Ali

ALI

Real Name: Ali (last name unrevealed)

Class: Demigod

Occupation: Protector of Earth, former general store employee

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Bradford, England

First Appearance: Vimanarama #1 (April, 2005)

Powers: Ali possessed superhuman strength, the power of flight, and rode in a flying vimana that could travel through space.

History: (Vimanarama #1) - Ali worked at his parents’ general store, the Kandivali Gulley. His father was disappointed that he was a depressed layabout with little direction, but still arranged a marriage for him with Sofia, the daughter of an accountant from Southampton. One day an enormous hole opened in the general store while Ali’s brother Omar was working in the backroom. Ali pulled him to safety, and after Omar was sent to the hospital Ali’s father talked to the press, blaming the city council for the hole in his store. Ali’s sister-in-law went to the airport to pick up Sofia, asking Ali’s father to watch after her son Imran, and Ali went to visit his brother in the hospital. Omar checked himself out of the hospital despite having a head injury, telling his attending nurse he had a store to run. Ali said he was having existential doubts, he worried that Sofia would be ugly or boring, and since everything is pre-ordained by god, that would mean god hated him, and he’d made the decision to hang himself if that was the case. Omar collapsed and the nurse took him back to his room, and advised Ali he should probably be under hospital observation as well. When Ali returned home he learned his father let Imran wander off, and he’d crawled into the general store’s hole. Ali went looking for him, and met the gorgeous Sofia, who already had some clues. They found Vedic buildings under the store and an ancient elevator leading to a vast, ancient city. A flying cube approached them, and a paniced Ali hit it with a hammer, damaging it. Demonic voices directed Imran to pull a series of levers that freed the fire born, a race of fossil devils imprisoned for 6,000 years. The Vimanazz and their leader Ull-Shattan knew the world was no longer a world of wonders and heroes created by Rama, but ruled by humans, and left to exterminate humanity and take the world for their own. They flew off in their vimanas, and Ali finally noticed how beautiful Sofia was, telling her he was glad she wasn’t ugly. She told him he was shallow, and since they might have ushered in the end of the world they had more pressing matters to deal with. The cube was a security device, and couldn’t prevent the fire born’s escape, but it told Sofia and Ali to use a sculpture of a lotus to summon the Ultrahadeen, who’d imprisoned the fire born millennia ago. Prince Ben Rama of the Ultrahadeen greeted them, and he too sensed Rama’s world was gone, and wondered if anything of Rama’s world remained until he glanced at Sofia. Sofia said she’d dreamed of him, and Ben Rama said her dreams were of their life together, and he’d come to set the world right. Ali muttered that something like this could only happen to a guy like him.

(Vimanarama #2, 3) - The fire born razed London, and Ull-Shattan captured Parliament, executing several members, saying that the fire born had no mercy for the weak. Ull-Shattan sensed the pollution and impurities on Earth, and was disgusted at what humanity let happen to the planet. He sent his underling Ull-Blizz to lead an army to continue the destruction the the UK and abroad. Ull-Shattan and several fire born traveled to drowned Atlantis to reclaim their black vimanas and doomsday weapons to eradicate humanity. Ali told his father what had happened, and he was incredulous. He said it was the end of the world and their world as well because the hole under his shop had swallowed up the entire family business. Prince Ben Rama assured everyone he would make their world whole again, while the rest of the Ultrahjadeen echoed the fire born’s sentiments about how humanity had neglected the planet to an absurd degree. Ben Rama flew off with Sofia, saying it was for her safety, as she tried to object. Rama told her how her ancestor and he were lovers, and he wanted to resume that love story with her. He promised to make her immortal and a demigod with the contents of a small vial, but Sofia said she had absolutely no interest in that. Ali and his father went to get Omar from the hospital, reasoning that if it was the end of the world they should all be together. Omar said he had a severe concussion but understood perfectly what had happened. He said Ali had been given power and responsibility, but chose not to live up to it, as always, and started choking him. One of the Ultrahadeen calmed Omar down, saying Ali could end up saving the world, and Ali had no idea what she was talking about. The Ultrahadeen launched a prayer missile at London, destroying Ull-Blizz and his armies, but leaving London itself and its’ inhabitants untouched. Ali tried to profess his love to Sofia, but she couldn’t hear him over the roar of the missile. She told him that Ben Rama was delusional about being with her, but Ali just wandered off. Sofia rejected Ben Rama, and, needing true love to power him, he fell to the ground, helpless. A leaf grazed his chin and he felt pain for the first time in his life. The Ultrahdeen debated just leaving and giving up on Earth and humanity, but Ben Rama pleaded humanity’s case. Sofia rushed back to Ali’s home, where she found he’d hung himself. Ali’s spirit saw Sofia and his family cut him down from the ceiling, and he immediately regretted suiciding, but found himself in a psychedelic landscape with the sense that he was on a mission. Sofia told Ali she loved him, and gave him mouth-to-mouth, while Ali was guided by angels, Omar, who was in a coma, and his father, who’d had a heart attack. The fire born retrieved their weapons from Atlantis and prepared to destroy humanity, while Harmoon of the Ultrahadeen prepared the Horn of Jabreel to cast final judgment on the fire born. Ben Rama wanted one last look at Sofia, and left behind the immortality elixir. Omar and Ali’s dad recovered, and Sofia found the elixir, and poured it down Ali’s throat, reviving him with the powers of a demigod. Ben Rama joined his power to Ali to power the Horn, eradicating Ull-Shattan and the fire born. Before the Ultrahadeen left Earth they raised the seven cities, and gave humanity the gift of their wonders and technology, including the vimanas. Ali, with Sofia by his side, used his demigod powers to act as Earth’s newest protector.

Comments: Created by Grant Morrison & Philip Bond.