The gravelly tones of Russell Crowe echo across an infinity of space – with the help of a little Dolby Digital magic – instructing his superhuman son in his purpose on earth:

“You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”

And so a hero is born. Consciously or just by example, Kal-El (better known to us as Superman) will use his greatness to show humanity the path to its own excellence. It’s epic, inspirational and, in the darkened cinema in which director Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel is playing, a seemingly unique destiny for a single pair of iron shoulders. But in 2013, mild-mannered Clark Kent is taking his first steps on a path thousands of heroes have trod before him.

Whether it’s the local cinema complex or Athen’s ancient agora, audiences have always looked to the hero to show us the way forward. Superman might be the oldest of our caped crusaders with his comic books dating back to 1938, but his journey was already familiar a millennia before. Gilgamesh and Achilles, Beowulf and King Arthur. Mythologist Joseph Campbell used his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces to identify a storyline that’s so common to unrelated cultures, it’s almost as though we were designed to appreciate it:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

It’s the same structure George Lucas used to craft the Star Wars saga; it will feature again this month in The Lone Ranger (July 4), Pacific Rim (July 11) and The Wolverine (July 25). And its hallmarks are just as plain in Man Of Steel. Young Clark wakes up one day to find he’s not like every other boy … his discovery leads to a clash with the extraterrestrial General Zod … his hard-earned victory guarantees our freedom and teaches us that we too can aspire to be something greater than human.

I’m not the first person to note that the hero’s journey is one that can equally be applied to the life of Christ – the child of God … confronts sin and death … delivers eternal life and a place in a heavenly family. The difference is where Superman is a comic-book creation, Jesus is firmly bedded in history.

It’s my personal belief that his story so underpins the reality of our universe that we can’t help but repeat it to ourselves in fractured forms, down through the ages. God allowed this like the many, muted voices of natural revelation, and in the same way He crafted the shadowy signs of the Old Testament, so that we might be ready to recognise our hero,  “…when the fullness of the time came, [and] God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Gal 4:4-5)

But if this is the case, if all humanity instinctively recognises we’re not who we could be, and hungers to be more in a way that sees millions handed over at the box office for a chance to fly with Superman – why do we still prefer the shadow to the reality? It has a lot to do with a missing step.

When Superman offers to show us the way, he appeals to a seed lying dormant within us. The advice Kevin Costner offers as Clark’s human father is open to every viewer,

“You’re not just anyone. One day, you’re going to have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is, good character or bad, it’s going to change the world.”

But Jesus’ comes to tell us that our choice isn’t enough. It’s as if General Zod came and conquered us long ago. Where Superman invites us to ‘join him in the sun,’ Jesus tells us we are ‘dead in sin’. We need more than someone to point upwards; we need a hero to raise us.

This helplessness doesn’t sit well with you and me. We’d like to think we could get the better of those evil Kryptonians – eventually. Just give us a few more millennia… what evolution doesn’t accomplish, science and determination will.

The truly sad thing is that we can actually become something superhuman now; a place ‘in the sun’ is actually on offer. Jesus came to not only redeem but to offer a status equal to his own.

All we have to do is accept our place in the back seat, and let him drive us there.