Nerds and Funko Pop-hoarders, here is a rundown of all Pakistani and Indian superheroes
We all have grown up in a world dominated by DC and Marvel comics, pretending to be like our favourite superheroes. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Captain Marvel, you name it, and we will tell you all about their superpowers, their crystallizing moments and their action-packed sequences. That’s the level of influence they have had on us! While they inspired us to do good, guided us in our difficult moments, and supported us in our adversaries, we always felt an inexplicable void due to the lack of relatable and local superheroes familiar to our culture. But that void has been gradually filled thanks to the many creators from India and Pakistan who have introduced us to amazing characters that are equally appealing to audiences in the East and West. So, all nerds and Funko Pop-hoarders, join us as we bring you a rundown of all Pakistani and Indian superheroes in this article.
THE COOLEST SUPERHEROES OF PAKISTAN
SHAANI
Country of origin: Pakistan
Director: Saeed Rizvi
Music: Azhar Hussain
Medium: Movie
Superpower: Combat strength, Supervision
Most incredible feat of strength: Battles against the biggest villain
Babra Sharif and Mohammed Ali-starrer Shaani is a 2001: A Space Odyssey meets E.T with 1989’s-esque special effects, Dishoom-boom and 7 Nigaar awards to its credit!
PASBAAN LEGION
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Umair Najeeb Khan, Imran Sultan
Music: Umer Farooq
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Time travel, hacking, electrokinesis, foresight and more
Most incredible feat of strength: Brings both Marvel and DC fans aboard
Call it the Pakistani version of Avengers or Justice League! You have got a desi Batman, Flash, Cyborg and Thor.
Most incredible feat of strength: Mughlia sultanat se panga (Row with the Mughal empire)
Two orphans Taimur and Zain are taken in by a secret order of people called Ansaars, who oversee the world’s biggest criminals in the Mughal era. All hell breaks loose when those criminals are released into the real world.
PAKISTAN MAN
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Hassan Siddiqui
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Flying
Most incredible feat of strength: Meets Sultan Rahi and smacks Meera with an English dictionary
Sporting a green suit, a cape and a moustache, Pakistan Man fights against injustice and evil in and beyond Sastapur!
PAKISTAN GIRL
Real Name: Sarah
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Hassan Siddiqui
Art: Ali Hyder
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Flying
Most incredible feat of strength: Afridi of the superhero world
A teenage girl from a village who wakes up from a coma after a blast, soon realizes she has superpowers, and boom…boom! She is the Gabbar for evils and a friend of people. And, did I tell you she also has a cute pet cat?
BLOODY NASREEN
Real Name: Nasreen
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Shahan Zaidi
Medium: Graphic novel
Superpower: Excellent marksman, savant with a Samurai sword
Most incredible feat of strength: Anti-naik parveen parda nasheen (Assertive, uncompromising)
Although the character is strictly concept art and hasn’t yet materialized into a comic series, Bloody Nasreen’s impact as penned by Shahan Zaidi has been prolific in the scene, inspiring many cosplays at various comic con events since the inception of the artwork.We can only hope to see an adaptation on the silver screen. The character of Bloody Nasreen hails from the gritty streets of Karachi. Nasreen is a 27-year-old badass who likes to wear skull-printed dresses, smoke cigarettes and wields a pistol and a katana, and dishes out her own brand of anti-hero justice. A Punisher in a floral kurti and a ponytail that Lara Croft would be envious of.
BURKA AVENGER
Real Name: Jiya
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Haroon
Writers: Adi Abdurab, Asad Zafar, Arslan Naseer, Haroon, Khaya Ahmed, Shehzad Ghias, Nida Hasan Fancy, Syed Zain Raza, Ahmer Naqvi
Music: Ali Zafar, Ali Azmat, Haroon, JoSH
Medium: Animated TV series
Superpower: Takht Kabaddi
Most incredible feat of strength: Makes burqa looks cool
Burka Avenger is our very own Black Widow! A black-clad woman in her mid-20s — who uses Takht Kabaddi, a martial art involving books and pens to fight evil mercenaries and politicians like Baba Bandook and Vadero Pajero – is a highly inspiring superhero!
