It's strange to me that the Marvel Universe has no superheros of Indian origin.

[MyriVerse]

India has nearly a fifth of the world population, it's not unreasonable to expect greater representation even if it was just Americans of Indian origin. Marvel is still very US centric, even New York centric and I'm not sure this hasn't gotten worse in the last few years. We definitely have better representation of ethnicities than we used to have but their really isn't any team with the global perspective of the all new, all different X-Men

It is unreasonable to expect greater representation in a medium that is primarily American.

[mace11]

Someone stated Timeslip...

http://marvel.com/universe/Timeslip

Mutant New Warrior last seen with the Xmen in some 2008 holiday special

Timeslip - Chronological Listing


February 2009:
The Mighty World of Marvel (2003) #78 - 'She-Hulk Under Fire!'


January 2010:
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z (2008) HC vol. 12 - 'Tara to Vision'

July 2011:
Annihilators (2011) #3 - 'Wraithfire/It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World'





More appearances for timeslip and to keep up to date for future appearances of other marvel characters click here or go to marvel wiki or comicvine.com
http://comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=10065

[Captain Wessex]

I can't tell if that if that was an argument, agreement or what? My apologies or thank you, I dunno. O_o

merely an observation India is not alone.

[Mike82]

I don't think its all that strange. Indian characters represent a very tiny demographic in America.

[Ptrvc]

That Star Thief guy in New Warriors was Indian, I think. He wasn't that bad. Misguided at first, but...

There are even European places with few if any known supers.

Most Eastern European countries a pretty much super-less outside of Russia, (You're more likely to get someone from some made up ruritania like Latveria than any actual country.)

Same goes for most African countries, writers seem like they'd rather write about a Wakandan hero, than say, and Ethiopian.

[Noinden]

India represents a full fifth of the world's population. The Marvel U has literally hundreds of superheros and yet it doesn't have a single hero of Indian origins, how is that even possible?

I would love to see an ongoing headlined by a hindu or buddist superhero that grew up in India. I would have said superheroine but then it would become too similar a character to Ms. Marvel.

They could make him a doctor along the lines of Doctor Strange but older and wiser, or a brilliant engineer CEO with a spiritual side sort of like a mash up between Tony Stark and Satya Nadella.

Well there was an Xman (Thunderbird III viz http://www.comicvine.com/thunderbird-shaara/4005-5003/) but he was a bit lame, though not as lame as the acolyte called Vindaloo

[jackolover]

M

Spider-Man: India was outsourced to Gotham Entertainment, maybe Marvel can outsource again with another company. I'd also bet that one Indian superhero would have to be an avatar of one of the Daevas, it's common enough in Marvel that a pantheon becomes involved in a superhero team.

(And it seems that on my mother's side, we have distant Indian ancestry.)

Hell, Doctor Strange could be Indian for all we know, and Wong, even though they originated their path in Tibet. India should own them.

[jackolover]

P

I don't know if population is relevant. I think MU only cares about what its target market wants, everything else be damned. If they thought they could create an Indian character that would draw the Indians to buy comics, they would do it. They don't do it because they don't think they can't.

Besides that, I think the concept of the superhero is a very american thing. It combines very american traits, like the admiration for "men of action", the desire to do stuff without control from the government, and the desire of fame. The concept of cinema's and sports' stardoms was born in America, same as the reality shows. I see heroes as people who want to do good, and villains as criminals who want profit, but the thing they have in common is that, even if not all of them admit it, they want to be seen, to be know and to be admired (or feared).

The desire of fame (of "being on TV") has propagated to other countries and cultures, but not all countries admire men and women of action so much as Americans do, and in many countries honest, law-abiding people wouldn't be comfortable as with the idea of donning a mask and making your own justice as in America.

It's possible that, in the MU, non-American heroes aren't so respected in their own countries as the Avengers or the FF are, that being the reason there are few heroes outside of America.

Americans do have a tradition of men of action, so there is that aspect of the super hero. But I would add that when the super heroes appeared, people felt powerless before the impending juggernaut that was the 3rd World War, and super heroes were that outlet about people who could do something about Atomic Bombs or change the course of history.

