Top 10 Jewish Marvel & DC Comics’ Superheroes

Marvel’s much anticipated, The Avengers, finally came out on Friday. Sure, a few of the actors portraying superheroes are Jewish (Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson), but they’re just actors… not the real thing.

Did you know some of the most famous superheroes created by Marvel Comics and DC Comics are Jewish?

Check out our list of the Top 10 Jewish Superheroes.

NAME: MAGNETO

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

ABILITIES: Magnetic force fields, Magnetism manipulation, Magnetic flight, Extreme Intellect and Strategist

JEWISH HERITAGE: Born Max Eisenhardt, Magneto is the central villain of Marvel’s X-Men comics. Although many originally believed his evil to be motivated in simple megalomania, it is later discovered that Magneto is a Holocaust survivor attempting to protect the mutant race from a similar fate. Magneto is a complex character, playing the supervillian, anti-hero, and superhero. He has been compared to Jewish nationalist, Meir Kahane.

NAME: KITTY PRYDE

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

ABILITIES: Intangibility or Phasing

JEWISH HERITAGE: Born Katherine Anne Pryde in Deerfield, Illinois, Kitty Pryde’s paternal grandfather, Samuel Prydeman, was held in a Nazi camp during the Holocaust. At the age of 13, Kitty began suffering from headaches, signaling the emergence of her mutant powers. She joined the X-Men after being personally approached by Charles Xavier.

NAME: THE THING

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

ABILITIES: Superhuman strength, Street fighting and hand-to-hand combat, Excellent dexterity and reflexes, Rock-like skin, Enhanced lung capacity

JEWISH HERITAGE: Born Benjamin Jacob Grimm on New York City’s Lower East Side, The Thing was raised in a poor Jewish family. His character is said to be based on the real life of Marvel’s co-creator Jack Kirby, who also was raised impoverished, and lost a brother at a young age. The Thing’s religion was not revealed until40 years after his creation due to the taboo of superheroes having religions. In 2002, The Thing was featured in a Fantastic Four story entitled “Remembrance of Things Past”. The story explores The Thing’s childhood, as he revisits a pawnshop owner he knew as a child. He recites the Kaddish with Shackberg (the pawn shop owner). In a later story, The Thing has a Bar Mitzvah.

NAME: BATWOMAN

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

ABILITIES: Highly skilled detective, Martial Artist, Exceptional Athlete

JEWISH HERITAGE: Born Kathy Kane, Batwoman is a wealthy Gotham City heiress and former circus performer. It is believed she becomes a costumed-crime fighter to attract Batman. Batwoman’s father is an ex-colonel, and she is the cousin of Bette “Flamebird” Kane. During the events of 52, Batwoman celebrates Hanukkah with Renee Montoya, revealing that the character is Jewish.

NAME: SABRA

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

ABILITIES: Superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and healing power. Sabra can also fly, and has wrist gauntlets that fire plasma bursts and paralyzing quills

JEWISH HERITAGE: Perhaps the most Jewish of the superheroes, Sabra was born Ruth Bat-Seraph near Jerusalem, Israel. Sabra was raised on a special kibbutz controlled by the Israel government after her special powers started to manifest. She was the first superhuman agent created to serve the Mossad (Israeli secret service). Her first public act as Sabra was in a battle with Hulk, whom she believed with working with Arab terrorists in Israel.