#271 South Asian Superheroes

I geek out over South Asian superheroes, from Marvel trailblazers to homegrown comic legends, and why seeing ourselves as heroes actually changes how we move through the world. The big takeaway is that power does not come from erasing our identity, it comes from embracing our heritage and showing up for our communities. 

• Why representation in superhero stories matters for South Asian kids and the diaspora 
• Bollywood superhero films that shaped the genre and the questions they raise 
• Ms. Marvel as Kamala Khan and the impact of a Pakistani American Muslim lead 
• What makes the Disney Plus series feel real, from code-switching to Eid to family dynamics 
• Dr. Faiza Hussain as an NHS doctor superhero who wields Excalibur with dignity 
• Nagraj as a myth-rooted Indian comic icon and proof of homegrown worldbuilding 
• Super Commando Dhruva and heroism built on intellect and moral courage 
• DC’s Solstice and a teen hero origin linked to travel, archaeology and friendship 
• Priya Shakti and using comics to fight gender-based violence 
• Team Muhafiz and redefining heroes as everyday people in solidarity 
• Enigma as Marvel’s Bangladeshi superheroine and the Dhaka Comics Universe as local storytelling 

Thank you for listening, you can hear Ravia every Thursday on 97.9 FM or through our live-stream at www.theuniversalradio.com

IG: @theuniversalradio

Transcript

Shoutout And Why Superheroes Matter

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Oh my gosh, I am back, and I am so excited to talk to y'all about superheroes today. This is Rafia, and I will keep you entertained and giving you some fun tidbits about South Asian superheroes. But first of all, first, first, first, I want to give a special, very special shout out to my dear nephew, Raymond Tholywell. Thank you for suggesting this topic. And can I tell you, Raymond Thollywell is a lovely, very strong, very big three-year-old who asked me, Rafi Pua, can you do an episode on superheroes? So honestly, yes, I my purpose as your Pua is to grant your wishes. I, my ideal, like life personality is to be the cool a. And it was actually such a fun topic to deep dive and look into. And while we're gonna talk about Miss Marvel, there's so many other superheroes that I can't wait to talk to you about. When you were a kid, who were your favorite superheroes? Was it Batmagic? Was it Superman? Was it Shogrimon? Tell me the truth. Was it? I know there's a bunch of Japanese superheroes in India and South Asia that are happen like that were played. So was it like Dorimon? I'm curious. Um, and like for most of us growing up, I don't think we saw ourselves in a lot of superheroes. At least I didn't like the major ones that were coming out in my, you know, youth was like the Marvel, the um the, you know, Iron Man comes to mind. I'm thinking of Batman Superman, all of those kind of like big, big names that you think of, and a lot of them are, you know, traditional North American white people with some diversity that we're seeing now, which is exciting. But they're like the one thing I do want to point is South Asian superheroes have existed and have always existed in stories, in mythology, in our communities, and increasingly have been recognized on the world stage, which is really exciting. I found some superheroes like from the 60s, the 70s, and I'll be talking about all of them today. But another thing I want to note is why representation matters in the grand like scale of things. So South Asians across the globe, so including all of the diaspora communities, like let's say all the South Asians that live across Canada, the US, Malaysia, etc., including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, all of those South Asian communities, uh in and outside of those, we make up 1.8 billion people, which is a significant number of people, but also a significant market to market to. So our, you know, stories are a reflection of that. There are a lot of superheroes, and I do want to say, like, even within us, there's a little superhero within us all. Right here, there are thousands of South Asian families, there's thousands of South Asian families raising children, raising the next generation. And the kids in our community deserve to know that our heritage is not something to hide. You are not just the one or two people in your class, which I don't know if that's the case anymore because there are a lot of printing here, but there is a big origin story to where we come from. And there are some superheroes that are so inspirational, but then there are some superheroes, like some movies that I'm gonna talk about next, that made me question what the South Asian superhero genre was gonna look like. Goi Milge, what an iconic movie! How many movies have you watched that are like direct or not indirect ripoffs of Western movies? I mean, there's definitely