With the announcement yesterday that Marvel is going to introduce a new Pakistani Ms. Marvel, I started thinking about all of the other Middle Eastern superheroes I’ve seen introduced since 9/11. In an effort to combat the obvious prejudices in this country, both Marvel and DC have taken it upon themselves to diversify their superhero line-ups with characters of Middle Eastern descent. And as great as that is, most of these characters rarely stick around.

The market is never very kind to new characters in general.

Especially if they have weird hands

Still, we can’t forget about them if I keep blabbing about them. So in my own effort to celebrate diversity, I’ve decided to take a look at all Middle Eastern superheroes to pick out the coolest ones. Some you may recognize, some you may have forgotten about and some you may have never known existed. But trust me, they are all cool.

6. Arabian Knight

My pitch: 1,001 of these guys!

Might as well get the obvious stereotype out of the way first, huh? Introduced in 1981 against the Incredible Hulk, the first Arabian Knight was everything you’d expect: turban, scimitar, flying carpet and billowing white pants. The guy was a walking stereotype, but such were the 80s. At least he was a good guy. Fortunately, the Arabian Knight has been recreated for a more contemporary world. Navid Hashim, on the right, still has the magic scimitar and the sash, but at least he’s not dressing like Sinbad the Sailor. He’s also something of an international man of mystery, so he’s got that going for him.

5. Faiza Hussain

She got it from a farcical aquatic ceremony

I love Faiza. I would read a Faiza Hussain comic if Marvel put one out. She is adorable and awesome, and deserves more than the handful off issues she appeared in as part of the short-lived Captain Britain and MI:13. Faiza is a British Muslim doctor who was helping out as a rescue worker during a Skrull invasion of Earth. She got zapped with an alien ray and developed the power to control people’s bodies on a molecular level. Then, because that wasn’t enough, Faiza became the modern-day wielder of Excalibur! That’s right, the same mystic sword that was distributed to King Arthur by a strange woman lyin’ in a pond; Faiza wields it as one of England’s premiere superheroes. It’s just too bad that she’s barely appeared since Captain Britain was cancelled, but as far as I know, she still has the sword.

4. Sabra

Did you know Hannukah falls in November this year?

If Sabra existed in the real world, we’d probably have that whole Israel/Pakistan problem worked out – and I say that being completely ignorant and oblivious to any real world political issues with that topic. Sabra is Marvel Comics’ Israeli superheroine, more spy than hero, but nevertheless a powerful figurehead on the international stage. Ruth Bat-Seraph is a mutant with the typical powers of enhanced speed and strength, and she’s teamed up with everyone from Spider-Man to the X-Men – although those guys team up with everybody. Sabra has never headlined a comic of her own though, but she’s always on hand whenever an American hero needs to go overseas.

3. Dust

She’s gonna get sand all up in her abaya

In 2002, New X-Men writer Grant Morrison decided to shake things up a bit and introduced Dust, a mutant teenager with the ability to turn her body into sand (which is kind of like dust). Not only is Dust a Muslim, but she’s also from Afghanistan and wears the traditional abaya (often mistaken for a burqa). The X-Men introduced a character like that to American audiences in 2002. Unfortunately, Morrison promptly did nothing with Dust, and left her in the hands of other writers, who tried to make a go of it by putting her in with the various student groups. That hasn’t worked out all that well for Dust, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find her in any comic books today. Though at least she’s still alive, which is not something that can be said for a lot of her X-Men classmates.

2. Simon Baz

The fingerless gloves are a nice touch

Simon Baz may be the coolest Green Lantern of all time. He’s a car thief with a heart of gold, and the most recent hero to be selected for the Green Lantern Corps – so it’s too bad that they don’t use him more often. He’d top this list if DC Comics was actually willing to use the poor guy. Created by legendary GL writer Geoff Johns only a year ago, Simon was given an action-packed debut and seemed destined for great things! But then new writers came along, promptly stopped caring about Simon, and he was shuffled off to disappear in the pages of Justice League of America. So even when a Middle Eastern character gets added to one of comics’ premiere franchises, he still gets ignored.

1. Black Adam

Ride the lightning!

Black Adam is usually the villain when he shows up to battle Shazam, but anybody who has been following Adam for the past few years knows that he is the far more interesting and badass character. Both are blessed with powers and strengths similar to Superman, but Shazam is the sort of goodie two-shoes that makes even the Man of Steel blush. Black Adam, meanwhile, is a morally gray anti-hero who would just as soon rip slavers in half as he would team up with Lex Luthor for a bit of villainy. He’s the ancient ruler of his own Middle Eastern nation of Kahndaq, and he usually rules with a just yet iron fist. He’s a man who knows great love, faces great enemies, and would have been played by the Rock if the Shazam movie ever got made. What’s more awesome than that?

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