I think India aspires to have similar super heroes who can change the course of history, as there are millions of people who are miserably powerless in India. That, I think, is the limiting factor, or the argument why India should have super heroes. Is there a massive dissonance between the utterly poor and the super rich in India? Then there's your story. Send in a super hero from the streets to counter all the injustice that represents power that keeps the poor down low, and protects its own position. There is so much superstition involved with injustice in India, that it requires a team of individuals in each city of India to cope with all the sections of social strata, so we'll defined by castes. It wouldn't be hard to write the tensions that go on and the reasons why those castes are held so strongly.

[QBall]

It's strange to me that the Marvel Universe has 0 superheros of Indian origins.

Some would argue that Marvel has zero superheroes at all now but I guess that's a theme for another thread.

[Wikoogle]

I suspect Marvel would look at it as 'why would we need this?'

Marvel is a business, if business in India isn't good, you dont need a character to appeal to Indians. If business is good in India, then Indian's are happy reading about the characters they get now.

The only reason to have a character with that background would a) be to have one for the sake of having one to tick a diversity box or b) because Marvel wanted to appeal more to people in India.

Business always comes before social commentary

I think you're underestimating how many Indian Americans there are. Many are well educated and eager about technology, Sci fi, American movies and media. Actually quite a few comic book fans are Indian Americans. But it's a fraction of how many there would be if Marvel/DC had made more of an attempt to market to them. Spiderman remains so popular and enduring because his life experiences strike a cord with studious Caucasian teens that are naturally drawn to comics who end up relating to him. This is the same reason Ms. marvel is drawing in many South Asian readers, because her life experiences are very relatable to theirs. From a marketing perspective Indian Americans are a very very appealing demo.

I think Ms. Marvel was a fantastic step in the right direction and was pulled off exactly as it should have been. I'm a huge fan of the series.

[Wikoogle]

I don't know if population is relevant. I think MU only cares about what its target market wants, everything else be damned. If they thought they could create an Indian character that would draw the Indians to buy comics, they would do it. They don't do it because they don't think they can't.

Besides that, I think the concept of the superhero is a very american thing. It combines very american traits, like the admiration for "men of action", the desire to do stuff without control from the government, and the desire of fame. The concept of cinema's and sports' stardoms was born in America, same as the reality shows. I see heroes as people who want to do good, and villains as criminals who want profit, but the thing they have in common is that, even if not all of them admit it, they want to be seen, to be know and to be admired (or feared).

The desire of fame (of "being on TV") has propagated to other countries and cultures, but not all countries admire men and women of action so much as Americans do, and in many countries honest, law-abiding people wouldn't be comfortable as with the idea of donning a mask and making your own justice as in America.

It's possible that, in the MU, non-American heroes aren't so respected in their own countries as the Avengers or the FF are, that being the reason there are few heroes outside of America.

That's definitely not true. Half of Bollywoods movies feature a hero that accomplishes good by performing super heroic feats. And the idea of a super hero is not new to Indian culture by any stretch of the imagination. The oldest Superheros in the world that I'm aware of are the characters from Mahabharat (the illustrations and leaves on which they were written were carbon dated to 400 BC) and they continue to be among the most popular sources of movies and TV shows watched by South Asian teens. Its hilarious to claim that the world's first superhero is Superman when the literature and illustrations of Krishna predate superman by 2300 years.

[jackolover]

It is unreasonable to expect greater representation in a medium that is primarily American.

Yes, some excuse would have to be made to locate something in India, like a World War Hulk, or something domestic, like a SHIELD threat. There were various locals visited during FEAR ITSELF, so an event could drag out a super hero fraternity if an American hero has to go there, and that could ignite some interest in the operations that guy is involved with. Much like the Arab super heroes in the Red Hulk series.

[jackolover]

That Star Thief guy in New Warriors was Indian, I think. He wasn't that bad. Misguided at first, but...

There are even European places with few if any known supers.

Captain Nemo was Indian so is there any reason he can't be used in Marvel comics?

[Kieran_Frost]

My favourite is Indra (he really should date Anole); and his arc about his family heritage/issues in India in X-men: Legacy was AWESOME! It does fill me with joy that once again it's the X-verse that is carrying the bulk of diversity in this field.

[Lonewolf36]

Captain Nemo was Indian so is there any reason he can't be used in Marvel comics?

Captain Nemo has been used by Marvel http://marvel.wikia.com/Captain_Nemo_(Earth-616)