some back and forth happening there across cultures, but it was heavily inspired by E.T. And also, do you remember the sequel Krish, where Rithik Roshin, who plays the main character in the first movie, ends up playing his own son in Krish. And then he's Krish, who's like this cool superhero. And I remember this movie because he like falls in love with Brianka Jopra. This is when Brianka Jopra was like still a low-key actress, in in my mind of things, right? And um, and the grandmas played by Reka. It's like, it's very interesting, it's really fun, but it is those are some good movies that like those are the first kind of like superhero extraterrestrial movies that come to mind. And when I think about things like genre, like the superhero genre is within like the action thriller genre, I would say, but um that is something that I do think of is like the the Koimilga and the Christian mall, those were some big ones. Another movie I think about is Ra One. I think that was with Sharok, it was with Sharok Sharuk Khan, but I don't remember loving it, but I do think if you were a kid, that was a good one. Um, then there was a really hilarious movie called Flying Jut that came out. Not a great movie. Um, the acting had like it was like not great VFX, it was silly, maybe made for kids was like typical Bollywood comedy, also like, you know, clear, like cast implications there. All right, all right, I don't know. I'm not gonna say anything about that right now because it was like the movie is what it is, and it is, it's gonna, it, it's a piece of entertainment that could be unpacked. I'm gonna leave that there. And then there's the this other movie that is actually really good is called Bavesh Joshi. It's a good superhero movie with good characters. So that's Bavesh Joshi. It is interesting, it's fun, it has like a raw plot, it kind of reminds people of it's like a gritty, gritty kind of vibe. So it reminds people of that like Batman kind of crit vibe. Um, and another movie is a South Asian movie called Minal Miralo. It is a Malayalam movie that is a comedy, drama, and a superhero movie, and people love it. I haven't watched this one, but it's on my watch list. And they're one thing I want to note is like these movies I mentioned are are like bringing up some superheroes, and we do often say, like, oh my gosh, all these movies are just ripoffs of Western movies, la la la. But I want to note that like majority of the VFX done in huge superhero movies like the Marvel Universe and all of that, are actually done by South Asians. So if you go through the credit list, you'll see a bunch of like South Asian names, which is really cool. And then I also want to give one big shout out to um Mr. Stanley who created Chakra, like the or chakra, the like cool South Asian superhero we will be talking about. But I want to talk about the superhero that I think about all of the time, Miss Gumala Khan, Miss Marvel. How many cons of Bollywood or Hollywood can you name? So many, right? Like Sharukan, Suman Khan, their Safali Khan, Safali Khan's kid, there's his kids that are all in the show, show business, all their kids, anyways. Miss Marvel. So she is the biggest name in South Asian superhero culture, I think like in in recent years. And to set the stage, if you don't know, and uh I didn't know, but I did watch the show when it came out. But this is like in the comic world, this is she came out like a little bit earlier, but she set up as a 16-year-old Pakistani American girl from Jersey City, New Jersey, which is like right outside of New York. She is a shapeshifter with the ability to grow and shrink parts of her body, and she is one of the most like beloved characters in my heart in the Marvel universe. She first appeared uh in a background cameo in Captain Marvel number 14 in August 2013 and debuted fully in January 2014. And her first solo as Miss Marvel, like the series, launched in February 2014. And Gomala was created by a team that included an editor named Sana Amaneth, writer G. Willow Wilson, and artist Adrian Alfona and Jamie McAufe. So she's a historical character because she's one of the first major Muslim protagonists and the first South Asian American character to headline her own comic book series. That's pretty incredible for like the Marvel, Marvel world, right? So she's she's a big deal for being a trailblazer in that way, but also shout out to her writers for writing her in that way. And this comic shot immediately to number one on the charts after its 2014 debut. And academics, so people that like study this stuff noted that it brought in entirely new kinds of readers. So women, Muslims, Pakistani Americans, South Asians, demographics that had never been the primary audience for superhero comments. But like I said before, with the South Asian diaspora having like 1.8 billion people plus and growing in it, it's a pretty big