TEAM BAHADUR
Real Name: Zain, Jumper Umer, Hamza Racer, Manahil
Country of origin: Pakistan
Medium: TV serial
Superpower: Combat strength, karate, boxing
Most incredible feat of strength: Dum laga kay haisha (Give it all their force)
Team Bahadur – a quadruplet of bravery! Four lively kids with different strengths aim to fight bad people in the world!
JINN, AINAK WALA JIN
Country of origin: Pakistan
Director: Hafeez Tahir
Writer: Abdul Hameed
Medium: TV show
Superpower: Magic
Most incredible feat of strength: Leads to the creation of ainak wali buntee (specs-shaped candy) and introduces iconic characters like Nastoor, Bil Batori and Zakota in Pakistan’s fantasy-fiction universe.
Ask any 90’s kid about the genie from Ainak Wala Jin and they will know! A tall, handsome genie comes to earth from the Caucasus Mountains to get rid of his eyesight problems. As he lands on Earth, he meets a young boy who loves fantasies. The boy brings him home and they both start living together, giving birth to an exciting story of action and adventure.
MAULA, MAULA JUTT (ORIGINAL)
Real Name: Maula
Country of origin: Pakistan
Director: Yunus Malik (later reimagined by Bilal Lashari)
Music: Master Inayat Hussain
Writer: Nasir Adeeb
Medium: Film
Superpower: Gandasa (a wooden stick/ desi halberd)
Most incredible feat of strength: Bharkain maarna and super gandasa wielding powers
“Maula Noun Maula Na Maare, Te Maula Nai Marda”. A fiery Maula fights Natt’s clan to settle old scores!
SALAAR AND ZAIN, PROJECT GHAZI
Real Name: Salaar and Zain
Country of origin: Pakistan
Director: Nadir Shah
Writer: Syed Mohammed Ali Raza
Medium: Film
Superpower: Supersoldier
Most incredible feat of strength: Protects the project at the cost of their lives
Forget Captain America, Winter Soldier and the like! We have our very own super soldier in the form of Salaar, the only surviving mercenary of an advanced soldier project – Project Ghazi. Together with a son of a deceased soldier who has inherited super-genetics from his father, he fights a supervillain, Kataan, who plans to destroy the project.
UMRO AYYAR
Real Name: Umro Ayyar
Country of origin: Pakistan/Iran
Source: Dastan-e-Amir Hamza (Hamzanama)
Medium: TV, Films, Books
Superpower: Theft and cleverness
Most incredible feat of strength: Shows goodness to all the needy
Umro Ayyar is the Robin Hood of Pakistan/medieval Iran. He steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Based on his life, a Pakistani film called Umro Ayyar – A New Beginning (2023) is currently in the works!
COMMANDER SAFEGUARD
Real Name: Commander Safeguard
Country of Origin: Pakistan
Creator: Imtisal Abbasi (IAL Saatchi & Saatchi)
Medium: TV show/Comic
Music: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Jawwad
Superpower: Cleanliness
Most incredible feat of strength: Encourages kids (and adults) to shower twice a day
Commander Safeguard fights Dirtoo (leader of germs) and his team that includes grotesque folks like Kachra Raani…”Jo Khana Mange Na Pani” to protect kids in town, motivating them to stay clean!
PRINCE ADVENTURES
Real Name: Prince
Country of Origin: Pakistan
Creator: Lu
Medium: Cartoon
Superpower: Prince biscuits
Most incredible feat of strength: Fights mustachio
Fond of chocolate-filled biscuits, Prince has a common funda, “Khush raho or khushi phelao tubhi tou glow karta hai mera crown, I wish hamesha muskurata rahe mera town” (Stay happy and spread happiness. This leads to the glow of my crown and happiness of my town). He embarks on exciting adventures and fights those who try to steal the happiness of his people.
