The greatest superhero series never made
A trilogy set in the monsoon islands
Is the era of superhero movies drawing to an end? The DCEU movies have always been, to quote the nearly-teenager, meh, as have been most of the recent MCU ones. Shang Chi was probably the best of the bunch, with some cool fight scenes. But as for the story, isn’t there a whole galactic saga about man-falls-for-the-dark-side-to-save-his-love-and-is-eventually-redeemed-by-his-kids?
That said, I liked the new Batman movie, and hope the sequels will stay away from Joker and explore the rest of the rogue’s gallery. I am also looking forward to Wakanda Forever, the trailer of which, plus being in tropical island (I assure you, for work) for weeks made me think about the greatest ‘superhero’ series never made.
The aficionado would know from the image that I am talking about The Phantom — the ghost who walks. And those who came in late — here is wiki.
First things first. Why is superhero within inverted commas? Because, strictly speaking, The Phantom is not a superhero. He possesses no superpower. No genetic mutation, no bites by radioactive creepy crawlies or vampires, no alien origin. Like Batman, he is a flesh-and-blood man. Of course, there is a backstory — something more grim than Batman’s, and lasting over centuries.
Okay, following the Dark Knight Trilogy, the convention might be to do the origin story in the first movie, follow up with a kick arse second movie, and end with a nice wrap up. Let’s eschew that. A good yarn doesn’t need to start with ‘in the beginning’.
Don’t believe me? Perhaps this will change your mind:
Indiana Jones provides the most fitting inspiration for a Phantom first episode. Following the canon, it would be somewhere between Africa and India where we would set our scene. The Indian Ocean island, or archipelago, of Bangalla is a poorly run French (or Belgian or Portuguese or Dutch) colony — a den of pirates, slaverunners, smugglers, and all sorts of other nefarious types.
In this lawless land, and waters around, scums of all kinds are fearful of the the keeper of the eastern dark — a mysterious, masked man, or apparition, that haunts the criminals and evildoers. Also known as the ghost who walks, this specter had been absent for years, but now has been seen again. Soon the word spreads across the ports affected by the monsoon.
It is the 1930s. With the war approaching, the archipelago has obvious strategic interest, and we see strangers on imperial missions, from London and Tokyo. We also see Indian-Arab-Chinese nationalists and revolutionaries. And we see a megalomaniac villain named Gabbar Singh (oh-why-not!) who wants to revive the dreaded Singh Brotherhood of pirates.
Soon we learn that the villains are not just after strategic locations, but rather ancients Arabic scrolls containing details of the ancient weapon of Brahmastra and a reclusive Indian scholar who can decipher it. Possession of this knowledge, about harnessing the power of the atom, would mean certain victory in the coming war
It turns out that the scroll is hidden among many other treasures in the masked hero’s layer — the skull cave. He sets off to find the scientist before the bad guys do. And we go on a chase from Suez to Shanghai via Singapore.
Guided by the most successful sequel in history, we would tackle the origin in the second story — except it would be two origin stories, that of the Phantom legend, and of the current Phantom.
The first story would take us to the 16th century, when Christopher Walker’s ship is attacked by the pirates of the Singh brotherhood somewhere between Africa and India. Captain Walker dies, but his son survives. Younger Walker is rescued by the indigenous people of the archipelago, who takes him to the Skull Cave. He swears upon his father’s skull to fight piracy and criminals.
Thus rises the first Phantom. In addition to the Singh brotherhood, his enemies include the Arab slave runners and Portuguese pirates.
You can see the similarities with batman in the origin story —avenging dead parents, no super power, cape/mask to hide one’s real identity, you get the drift. Bruce Wayne uses his family fortune to build all the cool gadgets, Chris Walker uses the wealth in the ship and best technology of his time to do his.
We see the Phantom marrying an Indian princess in the course of the story. A son is born, who is trained to replace his father as Phantom. He too has a child, who also would become a Phantom in time, and so it would go until the 20th century.
The parent-child continuity is known to only a few of the elders of the tribe that had rescued the original Chris Walker Jr. To everyone else, it had seemed as if The Phantom was immortal. And the legend of the ghost-who-walks, the scourge of the pirate scum, would become very well known from Alexandria to Zanzibar to Malaya.
Meanwhile, we will also see how the backstory of the latest Phantom. He would be raised by his American grandparents — his mother having been a bit of a daredevil (who ran away to circus and met his father). Here is where we add the emotional depth to the character, you know, growing up a brown kid in early 20th century America, decades before Mr Obama.
Brown kid? Well, the original Chris Walker was an Englishman, but his descendants married Africans, Indians, Arabs and Chinese. So by the time we come to the 1930s, Chris Walker aka The Phantom looks like Kumail Nanjiani.
While the youngest Walker resolves his identity issues, and flirts with his neighbour Diana Palmer, his father is in East Africa battling a ruthless bunch of diamond prospectors and ivory hunters. He is assisted by Gabbar Singh, who betrays him and uses the diamonds to revive his ancestral piracy business.
Obviously the second movie will end on a poignant note, with the latest Phantom leaving Ms Palmer to return to pick up from where his father had left off.
How does this series end?
We would set the third part in the post-war, post-colonial era. By now, Bangalla is an independent republic governed by President Luaga. It’s beset by the usual problems of poverty and underdevelopment. Bangalla is, however, mineral rich, attracting the ugly gaze of a ruthless British tycoon named Sir James Manson, who pays General Bababu to plot against President Luaga. Meanwhile, the Soviets have their own designs, and fuel ethnic tensions between indigenous people and the descendents of plantation workers brought in during the colonial time.
Luaga is assisted by Diana Palmer, the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for the region. The UN is determined that Bangalla must not become another Congo.
Palmer’s husband, an anthropologist named Chris Standish, turns out to be Chris Walker, who dons his masks again to save Bangalla.
That, dear reader, would be the greatest superhero trilogy ever made.
Wakanda Forever.
There will be posts on the political economy of Wakanda, and economic history of small, multi-ethnic tropical countries.
Further reading
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