market that Marvel said, uh, maybe I want to tap into this. And in 2022, Gamma became the first Muslim superhero to headline her own Disney Plus TV series, and it showed the show aired with a 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. You know how hard that is to get? Like, that's crazy. And it was the show itself, the one that came out on Desert Disney Plus, was almost entirely created by a South Asian and Muslim like creatives. They had four of the seven writers were Pakistani, and this also included a Pakistani Canadian filmmaker, Charmeen Obed Janort. That is so cool. Like, how often do you see that? And what made it resonate were the everyday portrayal of like a South Asian Muslim family, but even like just a South Asian family, period. There's a bunch of code switching they show from Urdu and English at home, the way she celebrates Eid, navigating strict parents, her like brother, the relationship she has with her brother, who's like super religious, but also like her parents are kind of like chill. It's like this fun, like really fun, like family that you that you love. So, like, there's like it's a the show was a refuge from like the stereotypes that you normally see on television. Well, with like, yeah, some people did say, like, oh yeah, this is the la la, this is la la la. But I like la la la is on like this is stereotypical. But for me, I thought it was pretty real. And just like Anusha Said, who's a Muslim artist, she responded to critics, uh, that critics who were asking, Who is this show for? She said, It's for me. Me, a Pakistani Muslim girl who's literally never seen her represented herself represented in media like this before. So I think that is so like so beautiful that we got to see this in 2022. And one thing we note is she doesn't get her like Miss Marvel doesn't get her power by erasing who she is, she gets it by embracing it. And this is a love, this is like a lesson that I think South Asian kids need to hear sometimes, and something maybe I need to tell myself too. So the next person I want to talk about is Dr. Faiza Hussein from Excalibur. She is a British Pakistani Muslim woman who works as a doctor for the NHS. She's, you know, set set in it's set in the London town. Um, and she is working for the NHS, she's a hijabi. She wields the legendary sword called Excalibur. Yes, that that sword from King Arthur, like, you know, the one that's stuck in the the rock that everyone tries to pull out. That's the one she wields. And she first appeared in Marvel Comics uh Captain Britain in MI 13 in May 2008, and this was created by writers Paul Cornell and artist Leonard Kirk, and her powers are really wild. Like, she's able to manipulate and disassemble anything on an atomic level, which includes the human body while keeping the subject alive. She is essentially like a surgeon with like these, like like a like, I don't know, like a nanosurgeon with these like crazy cosmic abilities. And in this, she later joins the Champions of Europe. She fights alongside other heroes to defend Paris, the city of Paris, from a Hydra invasion. So that is really fun. And what makes Visa special is her creator, Paul Cornell, was guided by a panel of four Muslim women. Um, and their names are Mona Bayumi, uh Safia Sayed Baharun, Farida Patel, and Soheri Rockid Rocked. And to ensure that this character was portrayed authentically and with dignity, and Cornell had this goal to make her a real person and not someone who has to represent the entire British Muslim world at once and all the time, which is important because I don't sometimes we find these characters being flattened because we don't get a person who feels real or authentic, but it feels like the characters are trying to check too many diversity checkboxes that you're just like, what is this person? Who are like who is actually like this? And it's like the fact that this superhero wears a hijab and her religious identity is just a part of her character, and yes, it's a part of her, but it's not, she's never reduced to her religious identity, which I think in in these like in the you know spheres of like Western media is groundbreaking because then we see, you know, other representations of Muslim women or even um villains being people, and even in Bollywood we see this, like let's be real, we see Muslims being portrayed as the evil uh Surma wearing Adab saying characters that are, you know, like the bad. But but Faiza Hussein breaks that and and that's important, but you know, sadly, this wasn't too like too recent. So, like, there there is that. But what what I think what what what it means to have Faiza Hussein being the Pakistani British Muslim woman who pulls the Excalibur like sword out of the stone and you know, Arthur's uh stone, uh Arthur's sword. The sword is a British legend, and it has this like ultimate symbol of like strength, belonging, worthiness, and