Draft:Kahhori

Kahhori is a character voiced by Devery Jacobs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise. Depicted as a young Mowhawk woman, Kahhori gains superhuman powers after falling into a lake imbued with the powers of an Infinity Stone. She uses her powers to free her land from Queen Isabella and her Conquistadores. She later uses her powers to fight Doctor Strange Supreme alongside Captain Carter.

She first appeared in the second season of the Disney+ animated series What If...?.

Concept and creation
In March 2023, Marvel Studios officially revealed the character Kahhori on their website, prior to the release of the second season of What If...?. She was announced to appear in an episode for the upcoming season, which focused on the sovereign Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Mohawk people. The director of the show, Bryan Andrews noted that when working on the first season, one of his first ideas was doing a First Nations centred episode which asked the question, "What if colonization failed because there were super beings already there?".

Writer Ryan Little noted that the episode for which Kahhori was set to appear in, was in works for over four years. Little stated that he and Andrew spent the time "working with historical and language experts from Kanien'kehá:ka, the Mohawk Nation, to craft the episode". He also noted that the Kanien'kehá:ka worked with them to bring the story to life. He stated, They collaborated with us on every layer of the story from the characters' names, personalities and costumes to the look of the civilization and the surrounding wilderness to make every facet of this episode the most accurate depiction possible.

Mohawk historian Doug George-Kanentiio worked as a cultural advisor and provided history of the Akwesasne region to Little, stating the episode would be a "remarkable story from a Native-Mohawk perspective which is truly unique and historical, and will give the viewers a new, challenging and entertaining perspective on this land's first peoples".

Characterization
"Kahhori" is a real Wolf Clan name meaning "she stirs the forest or is someone who motivates those around her". Voiced by Canadian-Mohawk actress Devery Jacobs, Kahhori is an original character and did not appear in the mainstream Marvel Comics continuity set in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616). On her character, Jacobs noted that "[Kahhori] is literally why I got into this industry, and why I wanted to become a storyteller" and added that "It does something to you, when you see somebody from your community being able to rewrite history and can save the world, and save their community, and their culture. That was hugely empowering".

From an alternate universe within the Multiverse, Kahhori first gains superhuman powers after falling into a lake which contains the energy of the Tesseract which had fallen to earth during a battle between Odin and Surtur. She is transported to an alternate realm coined the "Sky World" which was compared to the ancestral plane in Black Panther (2018). Kahhori's powers were compared to Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers' who also gained her abilities from the Tesseract. However, CBR writer Renaldo Matadeen felt that she was different from Danvers who "could fly through space and shoot out energy blasts" while Kahhori was "a veritable god as she embarks on a crusade for justice". Screen Rant writer Kai Young added that Kahhori's powers and storyline made her "one of the most significant original MCU characters". Other powers she has includes the ability to teleport, levitate extremely heavy objects and create strong force shields.

Reception
Inverse writer Dais Johnston praised the Indigenous representation Kahhori symbolised for the MCU stating that she felt the "franchise needs some fresh blood". She added that while Kahhori "may not exist in the main timeline at this point, she's broken new ground for the MCU". Collider writer Kelcie Mattson praised Kahhori's inclusion in What If...? feeling that she was the best part of the season. The Mary Sue writer Rachel Ulatowski also praised Kahhori's representation as an Indigenous superhero, stating that "Jacobs was an excellent choice to voice Kahhori" and stated that the show did not "sugarcoat colonization [which] makes Kahhori a truly powerful and inspiring hero".