#it spices up their fights!

[the-scarecrow-of-aus]

This results in Constantine forcibly summoning danny and growling at him. "uphold all previous deals?!" He began pacing the circle danny was held in, still confused about the reasoning for the summoning, "those deals were keeping the demons in competition to each other so they wouldn't try and kill me! You've basically signed my death warrant!" Danny just rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stared at the irritable man in a trenchcoat. "Yeah, and? I said I would uphold them right? What's the problem?"

The man seemed to be trying to tear out his hair "the problem was I never once made a deal to directly protect myself, due to the stalemate I set up, none would try to kill me without upsetting the others! Now that it's gone they will tear me apart!"

Danny just blinked slowly "do...do you not remember all the deals you made? Or have they slipped your mind?" Danny snapped his fingers and a moderate sized green book appeared, he handed it to constantine with a smile "you have a month to reflect on your deals 'that I will uphold', everything else is not relevant to this conversation. Now either break the summons or I break the circle and the house of mystery that it's written on" there was a loud creak as the house seemingly complained and danny rolled his eyes and spoke to the room "it's an empty threat, you know I'm more skillful then that" he looked at constantine as I'd waiting "well? was there anything else or can i go? I have a fight scheduled with skulker in 20 minutes"

Fuming Constantine broke the circle dismissing phantom, he stared at the book in thought for a while as the anger left him "well I guess I should remind myself what I'm dying for".

'No deals would be made' that was the feeling john got when no summons would work and magical entities would disappear before he could bring the topic up on missions. He had to face the music.

The month passed without much worry, a few invasions both interplanetary and interdimensional, a few villain takeover attempts, questions about if batsy picked up another black hair blue eyed robin... the usual. The league did take note of constantine being a bit calmer then normal, happier to help out and more easy to contact in an emergency. When not on missions he was always thumbing through a green book deep in thought. When asked he easily replied, "it's the infinite realms archival record of every deal I've ever made and what it was for, I had forgotten some of these!" Perhaps it's unsurprising that green lantern hit the nail on the head when he suggested to the watchtowers hero's "maybe he's dying?" A guess confirmed by the hellblazer during the monthly meeting when confronted regarding it. "A few days left yet, been sorting out the unfinished business mostly" the offers of help were heart-warming but John knew there was nothing they could do to stop this.

Even with the debrief the justice league were concerned, was the ghost king seriously capable of upholding the previous deals? John assured them the kid was stronger then he looked and not to worry, a few years back he'd made the deal to protect past, present and future league members from that time hunting demon, so they were in good hands. "Heck, zatanna is probably the most protected of the lot of ya, quite a few deals made to save her, -no offence z!" He said in pain as zatanna elbowed him in the ribs.

On the end of the last day The tidal wave of magic pressure on the station as demons and devils of all kinds rushed into the world looking for constantine could be measured by civilian technological means (the strongest sensors belonged to a couple in amity Park and was ignored as it wasn't relevant to their research, they wouldn't be counted as civilians if given a background check either) the demons all flowed up to outerspace where the station was and just as constantine closed his eyes to welcome the end when the sound of a crash and a bright green light lit up the room, a giant presence spoke.

Ï̴͙'̶̙̾m̷̼̚ ̷̝͑s̷̫̿o̵͈̾r̴̠͆r̴̜̄ÿ̵͖́ ̵̻̉b̵̝̒ǔ̵̥t̷̙̑ ̵̧͝Ī̸̪ ̶͖̈c̷̣̐a̵̠͝n̸̬̏n̶͔͆ȏ̷̖t̶͖̽ ̸͎̂l̸̰̄é̶̙ẗ̵̠́ ̵͎̏y̷͈̅ỏ̷͎ụ̸͌ ̴̮́d̷̺̄o̵̭͘ ̶͈̂t̵͉͂h̷͓̏a̵̡̾t̵͉̓,̸̺̾ ̵̰͝t̷̗̄h̶̻͋ȇ̴̩ ̶̱̒j̶͎͗u̴̺͐s̷̤͘ṭ̵͂ĩ̸̬ć̶̜ê̸̦ ̶̟͑l̴̦͘ȇ̵̞a̸̜̍g̵̤͝u̷̗̿e̴̤̊ ̷͉̉i̸͖͆ś̶̭ ̵̥̕p̷̲͂r̶̖̾ọ̸̓t̴͇̃ë̶̬́c̴̳̄t̷̛͈ĕ̷̼d̶̹̓ ̸̬̈́b̸̰̊y̷̤͒ ̵̢͌a̸̛̱ ̷̥̀ṕ̴̖r̶͔̔i̷͈͛o̴̳͑r̷͑͜ ̴͖͐d̵̙͝e̶͔͑a̵͈͐l̸̮̉.̵̧̊ ̸̖̆P̸̠͛l̸͍͌ȅ̶̲a̵̲̍s̵̱̉e̸͇̒ ̷͉̐d̶͎̂ï̵̭s̷̖̏p̵̦̈́e̶̮͑r̵̪͘ș̴͌è̶̥

