Please note, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series is rated T. One of the few members of Squirrel Girl's personal villains gallery is the Ratatoskr, an Asgardian who prefers the shape of a squirrel as she unleashes chaotic evil on the world. She unleashes this chaos by spreading rumors to pit people against each other. In Christian circles, this would place Ratatoskr in alignment with the evil one. Squirrel Girl manages to capture Ratatoskr with the help of Marvel favorites Thor and Loki. However, like most villains in comics, Ratatoskr finds a way to escape imprisonment. When she next encounters Squirrel Girl, they find themselves alined during the War of the Realms crossover event. Ratatoskr wants to work with Squirrel Girl, but our hero is rightfully suspicious. She agrees to work with Ratatoskr with certain conditions, mainly that Ratatoskr, now going by the name "Rachel", won't do anything evil. There are a lot of ups and downs, especially as Rachel finds it difficult to immediately change her chaotic ways. Yet she desires to work with Squirrel Girl and takes her lessons in Good to heart. The final result is that Rachel finds a way to use her gifts for good as an investigative journalist. Squirrel Girl manages to take someone with a chaotic evil alignment and turn her good. That is the hope we have in our Faith. We have stories, like that of Paul's conversion from persecutor of the church to one of her greatest champions, which demonstrate the possibility of change. We also have the gift of Baptism in our own lives to show that we can turn ourselves around. In fact, the service for Baptism includes a portion where we, as candidates, give a threefold renunciation of the evil one, sin, and the world before taking on a threefold pledge to follow Christ Jesus in our new lives in His Name. We all make the transition from sin to a new life in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope too is that we, like Squirrel Girl, can help others make the same switch, even the most evil villains we may face. GSH will return after Labor Day!
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Please note, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series is rated T. One of the greatest accomplishments of Squirrel Girl is the redemption of Kraven the Hunter.
Kraven is one of Spider-Man's greatest villains, and a dark one at that. We're talking about a guy who buried Spider-Man alive and impersonated the Wall-Crawler for a while. He is not a nice person. Yet from his interaction with Squirrel Girl, he is convinced to become a “hunter of hunters". That is, he decides to use his gifts to help take down those who would bully other forms of life in the world. There's a point where Squirrel Girl even convinces Kraven to stand trial for his past actions. She truly is a great influence on him. This sort of turn-about is not unusual for those of us in Faith. Paul does the same by being turned from a persecutor of the church to one of the greatest Apostles, as we see in Acts. Our hope is to help others turn to good, like Squirrel Girl does with Kraven. Otherwise, our hope is to be the one who is turned so that we might become heroes too. Please note, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series is rated T. As the spouse of an engineer, I was very excited to see Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (vol. 2) issue 17’s reference to the collapse of the Quebec Bridge in 1907. This collapse, and the lives lost in it, could have been avoided if warnings had been headed. The result was Canada established the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer where graduating engineering students take an ethical oath and are given a ring made from the iron of the bridge. They wear this ring on the pinkie of their dominant hand as a reminder of their responsibility as engineers. This ritual spread and has been adapted elsewhere, such as the ring ceremonies of groups like the Order of Engineers in the United States, although these rings don’t come from the Quebec Bridge.
This true story made it's way into these comics. It also gives us something we can all learn from and be reminded of. Accepting the responsibility for our actions is crucial. Doing so provides an emphatic "yes" to Cain's question in Genesis of "Am I my brother's keeper?" It gives a realization not unlike that of David's for his own actions which led him to write Psalm 51. It is the acceptance of Jesus' call to all of us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Our actions in this world matter for ourselves and for others. Whether we wear a ring on our dominant pinkie or enact some other reminder for ourselves, we should never forget the incredible responsibility we have for others. Please note, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series is rated T. There's only one hero in the Marvel Universe who has managed to come out on top against every villain that's come her way. That's not just villains from her own gallery. That includes some of the biggest baddies out there, including the likes of Doctor Doom and Galactus. That superhero is the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
This isn't due to Squirrel Girl's powers. Yes, she has super strength, but that strength is only proportional to the power of a squirrel. She can talk to squirrels as well, which is also helpful, though certainly not to the level of other heroes. Her success isn't even due to her intellect, although she is extremely bright. Squirrel Girl's true power really comes from her kindness. She has a way of making even villains side with her, just by taking the time to listen. This is what makes her a true hero. This is what makes her unbeatable. You wouldn't think that a hero like Squirrel Girl would get the title "unbeatable". In this way Squirrel Girl is a reminder of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that the power of God "is made perfect in weakness." That is the case for Squirrel Girl. It is the case for us as well. There are so many heroes out there for us to admire. My hope is that we can take the time to admire those like Squirrel Girl whose strength doesn't come primarily from their powers, but from their kindness and willingness to work with all others. |
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The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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