more important than ever in today's political climate.

Weil describes these issues as "an epidemic," pointing out that Holocaust denial is particularly prevalent at the moment:

"Things are now questioned about the Holocaust. "Oh, was it really six million? Or was it less?" So it’s a slippery slope of arguments that are made by intellectuals or historians, quote unquote, who try to chip away at the truth for whatever reason, whether they’re antisemitic, whether they actually believe this, whether they’re anti-Zionist – whatever it may be."

In a world where Semitic suffering is actively denied and the heritage of Jewish superheroes is sidelined all too often, it's vital that shows like Hunters reposition Jews as the heroes of their own stories. After all, the Torah isn't actually a comic book, but when Al Pacino's character (that character is Jewish, though Pacino, controversially given his casting, is not) says, "The single greatest gift of the Jewish people is our capacity to remember," it's hard not to admire the strength of this ability in superheroic terms.

Hunters is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.


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