The Islamic religion has never had what you would call a shortage of positive role models. Telling the stories of beloved prophets in action-packed bursts, however, has never been an easy task, as the constant repetition of the words “peace be upon him” seems to hinder the ebb and flow of any story. Kuwaiti Clinical psychologist Dr Naif al-Mutawa has remedied the storytelling issues and the longstanding lack of a Muslim nerd contingent at the annual comic-con in one fell swoop with the creation of the world’s first Muslim superheroes.
The good Dr. created The 99 after realizing the stories he knew came from men who supported leaders like Saddam as their role models, only to end up being tortured by them. Al-Mutawa wanted to create heroes that could embody and spread the Islamic values of generosity and mercy.
The result is a bevy of costume clad titans, each of whom are blessed with one of Allah’s (peace be upon him) 99 attributes that they in-turn use to fight evil. Characters include burka-clad Batina the Hidden, the Incredible Hulk-esque Jabbar the Powerful, and Khan-The-Winged who harnessed the power of flight after a freak accident in which he was unjustly detained at a US Airport (just kidding). While the characters have already taken the Arab world by storm, they’re set to conquer the British small screen thanks to Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, who along with the heroes’ creator hopes they can have universal appeal provided one of the characters gets voted off at the end of each show.