John opened his eyes to see the justice league all arrayed around him in combat positions and a green shield stretched around the station, looking around at Jordan and Stewart he noted it wasn't created by a lanterns power and further examination revealed it was the wrong colour green, too fluid with clouds in it.

"Give us the hellblazer, he owes us!"

Á̶̳g̵̣̋a̷͓͂i̸̺͑n̶̉ͅ,̸͍̊ ̴̤̒Ǐ̷̝ ̶̣̓a̴̠̎m̵̯̒ ̸̯͋ŝ̴̤o̵̘̿ṙ̸̮r̸͑͜ȳ̶̯,̵̟̇ ̷̮̓ț̶͌ḩ̴̏e̷̫̒ ̵̲́j̴̮̈u̶͈̐s̶͇̕t̶̿͜í̴͈c̶̖̔ẻ̸̘ ̸̧̚l̷̥̕ẹ̸͂a̸̬͛ġ̸̠ǔ̷̧e̸̼̐ ̶̞͆i̷͓̔s̵̳̀ ̵͇͘p̵͙̔r̷̹̿ơ̶̜t̸͕͛ë̸̺c̴͘ͅt̷͕͂ë̶̩́d̸̮̓.̶͕̏ ̷̫̌P̷̦̍l̵͓͝e̴̹͑a̵̺͆ș̴̒e̷̻̕ ̶͓̂ḍ̴̈ì̸̪s̵̡͆p̸̝͋è̷͚r̷̮̒s̷̪̍e̷̳͝

"WE ARE NOT HERE FOR THE LEAGUE, LET US TAKE HIM!"

T̶̰̋h̷̛͇ě̵̜ ̸̗̾l̵̜͘e̸͕̚a̷̠͘g̴̦͑ú̶̙e̸͍̓ ̷̜͗ȧ̸̲r̷̨̚ë̵̝́ ̵̠̑c̶̳͒u̸̢͆r̷̪̋ṛ̶̃ẹ̵̈n̵̞͠t̸͙͘l̶̙͠y̸̡͘ ̶̧̂ ̸͇̂i̵̛͙n̶͉̽ ̷̠̌t̸̛̟ḧ̸͖́e̷̘̾ ̷̧̒ ̷̺̕ș̸̅p̶̲͒a̵̦̽c̵̭̉e̷̤͋ ̶̦͊s̷͖̕t̴̤̃a̴̺͂ṭ̷̐i̷̹͋o̷͊͜n̵͕̎,̶͙̃ ̷͓̓ȉ̴̲f̸̙̀ ̸̤̃y̴̨̆ọ̶̾ǔ̸̡ ̵̲́c̶̲͛å̷̺u̵͎͘s̴͕̏e̶̛̘ ̸̯̒d̶͍̎a̸̫͑m̸̪̈́a̵͕͆g̷̜͑e̸̺͑ ̸͕̆t̸̛̟ḧ̸͖́e̷̘̾ ̷̧̒s̸̨̔t̴̟͝a̷̜͘t̴̨͌i̵͎̎o̴̜͊n̸͚̈́ ̸̞̊w̴̰̐i̷͇͊l̷̀͜l̵̖̃ ̸̢̋s̶̪͐ṷ̴̔f̷͎͘f̸̻̀ȩ̴̉r̵̳̎ ̶͉̅d̸̖̀e̶̘̓p̵͙̕r̸͘͜ë̵͓́ș̶͐ṡ̸͎ủ̷͓r̶̟͑i̵̊ͅs̴̤̈à̵͍t̴̥̆ī̷̫o̷̤̒n̸̖̓ ̷̢͗w̶̜͌h̸̓͜i̴̩͒c̵̨̉ḫ̷̌ ̸͎͝w̶͍͂i̶̹͂l̵̺̂ľ̸͕ ̵̺̋ĥ̶͎a̶̪͋r̴̖͛m̶͍̈́ ̷̔ͅţ̶̌h̴͚̊e̴͉͆ ̴̼̀l̶̠̚ȇ̶͚ā̴͚g̸̺̅ṷ̵̏ẹ̵̛ ̵̉͜