GOGI
Country of origin: Pakistan
Creator: Nigar Nazar
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Goes way beyond Chakla-belan (A rolling board and a rolling pin)
Most incredible feat of strength: Enters Pakistan into the superhero scene
Donned in polka-dot dresses, Gogi is a housewife, who faces interesting adventures every day. She is billed as “Pakistan’s first superhero”, who through her adventures, highlights issues women face in our society.
THE MEMORABLE SUPERHEROES OF INDIA
MR INDIA
Real Name: Arun
Country of origin: India
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Writer: Salim–Javed
Music: Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Medium: Film
Superpower: Uses a cloaking device/ watch
Most incredible feat of strength: Made Mogambo happy but only once
Arun, a street violinist and a caretaker of ten orphans, finds a cloaking device made by his late father, Professor Sinha. He uses that gadget to fight a well-known criminal Mogambo who aims to conquer India. A stoic, robotic character that gives off Hitler-esque vibes, Mogambo has an aura of dread around him, that leaves people with no choice but to succumb to his tyranny. Hail Mog…! Oops.
Most incredible feat of strength: Lifted half a big building and an Airking Airbus A380-841
Son of a scientist Rohit Mehra, Krishna uses his unique abilities to fight against Dr Siddhant Arya who has held his father hostage to build a computer that can see the future.
Superpower: Martial arts, vigilantism and combat skills
Most incredible feat of strength: Fights corrupt ministers and politicians
Sporting paper-bag masks, three friends, Bhavesh Joshi, Sikandar “Siku” Khanna and Rajat Sikander Khanna (Sikku) build a YouTube channel, Insaaf TV, where they expose corruption and common wrongdoings. While the other two soon give up, Bhavesh continues the mission and is eventually gets killed. Later, Sikku claims his identity to expose the crimes of both Patil and Rana. The movie plays out as if Batman were middle class, and is all the better for it. Echoes vibes of the gritty Daredevil TV series (not the movie – we don’t talk about the movie — EVER !!!)
Superpower: Superhuman strength, ultra speed, enhanced senses, control over gravity
Most incredible feat of strength: Stops a bus packed with people from going off a cliff
Hit by a lightning bolt on Christmas Eve, a young tailor, Jaison and Shibu from Kurukkanmoola, get superpowers simultaneously. While Jaison uses his powers to help others, his frenemy Shibu goes evil and finds ways to harm people, leaving the former with no choice but to confront the latter.
Most incredible feat of strength: Breaks glass doors
Having spent his entire life in a pitch-black basement of the house, Tejas, a man without body hair, knows nothing about the outside world. When his father died, he is sent to a rehabilitation institute for young criminals, where he first shows signs of telekinesis.
Most incredible feat of strength: Runs faster than a car, jumps through buildings and dances on Chamak Challo!
G.One is a protagonist in a game created by a game developer, Shekhar Subramaniam, who takes on the face of its creator when it enters the real world to save Subramaniam’s son, Prateek (alias Lucifer) from the game’s antagonist, R.One. G.One’s jumps, powers, its character motivations pay a humble nod to iconic characters like Neo and Terminator.
DRONA
Real Name: Aditya ‘Adi’
Country of origin: India
Director: Goldie Behl
Writer: Goldie Behl, Jaydeep Sarkar
Music: Dhruv Ghanekar
Medium: Film
Superpower: Indian martial arts (Kalaripayattu, Chhau, Gatka), and sword fighting
Most incredible feat of strength: Makes Abhishek Bachchan act
Unaware of his actual identity, a young man called Aditiya fights an evil sorcerer, who wants to establish his control over the world.
KANTHASWAMY
Real Name: V. Kanthaswamy
Country of origin: India
Director: Susi Ganesan
Writer: Susi Ganesan
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Medium: Film
Superpower: Flight, speed, agility
Most incredible feat of strength: Moves through buses
Masked as Kanthaswamy, a CBI officer, is a modern-day Robin Hood, who fights evil and helps the needy.
