Spoilers for GOTG 3 below:
Okay, so when Rocket was dying and he saw Lylla in the entrance to the afterlife, it got really weird for a second when Lylla referenced “The hands that guide the hands that create us”. Now, the hands that created Rocket and Lylla are the hands of the High Evolutionary, and Lylla is telling Rocket to embrace an identity beyond him. That makes sense. But whose hands guide the Evolutionary’s? God’s?? That seems to be the implication, that somehow an otter is a christian. And I say christian instead of religious, because she is clearly referencing the idea of a grand plan that is not present in polytheistic religions, she’s talking about god’s plan. Or dare I say, she is asking Rocket to be part of “the greatest story ever told”
But it was just one odd sentence, so I let myself doubt this was intentional. Maybe the writers put that in there without thinking of the agenda-ness of it because it was just the terms in which they saw the world. Maybe it was an accident, an oversight.
So anyway, 10 minutes later the High Evolutionary says “I’m an atheist”, and every one of his minions in the room points their guns at him. Animal abuse? No big deal. Eugenics? Been there done that. Destroying a planet full of sentient life? Who cares? You’re an atheist!? HOW DARE YOU
But okay, maybe that’s not what they really meant in the scene. I’m joking with my friends, “Jesus is gonna show up at the end of the movie”, and I don’t mean it, this is probably where it’ll end
So anyway, then Chris Pratt dies in space and “ADAM” Warlock shows up, the camera does an obvious reference to The Creation of Adam, and Warlock saves Cris, allowing him to be raised from the dead. Bruh. Jesus actually showed up at the end of the movie
Simply referencing Christianity isn’t propaganda. Like it or not, it’s a touchstone most everyone can relate to and so it gets used in plenty of plots, from sci-fi to horror. Would you call Kevin Smith’s Dogma Christian propaganda because it references Christianity? Bruh. Actual God showed up there too. I don’t get upset when religion is referenced, so long as it isn’t used to beat me over the head with. I mean Marvel has a literal Norse god as a main character. Why would it be any different to have a Christian god as a main character?
Anyway, even if you map this movie 1:1 with Christian tradition it has nothing good to say about it. That is the opposite of propaganda.