The demons seemed to get angrier and slammed against the shield as they surrounded the watchtower

"Then give him to us!"

Í̷͓ ̶̫̿à̵��m̸͉̃ ̴̣͋s̶͖͆o̶̮͆r̸̘̈r̴̳̾ỳ̴̫ ̵̩̅b̷̹́u̵̞̔t̴̯͝ ̸̪́j̴͉̈́o̵̱͂h̴͉̊n̵͔̂ ̸͉̎ĉ̴̦o̴̧̚n̶̠̎s̷̪͋t̷̼̋a̵̛ͅn̸͎͝t̸͚͘ī̵͖ṋ̷̕è̸̤ ̸̠͑i̷͙̕s̸͙͒ ̵͓̓a̵̡̛ ̵̻͊r̸͈̽ē̴͉g̴͗ͅȋ̸̬s̶̭̃t̸̞̕e̴̠̔ŕ̴͓e̵̩̍d̷̝͘ ̶͈̏m̷͖͑ȩ̴̄m̶̧͛b̶̜̋e̶͉̓r̸̻̈́ ̵̘̅o̴͓̍f̶̡̄ ̵̻͌ẗ̶̻h̷̟̅ě̶͕ ̶͙̀j̵̣̓u̶̬̐s̶̛̳t̶̖͑i̷͉͗c̶̼̓ḛ̴̑ ̵̩̈l̴̼͊ẽ̴̪a̴̔ͅg̴͉̍u̶̧͛e̴̫̓.̸̙͗ ̷̮̋A̵͙̕l̵̹̆l̶̝̀ ̶̱͒d̵͓͒e̵̟͗a̴̫͊l̶͎̿s̵͔̈ ̵̜̃w̷͒͜į̷̐l̶̨̚l̵̞̕ ̷̙̌b̸͙͋ē̸̘ ̵̨͝u̶̟͂p̶̭̈́h̷͍̚e̸̽ͅḷ̸͂d̷̮̊.̵̛͔ ̷͙̐I̸̿͜f̴͎̌ ̷͇͘y̷̮͊ọ̵͋û̶̖ ̴͍̚d̴̬̽į̴̈ș̸͒ả̶͇ḡ̸̪r̵̪̿e̶͓̕e̶̠̚ ̵̜̈́y̸̨͒ò̸̼u̵͇͂ ̷͠ͅm̸̺͋a̶͕͒ý̸̮ ̵̬̑t̴̡̀ă̶̤k̴̨̒e̷̬̐ ̶̪̊i̴̘̕t̵̙͊ ̶̪͋u̵͍͝p̴͙̂ ̴̦̅w̶̜̋ḭ̵̛t̴͈͛h̸͖͘ ̷̺̆ṫ̴͈h̵̛̖e̴͍̽ ̸̩͗o̸͎̅b̴͎͝s̸̝͆ȩ̸̍r̶͕̋v̶̫̒ä̷͇́n̸͆ͅt̴͔̿ṡ̴̳.̷̝̾ ̶̝̊N̸͔̋o̶̻͐w̶̲͘ ̷̄͜k̴̳̾ì̸̩ň̵̟d̸͉͑l̶̲̄y̷͍̌ ̵̺͘p̵̟͝ī̸̟s̸̛͖ş̶̕ ̶͈̍ö̸̱́f̶̲͑f̷̹̐!̶̖͆

The demons roared and attacked the station only for a green portal to appear above them pulling them in like a black hole. The green light disappeared and the justice league started to relax.

