Wednesday, July 15, 2026

"Hair."

This probably isn't supported anywhere, but I'm using Pavitr as a bit more of a foil: I don't think he's quite as wholesome or innocent as he might present himself, he might be the Eddie Haskell-type. If you're too young to remember Leave It to Beaver, or a great Toyfare character assassination of Biggs Darklighter; he's the shifty, rotten kid-next-door who sucks up to parents and authority figures to maintain a butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth facade. That and he's aggressively competitive with comparable Spider-Men, like Miles. Any Spiders older, Pavitr probably pretends to listen but mocks them behind their backs as out-of-touch geezers. I bet a lot of Spider-Women see through him, though.

That's like maybe the most recent Miles Morales Spider-Man figure, and he feels short? Especially next to somebody we'll see later... 

 And, something I'm surprised I don't have an answer for right away: where did Nightcrawler learn to fence? Who taught him? Not every little detail needs to be explained with a ton of backstory, or as often used in comics, continuity patches: I'm pretty sure the Swordsman or Baron Zemo didn't teach Kurt. (If you remember Solo Avengers, they backfilled the new character Trickshot as Clint Barton's trainer before he was Hawkeye; because somebody thought it was suspect that the Swordsman trained Clint in archery.) But, he got pretty good if he just learned to fence from watching old pirate movies and waving sticks around in the woods. I think Kurt probably learned somewhat more formally in the circus; we'll leave it at that.

Oh, and this is annoying: I had this in my head for some time, because the "Saracen pig! Spartan dog! Turkish taffy!" is a Chris Claremont/Alan Davis bit from Excalibur #14, "Too Many Heroes,", but that's riffing on a bit from...ugh...Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? Ick!  

3 comments:

Mr. Morbid said...

Personally I prefer the original Indian Spidey bc “oh brother, this guy STINKS!” (SpongeBob reference)
I find it very hard to root for or have any interest in douchebags like this, especially young people with that attitude. Definitely hope he gets his comeuppance soon.

Excalibur# 14 is probably my favorite issue for many reasons, 1st issue of Excalibur I ever bought, was probably the first comic I ever bought while I visited the states before moving here a couple years later. Great multiverse spoof. Just so much funny material and moments.

While it doesn’t necessarily need an origin story, at least a name or two/source could be casually mentioned at the very least without turning it into a big deal. I’m guessing Kurt’s natural talents & agility & tail helped make him have a natural propensity for being a great swordsman.

H said...

Yeah, I get the feeling Pavitr writes a lot of checks his body can’t cash. Even without much training, Miles could kick his ass handily.

I never really thought about how Kurt got his skills. I mean, he probably couldn’t bamf real well the first time either but you’re probably right about someone in the circus teaching him. Circus people have lots of downtime and comics are always making them seem like one big found-family unit, so he could have practiced with somebody whose act included swords.

Mr. Morbid said...

Probably, especially considering circus act likely travelled all across Europe, allowing him to pick the brains of any master swordsman who’d teach him or who he could observe from a distance and learn by watching & mimicking.