From Ancient India to Avengers: Yogic Superhero Landing

It's baffling how the Subrahmanya (pure cosmos) is also a god of war, the Skanda (leap to attack)!

Turns out, aligning yourself with the macrocosm to transcend (Yoga) calls for a great deal of physicality and vitality of mind (bridging).

And moviemakers love that!

Kartik is adored for his adorable, rosy face (Arumukha). He is called Muruga (handsome) and Kumara (youthful). In Northwest India, he is venerated as Sanat Kumara, emphasizing his eternally youthful and ascetic nature.

He is the invincible wielder of the Devi-spear (Shaktivel) and the intimidating long-mace (Dandapani).

He is also the master of Mars -the red celestial orb - from which come martial arts. 

So why is the ascetic a warrior?

When you take up physical activity, you see that “physical” is not just “physical”. Be it exercise, a fight, trek, running, yoga, dance, carrying heavy things, or games - you understand you need heart to keep up the physical aspects. And when you take up mental activities - to learn or work - you still need the willpower. 

Yoga and martial arts - to which Kartik has contributed greatly - bridge these aspects to make transcendence easier.

Ascetic, Scholar, Warrior, Star-Maker!

From Skanda comes the Skandasana, a forward charging lunge. 

Ever notice that super dramatic, deep lunge all the action heroes do? You know, the one they strike before charging forward or after they’ve just crash-landed? Those epic poses come from the Yoga stance, Skandasana. Sometimes, stunt directors tailor them with a touch of Ashwa Sanchalana (equestrian), Anjaneyasana (low lunge) or Virabhadrasana (warrior pose).  

Apparently, stunt-makers find inspiration in tradition. From Kalari’s Ashta Vadivu (8 basic fighting poses) to the simplified Zenkutsu-dachi in Karate, all martial art forms involve combinations and variations of these poses. 

Yoga and traditional Martial Arts like Kalari have a lot in common. 

You might remember one variation of the Skandasana from the ‘Black Widow fighting pose’ running gag. It's a go-to for many superheroes, famously linked to the "Black Widow fighting pose" gag. 

It’s everywhere in movies because it instantly screams power. Your hero "I just arrived in style" and "I’m ready!"

Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, and Neo have sported variants of the pose. The villain Angel Dust loves the pose too.

Let's look at them based on how much they stick to the rules of a proper yoga or martial stance:

1. The Cultural Original: Sometimes, the pose is used because it has to be. This happens in films linked to Hindu mythology, especially those featuring the deity Skanda/Murugan (like in Mohanlal’s Pulimurugan). The stance is a direct shout-out to ancient images. The geometric alignment is more accurate, in line with norms.

2. The Practical Power Stance: This is when the lunge is used for a truly practical reason within the action. Think of Doctor Strange spell-casting or a hero planting their feet to absorb a massive shockwave. The pose gives them a genuinely stable base to work from.

3. The Theatrical "Cool" Pose: The favored “superhero landing" that everyone knows. It looks amazing—one knee down, one hand on the ground—but it’s completely impractical. 

Remember that scene from Black Widow where Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova mocks her sister Natasha Romanoff for overusing the move? It perfectly shows the problem.

The yoga version is all about internal strength and alignment. The movie version ditches all that logic for pure, high-impact spectacle. It’s wobbly, unbalanced, and would probably send you straight to the ER in real life. 

So, why do filmmakers keep going back to this move? It's partly a Cultural Callback, especially in certain regions (like Kantara and Pulimurugan). It's partly because it's just the Best Shape for Stability visually. It presents a grounded, powerful look—a visual shorthand for courage and physical prowess. Ultimately, the movie pose is a fantastic shortcut for telling the audience, "This character is a total badass," even if the pose itself is impractical.

At the End of the Eon-Long Day…

The persistent Skanda stance from old Shad-Padai art to today's superhero landings is not random, nor how the body naturally moves. It's a strong sign that the ascetic’s spiritual path and the warrior paths are intertwined. 

Several spiritual teachers point up that a spiritual practitioner is a Veera, a warrior who has turned his innards into a battlefield to kill the Asuras within himself. Skanda imparted this wisdom eons back. 

His deep, grounded lunge, Skandasana, stages a cosmic geometry. It demands you be perfectly still but also super energized. It sums up what an ascetic warrior is all about: true spiritual victory is not about running away from the world, but about really planting yourself firmly and mastering your own being. 

All spiritual practice hopes to turn your body into a steady, powerful container that can truly hold all of the divine's power!