But the series’s links to India go beyond its commercial success. Earlier in 2023, another successful Spider-Man rendition, the animated film Across the Spider-Verse, introduced a previously unknown character to global audiences in the form of Pavitr Prabhakar, adapted from the comic issues titled Spider-Man: India.
Spider-Man is a property of the US-based Marvel Comics, but the Indian variant of the wall-crawler was the brainchild of the Indian publisher Gotham Entertainment Group in 2004. Sharad Devarajan, the ex-CEO of Gotham Entertainment and current CEO of Graphic India, told The Indian Express that he and fellow creators Jeevan J Kang and Suresh Seetharaman pitched the concept and illustrations to Marvel.
Spider-Man creator Stan Lee with Sharad Devarajan. (Credit: Sharad Devarajan)
“Fortunately, the leaders of Marvel’s publishing and creative team at the time saw the value and creativity in exploring this… It is one thing to translate existing US comics, but this was one of the first “trans-creations,” where we actually reinvented the origin of a character so that Spider-Man was an Indian boy growing up in Mumbai, dealing with local problems,” he said.
The origins of an Indian Spider-Man, however, are more patchwork in nature, even rumoured to trace back to a hushed meeting between filmmaking legend Satyajit Ray and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.
A rumour unravelled
For years, a widespread internet rumour said that Ray once travelled to New York to meet with Marvel’s Stan Lee.
Apparently, Ray was a huge Spider-Man fan, and the two discussed the possibility of an Indian Peter Parker. Ray walked away, encouraged to conceptualise the character, but nothing ever materialised.
While Devarajan said he had not heard these rumours confirmed, including in his interactions with Marvel Comics, they made the rounds after the release of their Spider-Man: India comic. The history of the Indian Spider-Man, however, is directly linked to Prabhakar and his co-creators, who created the character and his story.
Traditionally, Marvel (behind characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and The Avengers) and DC Comics (creators of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) have been the two major rivals in the superhero comic genre. Devarajan said he grew up in the US and read both their stories, alongside those of Indian heroes and gods in Amar Chitra Katha, which presented a similar comic-like format.
“I started Gotham comics with my co-founder, Suresh, first securing the publishing licenses from DC Comics for Superman, Batman and MAD Magazine, and then expanding to take on Marvel’s regional publishing rights,” Devarajan said. “While there has since been a multiverse of great Spider-Man reimaginings, back in 2004, reimagining an icon like Spider-Man was still a very rare occurrence, and may have been a first of its kind in the industry,” he said.
Tapping into the Indian market
Before Gotham’s establishment in 1997, there weren’t too many options for accessing Western comics in the Indian market. A reader could either source limited, imported print copies available at select bookstores or trawl through second-hand stores in the hopes of finding a legible print. Neither was sustainable, and posed a major barrier to entry.
“We launched the first mass market comic editions in English and local languages, affordably priced between Rs 10 and 15, and released millions of issues across the country”, Devarajan said. This pricing strategy likely helped prove demand beyond simply offering a wider net for distribution.
“That experience gave us something no market research could — a direct relationship with a generation of Indian readers who were falling in love with these characters. We could see they did not just want to read these stories, they wanted to see themselves in them,” he added.
A dhoti-wearing Spider-Man
By the early 2000s, Gotham Entertainment had been around long enough to break new ground, and Marvel executives shared that belief with them.
With the creation of an Indian Spider-Man, however, came its own unique set of challenges. Devarajan said, “The hardest part was actually the thing most people would consider the simplest — making Pavitr an outcast. In the West, Peter Parker is mocked for studying too hard, but in India, it is an admirable trait, so that wouldn’t have worked”.
The creators instead chose to play on a larger social allegory and made Pavitr Prabhakar a village boy who was in Mumbai on a scholarship. Feeling out of touch with the fast-paced lifestyle of the city elite, he represents values such as simplicity. “That was reflective of what we saw in 2004, when India’s big cities seemed to be moving at light speed while much of rural India felt completely separated”, Devarajan said. In that, he became an Indian boy dealing with everyday challenges that the reader connected with.
Prabhakar’s very powers also underwent a cultural shift. Bypassing the spider bite that is the source of Peter Parker’s transformation, the creators attributed his supernatural awakening to an ancient yogi whom he encounters while running from his bullies.
“The western origin of the hero is based in science and radiation. This version lends its protagonist the ability to fight evil through mystical means and by unlocking a deeper connection to the interconnected universe,” Devarajan said.
Another eye-catching detail was the costume. Pavitr Prabhakar is mostly seen sporting a red and blue dhoti, with mojari shoes and solid gold bangles on his wrist. It was meant to retain Spider-Man’s unique aesthetic while lending him a distinctly Indian sense of style.
“We wanted Indian kids to imagine Spider-Man swinging from the Gateway of India, bouncing off rickshaws, celebrating Diwali with his Aunt Maya. Western audiences had watched Spider-Man swing from skyscrapers for decades — for the first time, Indian readers could see this hero as a local one,” Devarajan said.
Alongside these adaptations, the creators strived to “remain true to the underlying core of Spider-Man,” which was epitomised by Stan Lee’s saying, “With great power comes great responsibility”, Devarajan said.
A blueprint for cultural products
More than two decades after the Indian Spider-Man, the process of globalising local cultural works has gathered pace in several parts of the world, as the US entertainment industry has also sought to incorporate greater diversity.
Devarajan said the experience helped his future work and series, which has included modern adaptations of Indian classics like the stories of Hanuman and Karna. “At my current company, Graphic India, our mission has been to help transform the perception of India in animation and comics from ‘outsourcer’ to ‘the source’.” This is an approach that has also helped “The success of Japanese anime, and of K-dramas and K-pop,” he said.
“The key is not imitating what works elsewhere, but tapping into what makes Indian storytelling unique, our mythologies, our philosophies, our aesthetics, and bringing them through animation and comics in ways that stay true to our traditions and remain open to audiences anywhere,” Devarajan said.
An Indian version of Spider-Man was created in 2004, with approval from Marvel Comics. While retaining the signature red and blue, his costume included a dhoti. (Credit: Sharad Devarajan) 
Spider-Man creator Stan Lee with Sharad Devarajan. (Credit: Sharad Devarajan)
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