it's really interesting because Dracula is her villain, and it literally he describes Islam as his old enemy, and Faiza defeats him. So the symbolism is there, and I think if you're interested, like definitely look into her. And because she's an NHS like worker, I think it's like pretty important to note that because there's a note here that like there's I think almost 10% of all doctors in the UK are of Pakistani origin or Pakistani roots, and less than and then less than like 2% of the population are British Pakistani. So Pfizer reflects like that era of like that, sorry, that like population group, but also how South Asian doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers were on the front lines in COVID-19 and still are to this day putting like being the real superheroes of the day. I'm gonna take y'all back right now to 1986 to the birth of Nagraj, the king of snakes. Q, spooky music. So this is a Indian superhero, but it is out of out, so this is like outside of the universe of like the Marvel or DC comics right now. But Nagraj is an iconic superhero in the Indian comic industry, created in 1986 by Raj Comics, a new Delhi publisher founded by Rajkumar Gupta and his sons. And Nagraj is one of the is the longest running Indian superhero comic of all time. And I didn't even know about him. So much to learn. His powers, Nagraj, of course, you know, comes from snakes. But this is the wild part. Um, this Loki freaked me out was that his power comes from millions of microscopic snakes living inside his body. But he can use them as ropes, shields, weapons, and messengers. Like they're just inside of you. The power is within you. He draws on his deep spiritual significance of the Naga, the serpents, in which comes from Hindu and Buddhist mythology and a lot of cultural mythos um around the Naga serpentine world exists in South Asia. And Raj Comics has produced over 35,000 comics to date and sold over a hundred and million, one hundred million copies. During the peak years in the 90s, they sold over 1 million copies per year. So Nagraj is important because he was not adapted or at least like clearly adapted from a Western franchise. He was like a like homegrown kind of like taking Indian mythology, Indian imagination, those South Asian roots, and turning it into a superhero kind of universe. And it didn't just, so I made sure that kids weren't just looking at Superman or Batman for this like sense of justice or heroism, but it was like a creation that was woven through Hindu mythology, fantasy, magic, and science fiction, creating this world that is unmistakably like Indian, but also South Asian. And his name is recognized across South Asia. And if you grew up in India in the 90s or 80s, you likely know about Nagraj the way Canadian kids know about Batman. And he is proof that South Asian storytellers have like do know how to build these extraordinary worlds. And I feel like superheroes and you know the genre of superhero, etc., is so camp. And no one does camp better than South Asia. Like, we know how to do maximalism to the max, and we know how to do drama and dramedies to the max. Like, this is something that we thrive in. But alongside Nut Garaj, there is another comic uh that Raj Comics, the people that made Nut Garage Kate, made what it's called Super Commando Druba, a boy, genius, and detective turned superhero who is like an iconic, like just an iconic guy that has no supernatural powers, but his strength comes from intellect, athletic excellence, and moral courage. Ah, the like the like iconic little Indian boy is is who this is. He's like a he's like a basic, not a basic, but like a mini Sherlock Holmes that is very athletic. And I think this like message that I get from this, like the Super Commando Druva, is South Asian heroism isn't always about magic or even leaning on ancient mythology. It's like honestly, sometimes about just being the smartest person in the room. And if you are familiar with like how competitive and all those things South Asians can be, it is about using that mind for good and not evil. All right, we've talked a little bit about Marvel, we've talked a little bit about South Asian homegrown Indian superheroes, and now I'm gonna talk a little bit about DC comics, and I'm gonna talk about one of my favorite characters that I've found that is from the DC universe and a South Asian, and his character's name is Solstice, and his character her character is described as a positive spirit influenced by the various cultures she's encountered during her travels throughout the world, and she embraces life and all the adventure and experiences it has to offer. And on a big note, she is cute, wears gold bala vanga, and her name is Gin, but her superhero name is Solstice, and her outfit, oh, like, can someone get this made to me? Like, I'm gonna take this to my Dajji in India and be