Four new Indigenous superheroes come to life at Telus Spark

Four new Indigenous superheroes have entered the multiverse.

Aireus, Aqueous, Embers, and Terra are the Sacred Defenders of the Universe, and their story has come to life through Telus Spark’s Digital Immersion Gallery.

As visitors step into the 3,000-square-foot space, they will be taken on a journey into the digital world of a graphic novel.

Through floor and ceiling projection technology, a 15-minute tale plays out about the Circle of Life and the four sacred elements and directions.

Digital fish on the ground scatter as visitors walk through the gallery, and there are interactive elements on the walls.

The four superheroes are based on the elements of air, water, fire, and earth. In the story, they are on a quest to restore balance to the planet.

The origin story

All superheroes have an origin story. The Sacred Defenders of the Universe originated with co-creators Earl Benallie and Justin Jack Bear.

Benallie is a rainwater harvester by trade and reached out to entrepreneur Jack Bear back in 2018.

After initially connecting on a business level, the two then connected on a personal level and decided to do something creative together; something inspired by their Indigenous culture.

The initial idea was for the Sacred Defenders of the Universe to be a comic book.

Inspired by cartoons they grew up with like Captain Planet and the Planeteers and Transformers, and even their own personalities, Benallie and Jack Bear started coming up with characters.

“Aqueous became the first superhero based on the traditional and modern knowledge and innovation that Earl brings and offers professionally,” Jack Bear says.

“I embraced my water character and I just kept on going with that,” Benallie adds.

Igniting the Spark

Eventually, all four characters were set and the two creators were crowdfunding for the comic book.

Then just over a year ago, they connected with Telus Spark and the project took on a whole new life.

“We thought it was going to be a short comic book to inspire the next generation of people. [It] ended up turning into a comic book that you can walk into. So it's absolutely astonishing,” Jack Bear says.

Benallie credits the collaborative back-and-forth effort of the entire team of creators and producers who helped make it happen.

“We were never in-house. So that’s what makes this a little bit more amazing, that this has the ability to be created just by sheer passion and collective understanding,” he says.

Jack Bear says working with Telus Spark and the production company Supply and Demand was an amazing experience and that he’s blown away by the final product.

“Every time I go in there, I see something different and something raises the hair off my skin every time. It's really thrilling to see,” Benallie adds.

Highlighting Indigenous culture

Sacred Defenders of the Universe presents a fun and interactive opportunity for people to learn about Indigenous culture, something Benallie is proud to have created.

“These superheroes are Indigenously connected to the land. And so when they give their offering of gifts to the Earth, where have you seen that before? That's what I think is going to connect to a lot of Indigenous youth, that there are superheroes with this capacity to give as much as we see,” he says.

Benallie believes the immersive experience will appeal to a wide audience due to its inclusivity, adding Embers was written as a non-binary character.

“That was very important to be inclusive of everybody, and that’s something we learned along the way during this project,” he says.

“Including the story behind the show [The Great Conflict of the Thunderbird and Horned Serpent], the balancing between humility and ego. That was something we learned from the Elders along this project as well, which is very important for us all to learn.”

Benallie is grateful to the Elders and the Blackfoot community for their support and collaboration on Sacred Defenders of the Universe.

“It really was a foundation of sharing knowledge between communities and people and really connecting and creating community around stories,” Jack Bear adds.

Be your own hero

The creators of Sacred Defenders of the Universe hope visitors will find the exhibit educational.

All human beings have the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire inside of them, Jack Bear explains.

“We all have a conflict of ego and humility. So we hope that the message that's received is that we can all be our own hero. We have these elements, and we can use those as a gift to understanding what makes us human,” he adds.

Sacred Defenders of the Universe runs at Telus Spark’s Digital Immersion Gallery for the next six months and is included with regular admission.

If the response is positive, Benallie says their original idea of creating a comic book may still be a possibility.

“I think that really will be up to everybody that comes and sees it and how much support we can get behind this. I mean, already with the resources we have, I don't see why that could not happen,” he says.