"so... did you gain any insight into your prior deals?" Constantine spun around to see a kid with black hair and blue eyes standing next to him and judging by the leagues reactions they hadn't seen him either. John noticed the similarities and whispered "phantom?" Danny just waved politely "hi mr constantine, sorry but I just remembered ghost writer wants the record book back, I hope you haven't damaged it too much" john's eyes drifted down to the green book held in a white knuckle grip with some of his fingernails leaving marks. It took a moment for him to relax his grip on the book before handing it over.

Danny saw the confusion on Constantine's face begin to twist to anger and decided to cut him off "I asked you if you had forgotten your deals and it appears you had, otherwise you would have remembered you were a justice league member." Danny's face showed a evil grin "besides, think of the last month as payback for all the worthless paperwork I had to do to fix this, you're welcome! Don't try to sell your soul again, all complaints will be sent to the observants because screw them for letting it get this bad annnd clockwork said go to Bolivia instead of Vegas for your next vacation, less interruptions for us both. Am I missing anything else? Ok byeeee!" A large brooding shadow appeared behind them both stopping danny leaving "danny." Phantom seemed to jump and spin around on the spot "hu...heyyy B, uh... agent A and spoiler wanted to remind you that you know who's ballet starts in an hour and you promised to be there, sooo I'm just gonna go and return a library book... yeah" with that danny slinked away quickly fading from view" John spun around to view batman "you know him?!" Batman glared "just someone who's going to be grounded when I get home" John remembered the conversations over the month about a possible new robin "good luck with that!" He said heading for the zeta tubes

John needed a drink.

(Sorry for any errors)

Zalgo translation:

[I'm sorry but I cannot let you do that, the justice league is protected by a prior deal. Please disperse]

[Again, I am sorry, the justice league is protected. Please disperse]

[The league are currently in the space station, if you cause damage the station will suffer depressurisation which will harm the league]

[I am sorry but john constantine is a registered member of the justice league. All deals will be upheld. If you disagree you may take it up with the observants. Now kindly piss off!]

It was a regular Thursday afternoon for John Constantine. Actually, it was irregular in the sense that nothing bad had happened yet. Normally there’s at least one minor magical inconvenience sent by at least one of his demonic creditors.

Of course, that just meant that he was due to be majorly fucked over.

Despite the wards he set up, a glowing green scroll burned to life in front of him. It radiated Death, but in an oddly non-malicious manner that he was unfamiliar with. As much as he wanted to ignore whatever just happened and get a drink, he knew that that would just leave him in the dark, so he grabbed it and began reading.

John Constantine,

Due to the large amount of paperwork that your supernatural dealings have caused, it has been decided that your Soul is no longer a worthwhile bargaining chip. In order to remove the paperwork, your Soul has been returned to you in full and Bound to your body until your death, when you shall be led to your afterlife. Do not worry, for I will uphold any deals from your past, as some of these deals would have disastrous consequences if broken. In one human month, or 30 days, any previous creditors will be notified as to be fairly compensated for their loss.

Respectfully yours,

High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms

John was panicking. The only thing that was keeping any of those demons from tearing him apart themselves was the threat of all the other demons who had a claim on him! By returning his Soul, this High King doomed him! Now in a month he’d have a host of angry demons all raring to see him dead!

He glanced at the name on the scroll again. Phantom, huh? He’s made a point to not get involved in the Infinite Realms. After all, that’s where all the Primordials come from. Even the weakest denizen of that plane could beat Superman in a fight.

Even still, he’s kept up with the news. (It’s only smart. The Infinite Realms connect to all time, all space, all reality. If something happens there, something happens everywhere.) He heard that the new High King was a good sort, highly respected. Maybe if he could find him, he could convince him to change his mind. Maybe even make a contract with him instead.

[crnl-chicken-tots]

[svtskneecaps]

i feel like lullah and richas's admins probably chat behind the scenes bc this is the second time they've been in active rp conflict with each other and i'm imagining them giggling and kicking their feet dm'ing each other plans. like "ok so i'm gonna be like 'tio bad likes richas more than me :(' " "ok and then i'm gonna go 'KKKK NAH' and put up a meme" "ok and i'm gonna crouch really sadly so he feels guilty" "and i'm gonna lay down and act all tough and unbothered" "ooh you should play the crying baby sound too" "YOU'RE SO RIGHT"

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Spice is the variety of life!

