Marvel's Newest Superhero Is A Haudenosaunee Woman

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Meet Kahhori — a new original Marvel character.

She’s a young Mohawk woman living in the sovereign Haudenosaunee Confederacy prior to the colonization of America. The area today is part of Northern New York state in the Adirondack Mountains.

The characters speak in the Mohawk language throughout, with subtitles.

During her adventure, Kahhori learns about a magical portal in the Forbidden Lake — forbidden because many people went missing in it. She learns its spirit, represented through a blue light, seeps through the water, land, and plants, and when the people eat those spirits they take in some of their power too.

"Their language is gonna be heard in places the world has never been spoken before," What If...? Writer Ryan Little said. 

Little crafted this episode over four years. He said the goal was to offer the most accurate depiction of every Mohawk costume, basket, and tattoo. Animation allowed Marvel to be precise. Using the Mohawk language, he said, helped fill out the story with full period accuracy.

"To totally showcase them as a people, it felt like we wanted to take the full ride and not hold anything back," Little said.

 

Read more here.