An Indonesian artist hinted today that he has been fired from his job after he inserted political and religious references tied to a local election into a new Marvel comic.

Ardian Syaf, an Indonesian artist who illustrated X-Men Gold, included what critics say were anti-Christian and anti-Semitic messages related to the ongoing blasphemy case that has plagued Jakarta's Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.  

"My career is over now," Syaf said in a Facebook post. "It's the consequence [of] what I did, and I take it." 

The controversial images include an X-Men character Colossus wearing a shirt that reads "QS: 5:51," referring to a verse in the Quran that some Indonesian Muslims interpret as forbidding Muslims from being led by Christians and Jews.

Another shows a building labeled "212," in reference to a large protest by conservative Muslims against Purnama on Dec 2 last year.

Marvel said the images would be removed in subsequent print runs. "The mentioned artwork in X-Men Gold #1 was inserted without knowledge behind its reported meanings," Marvel said, according to comic.com.

"These implied references do not reflect the views of the writer, editors or anyone else at Marvel and are in direct opposition of the inclusiveness of Marvel Comics and what the X-Men have stood for since their creation," it said.

Syaf apologised in his Facebook post for "all the noise." 

Purnama, a key ally of President Joko Widodo and the first Christian to lead the capital in 50 years, is on trial on charges of blasphemy over remarks deemed insulting to the Quran.

The 50-year-old is currently seeking another term as governor and won the first round of voting on Feb 15. He faces former education minister Anies Baswedan, a Muslim, in a run-off vote set for April 19.

- dpa