[First] Prev <--> Next

[redbean-nom]

fascinated by the implied fennec-ventress-phee friend group in tbb. even more interesting (funny) when you add boba in there during the tbobf era.

[chassisfucker]

these three: i am going to create a sexual dynamic so foul that hell itself refuses to take us on because it doesn’t want to deal with All of That

[read-write-thrive]

the dead boy detective agency main four are a polycule on various points of the aromantic/asexual spectrum (in addition to their various sexualities), with the various side characters playing the roles of parental figures or talking stages. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[meganechan05]

King-Ohger Finale Deleted Scene - Post-Battle Meal

[ge]

tangchung arranged marriage au where they get married before receiving their respective titles.. depressed apathetic era tang bo x pre geomjon era chung myung.. they heavily dislike each other for a long time because they never had their 'first meeting fight' like in novel canon to break the ice but they eventually get into a disagreement that turns into a fight and chung myung wipes the floor w tang bo and changes tang bos life forever and maybe makes him fall in love a little bit

[rmbunnie]

The way that the White Streak is originally from Hush (I'm like 80% sure that was its first, and for a while only, appearance) is so funny to me because like, even before the graveyard guy was retconned into being Actually Jason for the first half of the fight there's absolutely NO reason for the white streak to be there. IIRC it goes completely unacknowledged, and there's no implication of anything that could have caused it. Bruce assumes that Clayface fudged some details but even in the pre-retcon version of the story in which that could have possibly been the case because Jason wasn't intended to be back, that would be not at all a reasonable detail to fudge?? Like that definitely makes the disguise weirder and more suspicious and in no way in line with a natural development of growing up into a young adult over the, what, three? four? years Jason was dead. Why the fuck did Clayface give him the slay little bleach job? Is he stupid?

[lenichque]

when i’m reading a cherik fic and erik doesn't act like an unstable toxic asshole there

[demigod-of-the-agni]

Spider-Man India, but... where from India?

A SUPER long post featuring talks of: cultural identity, characterisation, the caste system, and what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man.

I’m prefacing this by saying that I am a second-generation immigrant. I was born in Australia, but my cultural background is from South India. My experiences with what it means to be “Indian” is going to be very different from the experiences of those who are born and brought up in India.

If you, reader, want to add anything, please reblog and add your thoughts. This is meant to be a post open for discussion — the more interaction we get, the better we become aware of these nuances.

So I made this poll asking folks to pick a region of India where I would draw Pavitr Prabhakar in their cultural wear. This idea had been on my mind for a long while now, as I had been inspired by Annie Hazarika’s Northeastern Spidey artwork in the wake of ATSV’s release, but never got the time to actually do it until now. I wanted to get a little interactive and made the poll so I could have people choose which of the different regions — North, Northeast, Central, East, West, South — to do first.

The outcome was not what I expected. As you can see, out of 83 votes:

THE RESULTS

South India takes up almost half of all votes (44.6%), followed by Northeast and Central (both 14.5%) and then East (13.3%). In all my life growing up, support towards or even just the awareness of South India was pretty low. Despite this being a very contained poll, why would nearly half of all voters pick South India in favour of other popular choices like Central or North India?

Then I thought about the layout of the poll: Title, Options, Context.

Title: "Tell us who you want to see…"

Options: North, Northeast, Central, East, West, South

Context: I want to make art of the boy again

At first I thought: ah geez. this is my fault. I didn't make the poll clear enough. do they think I want them to figure out where Pavitr came from? That's not what I wanted, maybe I should have added the context before the options.

Then I thought: ah geez. is it my fault for people not reading the entire damn thing before clicking a button? That's pretty stupid.

But regardless, the thought did prompt a line of thinking I know many of us desi folk have been considering since Spider-Man India was first conceived — or, at least, since the announcement that he was going to appear in ATSV. Hell, even I thought of it:

Where did Spider-Man India come from?

