ABSTRACT
From the mid-1980s, stories about border and separatist threats to India's sovereignty and safety began to manifest themselves in superhero comics. While national discourse was implicit in earlier adventure comics, the main arrow of the action was against criminals in general. As 'in/exclusive' figures, superheroes stand for an ideal, an anthropomorphised super-state that is a sublime version of the nation-state. In virtually all superhero comics, the nation as sanctioned truth – whether it be in the form of an ideal, symbol or personified as individuals or collectives – is shown as perpetually under attack. Superheroes come into their element as national exemplars par excellence when they fight real-life concerns represented by the foreigner and/or the atankvadi, translated as insurgent or terrorist. Throughout the superhero comics, concepts about the superhero as emblematic of good citizenship may vary. Even when considering the same superhero, sanctioned conduct might change with time.