like, can you make this for me? But like, let me give you some background on her because it is like super relatable. Like, I just really like her story. So Garen Singh is a teenager from Dilli, India, and the daughter of archaeologists DJ and Rani Singh, and they as a family visit London while her parents are at a conference, and she befriends Cassie Sandsmark. Cassie Sandsmark is also a superhero in this DZ comics world. The two visit a nearby museum uh exhibit, and j like they are at the exhibit right before it's attacked by a supervillain named Lady Zand. Just as Cassie reveres reveals herself to be the superheroine Wonder Girl. Oops, sorry, I got so excited, I almost spilled a coffee. Oh my gosh. Garen creates a golden costume for herself and tells Cassie to call her Solstice. Together, the two heroines fight off Zand's army of rock creatures, but Zand flees before they can capture her. So they Garen departs from the museum with her parents, and her parents are like aware that she's a superhero. So this is like a fun little, like little, like where she starts off, right? In the superhero world that they show her off as. And later she reappears at an archaeological, archaeological dig uh in Mohenjadaro, where her parents are working alongside, again, Helena Sandsmark, which is Cassie Sandsmark's mother. After nightfall, um, her parents go out for a walk, but they mysteriously disappear. So Karen's parents are gone. And after an adventure with the Teen Titans, Karen rescues her family. Isn't that fun? Like, she is just a ray of sunshine. And this is like, so Karen is also one of my like best friends' names. So I wanted to look look her up. And then another good friend of mine's name is Priya. And this is another superhero that is, maybe there's just common South Asian names, but Priya is the superhero who changes the world, who I also want to talk to you about. So she's also uh Priya is India's first female comic book superhero. Like she was created in 2014 by Indian American filmmaker Ram Devanini and inspired by a moment of rage and grief after the horrific 2012 Delhi bus um incident that happened that shocked the world. So that is something that uh you can look up. But this is a graphic novel that's available in Hindi and English where Priya is a survivor of abuse and teams up with Hindu goddess Bharvati to fight gender-based violence. And she rides a flying tiger named Sahas, meaning courage in Hindi. Uh sas, maybe that means breath, and in the title, Shakti, that means strength. And the comic was launched at Mumbai Comic-Con in December 2014 and received grants from the Ford Foundation and the Tribeca Film Institute. So even on the first edition alone, there were over 500,000 digital downloads and 30,000 print copies distributed to schools, NGOs, and festivals across India. So this was a beautiful tribute to like, you know, using a horrific moment in time and using that that like that horrific tragedy and turning it into something good, which is something that we see happen a lot throughout the like superhero genre, is immense tragedy turning into this like will and need to fight for the good in the world. Sometimes the bad. And next up, I want to talk about some real world heroes. And this is a team called Team Muhafis, meaning guardians. This is a group of ethnically and religiously diverse Pakistani teenagers who fight real social evils: child trafficking, terrorism, child marriage, drug abuse, and corruption. This team was deliberately multi-faith and multi-ethnic, including Muslim, Christian, and Hindu members, reflecting the actual diversity in Pakistan, which is quite rare in mainstream media. Team Mohafis was launched in a remarkable way. So it was first soft launched inside the Karachi Central Jail, distributed to teenage inmates, the very use most victimized by the social evils the comic describes and looks at. And by 2022, Team Mahafiz became a full animated television series on GEO, produced in collaboration with major Pakistani entertainment and institutions with like pretty big um voice actors, including Sajaleli and Wahhajeli. So the show's creator talked about it and talks about how the Team Maha Fis is about redefining our villains, those who are selling drugs, those who are destroying green spaces, those who are trafficking children. And it's also about redefining heroes as those who are everyday people from diverse backgrounds. That's beautiful. The message that T Mahaffes is that in every city where South Asians live, there are, I mean, not even just South Asians, but in every community, there are heroes in our community. They don't need superpowers, they need each other, they need courage, and they need solidarity. Oh, I really like this story. And if you look them up and you know you watch some of the shows, they really do give you that like feeling of like, okay, this is like that world I