FROM A CULTURALLY DIVERSE INDIA

As we know, India is so culturally diverse, and no doubt ATSV creators had to take that into account. Because the ORIGINAL Spider-Man India came from Mumbai — most likely because Mumbai and Manhattan both started with the same letter.

But going beyond that, it’s also because Mumbai is one of the most recognisable cities in India - it’s also known as Bombay. It’s where Bollywood films are shot. It’s where superstar Hindi actors and actresses show up. Mumbai is synonymous with India in that regard, because the easiest way Western countries can interact with Indian culture is through BOLLYWOOD, through HINDI FILMS, through MUMBAI. Suddenly, India is Mumbai, India is a Hindi-only country, India is just this isolated thing we see through an infinitely narrow lens.

We’ve gotten a little better in recent years, but boy I will tell you how uncomfortable I’ve gotten when people (yes, even desi people) come up to me and tell me, Oh, you’re Indian right? Can you speak Hindi? Why don’t you speak Hindi? You’re not Indian if you don’t speak Hindi, that’s India’s national language!

I have been — still am — so afraid of telling people that I don’t speak Hindi, that I’m Tamil, that I don’t care that Hindi is India’s “national” language (it’s an administrative language, Kavin, get your fucking facts right). It’s weird, it’s isolating, and it has made me feel like I wasn’t “Indian” enough to be accepted into the group of “Indian” people.

So I am thankful that ATSV went out of their way to integrate as much variety of Indian culture into the Mumbattan sequence. Maybe that way, the younger generation of desi folk won’t feel so isolated, and that younger Western people will be more open to learning about all these cultural differences within such a vast country.

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SPIDER-MAN INDIA?

Everything, actually. There’s a thing called supremacy. You might have heard of it. We all engaged with it at some point, and if you are Indian, no matter where you live, it is inescapable.

It happens the moment you are born — who your family is, where you are born, the language you speak, the colour of your skin; these will be bound to you for life, and it is nigh impossible to break down the stereotypes associated with them.

Certain ethnic groups will be more favourable than others (Centrals, and thus their cultures, will always be favoured over than Souths, as an example) and the same can be said for social groups (Brahmins are more likely to secure influential roles in politics or other areas like priesthood, while the lowers castes, especially Dalits, aren’t even given the decency of respect). Don’t even get me started on colourism, where obviously those of fairer skin will win the lottery while those of darker skin aren’t given the time of day. It’s even worse when morality ties into it — “lighter skinned Indians, like Brahmins, embody good qualities like justice and wisdom”, “dark skinned Indians are cunning and poor, they are untrustworthy”. It’s fucking nuts.

This means, of course, you have a billion people trying to make themselves heard in a system that tries to crush everyone who is not privileged. It only makes sense that people want to elevate themselves and break free from a society that refuses to acknowledge them. These frustrations manifest outwardly, like in protests, but other times — most times — it goes unheard, quietly shaping your way of life, your way of thinking. It becomes a fundamental part of you, and it can go unacknowledged for generations.

So when you have a character like Pavitr Prabhakar enter the scene, people immediately latch onto him and start asking questions many Western audiences don’t even consider. Who is he? What food does he eat? What does he do on Fridays? What’s his family like, his community? All these questions pop up, because, amidst all this turmoil going on in the background, you want a mainstream popular character to be like you, who knows your way of life so intimately, that he may as well be a part of your community.

BUT THAT'S THE THING — HE'S FICTIONAL

I am guilty of this. In fact, I’ve flaunted in numerous posts how I think he’s the perfect Tamil boy, how he dances bharatanatyam, how he does all these Tamil things that no one will understand except myself. All these niche things that only I, and maybe a few others, will understand.

I’ve seen other people do it, too. I’ve seen people geek out over his dark brown skin, his kalari dhoti, how he fights so effortlessly in the kalaripayattu martial arts style. I’ve seen people write him as Malayali, as Hindi, as every kind of Indian person imaginable.

I’ve also seen him be written where he’s subjected to typical Indian and broader Asian stereotypes. You know the ones I’m so fond of calling out. The thing is, I’ve seen so much of Pavitr being presented in so many different ways, and I worry how the rest of the desi folk will take it. 