NAGRAJ
Real Name: Mr. Nagraj Shah
Country of origin: India
Creator: Rajkumar Gupta, Manoj Gupta
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Shapeshifting, flight, invisibility, skin shedding, telepathy, poison bite, infrared sensing, energy absorption and manipulation, sixth sense, hypnotism, martial art, superhero stamina and strength
Most incredible feat of strength: Fought the Hulk
Declared dead at birth, Nagraj is later cured by King Maniraj and his wife Queen Manika, leaders of ageless Ichchhadhaari nags. For a while, he is used as a terror weapon by an evil scientist called Professor Nagmani but then upon confrontation with a sadhu named Baba Gorakhnath, he vows to eliminate corruption from the Earth.
THE SADHU
Real Name: Colonel Timothy Townsend
Country of origin: India
Creator: Gotham Chopra and Jeevan Kang
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Reality manipulation
Most incredible feat of strength: blasts a wave of energy through his third eye
Colonel Timothy Townsend is an evil British commander who kills the family of James and prays to the dark side of the goddess Kali, who ultimately blesses him with supreme powers. He uses those powers to dominate the crime scene in London.
BHOKAL
Real Name: Rajkumar Alop
Country of origin: India
Creator: Manoj Gupta and Sanjay Gupta
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Bhokal-Shakti
Most incredible feat of strength: Kills his rival Fuchang
Rajukumar Alop, a legendary warrior prince from Parilok, comes to Earth to defend the people of Vikasnagar. He uses the powers of his teacher, Mahaguru Bhokal to fight the evils.
AVATAREX
Country of origin: India
Creator: Grant Morrison
Medium: Digital comic
Superpower: Superhuman strength
Most incredible feat of strength:
A nod to Super-Man! Avatrex is a superhero that faces upheavals in present-day India.
SHAKTIMAAN
Real Name: Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri
Country of origin: India
Creator: Mukesh Khanna
Director: Dinker Jani
Medium: TV show
Superpower: 7 chakras
Most incredible feat of strength: Speaks shudh (pure) Hindi
A newspaper photographer, Pandit Gangadhar Vidhyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri, who has gained powers through meditation and five elements of nature, moonlights as a Shaktimaan to fight Tamraj Kilvish, a dark lord. This character is sort of a mix of Captain Planet and Avatar – The Last Air Bender.
Most incredible feat of strength: Fights Mechanic, Dr. Virus, Sir Gunga, Hammer and Auzaar
Inspector Amar is a heavily armed and armoured cyborg with superpowers.
SUPER COMMANDO DHRUVA
Real Name: Dhruva Mehra
Country of origin: India
Creator: Anupam Sinha
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Superhuman intelligence, ability to talk to birds and animals, stunt biker, acrobats, martial arts, marksmanship, invisibility, sixth sense, strategy, detective abilities, can hold breath for 20 minutes
Most incredible feat of strength: Partnered with Nagraj
Super Commando Dhruva is a combo of Batman and Robin with the moral compass of Captain America. In addition to his skills and abilities, he has superpowers that help him become highly effective on his missions. Also, he swings around buildings like Spider-Man.
CHAKRA – THE INVINCIBLE
Real Name: Raju Rai
Country of origin: India
Creator: Stan Lee, Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra
Director: Sharad Devarajan
Writer: Stan Lee, Sharad Devarajan, Sharad Devarajan, Ashwin Pande, Scott Peterson
Music: Siddharth Coutto, Dominic Chiudoni, Pierre Gerwig Langer, Lynn Publishing, Mark John Petrie
Medium: Film
Superpower: Chakras
Most incredible feat of strength: Gets Stan Lee onboard
Born in Mumbai, a young Indian boy fights all super-villains sporting a highly advanced suit that weaponizes all seven chakras in the body.
DOGA
Country of origin: India
Creator: Sanjay Gupta, Manu, Tarun Kumar Wahi
Medium: Comic
Superpower: Excellent marksman, an expert in all firearms
A Punisher with a hint of Dead Shot level of accuracy, Doga is a dog-mask-wearing anti-hero who talks to dogs and fights against Dr Virus, a genius biologist who wants to kill Dhruva.That wraps up our list of superheroes. Hope you have enjoyed going through this list. If we have missed out on any of your favourite characters, let us in the comments below so we can update our article. Happy geeking!