Marvel Studios is debuting a Haudenosaunee superhero in the second season of its animated series “What If?...”
The new hero, Kahhori, is a completely new and original character to the Marvel universe. She is a member of the Mohawk Nation within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
The episode explores what would happen if the Tesseract fell to Earth and landed in the Haudenosaunee territory before the United States was colonized.
Kahhori and her episode were developed in close collaboration with members of the Mohawk Nation, including historian Doug George and Mohawk language expert Cecelia King, according to an official breakdown posted by Marvel Studios.
This episode marks the second time an Indigenous character is featured in a Marvel project. The first was Echo in “Hawkeye.”
King, a Mohawk language expert who worked on the show, told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that she first heard about the project from Oneida singer Joanne Shenandoah 3 years ago. Shenandoah, who died in 2021, asked King if she’d be interested in helping with translations for the Kahhori character.
“I was not even familiar with Marvel at that point,” admitted King, a retired teacher at St. Regis Mohawk Elementary School.
King said she worked with writer Ryan Little, a Syracuse University alumnus, on the show. Little explained that Kahhori was a new Native American superhero from the Upstate New York region known as Akwesasne, and she would help ensure the character’s voice was authentic.
“He learned a lot. I would explain how the letters work, and the vocabulary,” King said.
“I think it’s so awesome because it’s our language being spoken out there and it’s going all over the world. We’re being exposed to the world through our language and I hope more like that happens,” King added. “It makes me really proud of our people.”
Kahhori’s introduction to the Marvel universe is a big deal, said Tiffany Thomas, director of digital communications for Seeing Red Media. Haudenosaunee culture is not represented in mainstream media often.
Thomas, a member of the Wolf Clan from the Cayuga Nation, hopes the episode expands into a lot of the cultural aspects of the Haudenosaunee people.
“Haudenosaunee culture is very connected to everything,” said Thomas. “And I think that’s the message they’re hopefully going to send is like her gifts are a like a connection to nature somehow. That’s what I’m hoping.”
“Storytelling is a big aspect of Indigenous culture and being able to do that with a big company, like Marvel, is a huge deal, said Thomas. It’s also a step in the right direction towards representation and reconciliation with their people. She thinks Kahhori is going to have a positive impact on Indigenous youth who will see themselves as superheroes too.
“We always say like this is what we preach is truth and representation,” she said. “So, the fact that you know, our true stories are being told and you know, big companies are wanting to help. It’s huge.”
Kahhori’s “What If?...” episode premieres on Disney+ Dec. 27.