You finally have a character who could be you, but now he’s someone else’s plaything. Your entire life is shaped by what you can and can’t do simply because you were born to an Indian family, and here’s the one person who could represent you now at the mercy of someone else’s whims. He’s off living a life that is so distant from yours, you can hardly recognise him.

It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, yeah? But, again, you’re looking at it from that infinitely narrow lens Westerners use to look at India from Bollywood.

AND PAVITR PRABHAKAR DOESN'T LIVE IN INDIA

He lives in Mumbattan. He lives in a made-up, fictional world that doesn’t follow the way of life of our world. He lives in a city where Mumbai and Manhattan got fucking squashed together. There are so many memes about colonialism right there. Mumbattan isn’t real! Spider-Man India isn’t real!! He’s just a dude!! The logic of our world doesn’t apply to him!!!

“But his surname originates from ______” okay but does that matter?

“But he’s wearing a kalari dhoti so surely he’s ______” okay but does that matter?

“But his skin colour is darker so he must be ______” okay but does that matter?

“But he lives in Mumbai so he must be ______” okay but does that matter?

I sound insensitive and brash and annoying and it looks like I’m yapping just for the sake of riling you up, so direct that little burst of anger you got there at me, and keep reading.

Listen. I’m going to ask you a question that I’ve asked myself a million times over. I want you to answer honestly. I want you to ask this question to yourself and answer honestly:

Are you trying to convince me on who Pavitr Prabhakar should be?

... but why shouldn't i?

I’ll tell you this again — I did the same thing. You’re not at fault for this, but I want you to just...have a little think over. Just a little moment of self-reflection, to think about why you are so intent on boxing this guy.

It took me a while to reorganise my thinking and how to best approach a character like Pavitr, so I will give you all the time you need as well as a little springboard to focus your thoughts on.

SPIDER-MAN (INDIA) IS JUST A MASK

“What I like about the costume is that anybody reading Spider-Man in any part of the world can imagine that they themselves are under the costume. And that’s a good thing.”

Stan Lee said that. Remember how he was so intent on making sure that everybody got the idea that Spider-Man as an entity is fundamentally broken without Peter Parker there to put on the suit and save the day? That ultimately it was the person beneath the mask, no matter who they were, that mattered most?

Spider-Man India is no less different. You can argue with me that Peter Parker!Spidey is supposed to represent working class struggles in the face of leering corporate entities who endanger the regular folk like us, and so Pavitr Prabhakar should also function the same way. Pavitr should also be a working class guy of this specific social standing fighting people of this other social standing.

But that takes away the authenticity of Spider-Man India. Looking at him through the Peter Parker lens forces you to look at him through the Western lens, and it significantly lessens what you can do with the character — suddenly, it’s a fight to be heard, to be seen, to be recognised. It’s yelling over each other that Pavitr Prabhakar is this ethnicity, is that caste, this or that, this or that, this or that.

There’s a reason why he’s called Spider-Man India, infuriatingly vague as it is. And that’s the point — the vagueness of his identity fulfils Lee’s purpose for a character that could theoretically be embodied by anyone. If he had been called “Spider-Man Mumbai”, you cut out a majority of the population (and in capitalist terms, you cut out a good chunk of the market).

And in the case of Spider-Man India? Whew — you’ve got about a billion people imagining a billion different versions of him.

Whoever you are, whatever you see in Pavitr, that is what is personal to you, and there is nothing wrong with that, and I will not fault you for it. I will not fault you for saying Pavitr is from Central due to the origins of his last name. I also will not fault you for saying Pavitr is from South due to him practising kalaripayattu. I also will not fault you for saying he is not Hindu. I also will not fault you for saying he is a particular ethnicity without any proof.

What I will fault you for is trying to convince me and the others around you that Pavitr Prabhakar should be this particular ethnicity/have this cultural background because of some specific reason. I literally don’t care and it is fundamentally going against his character, going against the “anyone can wear the mask” sentiment of Spider-Man. By doing this, you are strengthening the walls that first divided us. You’re feeding the stratification and segmentation of our cultures — something that is actually not present in the fictional world of Mumbattan.