want to live in. I mean, they're fighting evils, but the the friendships are something you want to focus on. And another one, I want to go take us to Bangladesh, and Marvel took takes us to Bangladesh actually, and they give us Tara Virango, also known as Enigma, Marvel's first Bangladeshi superhero superheroine, who first appeared in Peter Parker in 2002. So, like Peter Parker, like the comic Spider Man. Sorry about that. But she basically, uh, her story is a nanovirus is released by the US government, kills 4,000 people in her village, Tara survives, and the virus awakened dormant mutant DNA in her, giving her shapes-shifting powers, and she comes to New York to seek justice. Enigma's story is rooted in colonialism, corporate power, and the global south fighting back. And it is relevant today in so many ways, in that we see how Bangladeshi cartoonists and or sorry, and in the in the way that we see like garment workers protesting, in the way that we see climate change impacting um South Asian countries and you know who is buying the goods that are being made there, who is the supply, the demand, all those questions are being asked inside these comics, which I think is a very beautiful and like thing that we can unpack, right? And on the homegrown side of this, Bangladeshi cartoonists launched the Dhaka Comments Unit the Dhaka Comics Universe in 2013, a platform that celebrates the Bangladeshi life, culture, and local heroes. And the creator Mehdi Huck went wanted to give Bangladesh Bangladeshi children stories rooted in their own world and not imported universes, which is special. Like you don't see this in in many places, like you want to see something that's like talking about your village, talking about you. And I think that's special. And I like I'm just about to wrap up my little segment on the superheroes, which I'm so excited for you to like, you know, dig into these, look into more of these. Um, but I wanna I want you to remember that the real superhero is the one that lives inside of you. If you could pick a superpower, what would you pick? I don't know. Like, would you want to like see through walls, walk through walls, read people's minds? I always think about that. But one of the superhero powers I want to think about is the ability to choose the good side, to be on the side of history where you're like, okay, this feels like we are bringing justice to the little guys, to the people of the world who needs it. And this is something like, you know, even just the little, those little good, little feel-good tasks you can do, like picking up some clutter on your street, things, a little bit of social responsibility, all of that good stuff keeps us, you know, it makes me feel it makes you feel good about yourself too when you're contributing. Like that's always a good, good piece of that. But when we're talking about superpowers and superheroes, I'm talking about you. I'm talking about your family, your parents who have, you know, collectively created this community in the city you live, wherever you're listening from. Like there is a true superpower and super feeling you get when there are a bunch of people who live in a space and have been able to create community in a way that's so meaningful that you are you have someone to call to pick you up from the airport. That is your everyday superhero. You have someone to call when you're like, oh no, my car broke down, I need a ride. Those are your real life superheroes. So shout out to our own families, to our friends that are our personal superheroes in our lives. And because I'm a South Asian girly on a South Asian radio station, I'm gonna be telling you uh that that I think that your heritage, my heritage, our heritages are a part of our super powers. Knowing where you come from, knowing who you are, being in touch with your culture can provide you with a lot of knowledge on how we can navigate problems, on how we can, you know, figure out situations, complicated situations that we're in. And the power I think is is really inside of you. I know before I get too self-helpy on here, I'm not that self-helpy girl. I I need the help. But this is something that I I really wanted to hit home is that we have the power, you got the power. I hope you really enjoyed this segment on South Asian superheroes and the most important superhero, you. Yes, I'm gonna be that cheesy person and say it. You are a superhero in my life, especially since you're listening to this. I also want to again give a huge shout out to my dear nephew, Raven Thollywell, for recommending that I do this. So, you know, three-year-olds, y'all have the best ideas. So thank you, BD. You're the best. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. DM me at DJ Ra Ra Ravia on Instagram or at the Universal Radio, and I would love to listen to what you got to say to me. This is the Universal Radio Network!