Like I said before: Mumbattan isn’t real, so the divides between ethnicities and cultural backgrounds are practically nonexistent. The best thing is that it is visually there for all to see. My favourite piece of evidence is this:

It’s a marquee for a cinema in the Mumbattan sequence, in the “Quick tour: this is where the traffic is” section. It has four titles; the first two are written in Hindi. The third title is written in Bengali*, and the fourth title is written in Tamil. You go to Mumbai and you won’t see a single shred of Bengali nor Tamil there, much less any other language that's not common in Maharashtra (Western India). Seeing this for the first time, you know what went through my head?

Wow, the numerous cultures of India are so intermingled here in Mumbattan! Everyone and everything is welcome!

I was happy, not just because of Tamil representation, but because of the fact that the plethora of Indian cultures are showcased coexisting in such a short sequence. This is India embracing all the little parts that make up its grander identity. This scene literally opened my eyes seeing such beauty in all the diverse cultures thriving together. In a place where language and cultural backgrounds blend so easily, each one complementing one another.

It is so easy to believe that, from this colourful palette of a setting, Pavitr Prabhakar truly is Spider-Man India, no matter where he comes from.

It’s easy to believe that Pavitr can come from any part of India, and I won’t call you out if the origin you have for him is different from the origin I have. You don’t need to stake out territory and stand your ground — you’re entitled to that opinion, and I respect it. In fact, I encourage it!!!

Because there’s only so much you can show in a ten minute segment of a film about a country that has such a vast history and even greater number of cultures. I want to see all of it — I want him to be a Malayali boy, a Hindi boy, a Bengali boy, a Telugu boy, an Urdu boy, whatever!! I want you to write him or draw him immersed in your culture, so that I can see the beauty of your background, the wonderful little things that make your culture unique and different from mine!

And, as many friends have said, it’s so common for Indian folks to be migrating around within our own country. A person with a Maharashtrian surname might end up living in Punjab, and no one really minds that. I’m actually from Karnataka, my family speaks Kannada, but somewhere down the line my ancestors moved to Tamil Nadu and settled down and lived very fulfilling lives. So I don’t actually have the “pure Tamil” upbringing, contrary to popular belief; I’ve gotten a mix of both Kannada and Tamil lifestyles, and it’s made my life that much richer. 

So it’s common for people to “not” look like their surname, if that’s what you’re really afraid about. In fact, it just adds to that layer of nuance, that even despite these rigid identities between ethnicities we as Indian people still intermingle with one another, bringing slivers of our cultures to share with others. Pavitr could just as well have been born in one state and moved around the country, and he happens to live in Mumbattan now. It’s entirely possible and there’s nothing to disprove that.

We don’t need to clamber over one another declaring that only one ethnicity is the “right” ethnicity, because, again, you will be looking at Pavitr and the rest of India in that narrow Western lens — a country with such rich cultural variety reduced to a homogenous restrictive way of life.

THE POLL: REINTERPRETED

This whole thing started because I was wondering why my little poll was so skewed — I thought people assumed I was asking them where he came from, then paired his physical appearance with the most logical options available. I thought it was my fault, that I had somehow influenced this outcome without knowing.

Truth is, I will never really know. But I will be thankful for it, because it gave me the opportunity to finally broach this topic, something that many of us desi folk are hesitant to talk about. I hope you have learned something from this, whether you are desi or a casual Spider-Man fan or someone who just so happened to stumble upon this. 

So just…be a little more open. Recognise that India, like many many countries and nations, is made up of a plethora of smaller cultures. And remember, if you’re trying to convince Pavitr that he’s a particular ethnicity, he’s going to wave his hand at you and say, “Ha, me? No, I’m one of the people that live here in the best Indian city! I’m Spider-Man India, dost!”

(Regardless, he still considers you a friend, because to him, the people matter more to him than you trying to box him into something he’s not.)

*Note: thank you dear anon for letting me know that the third title was Bengali, twas my mistake for literally completely forgetting

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Update on house-cleaning: made my mother listen to my rambles until we both remembered that pantry-door spice racks exist and that they were the answer to my limited counter space and wide variety of seasonings.

[nebuladreamz]

hey jesties

[rist-ix]

https://www.tumblr.com/rist-ix/749015401700229120 not you reblogging this when you ship bloom with the man who murdered her family 😭

Bloom's into ppl who slay! Hope this helps :3

[coffee-mouse]

I’m on Team Stardust this year!