Amira Khan, 17, grew up in a traditional Pakistani household in London. Her mother demands her obedience and, eventually, her hand for a pre-arranged marriage with another Pakistani.

Torn between two cultures, Khan spends her time exploring the city. She knows London like the back of her hand, even the obscure corners she’s never visited. She can map locations she’s never seen and get there quickly, and safely.

Her mother chocked up Khan’s ability to education. But Dr. Ramzi Razem, a psychologist, historian and UNESCO official, recognized Khan’s intuition as supernatural. Because Khan was wearing a gem around her neck—one of 99 associated with stories of men who seemed to possess mythical powers.

It’s his job to convince Khan to use her power to change the course of human civilization, to join THE 99—a group of eclectic superheroes created by Dr. Razem’s real-life counterpart: Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa.

The Kuwait-based entrepreneur has created a new league of international superheroes of the likes the Islamic world has never known, each one inspired by the 99 traits of Allah to fight evil and injustice.

Khan is Hadya — The Guide.

“The mission of THE 99 has always been a social entrepreneurial one,” said Al-Mutawa in a post he wrote for TakePart on Tuesday. “It has been about doing well by doing good. It has been about offering hope and alternative role models to a region plagued with self-styled Messiahs waging wars in the name of religion.”

The comics are already available in 20 countries and eight languages, including Saudi Arabia, where the series was originally banned.

“They were worried my comics would carry the wrong message,” Al-Mutawa told Forbes India.

An Islamic bank, where scholars vet investments on its religious compliance, eventually funded Al-Mutawa’s Teshkeel Comics company and gave it the credibility it needed to break through Muslim countries.

In the west, Teshkeel Comics is pairing up with Time Warner. Batman and Superman are slated to collaborate with THE 99 to save the world.

Despite the series’ Islamic roots, Al-Mutawa maintains that the story plot isn’t religious, and even if the characters are, you won’t find them practicing on THE 99’s pages.

THE 99 begins in the 13th century when Mongols invaded Baghdad and destroyed a library that housed all the wisdom from that part of the world. Knowledge keepers were able to transfer that wisdom to 99 gemstones—“noors”—that were later scattered across the world.

As such, THE 99 has heroes across the world, from the Philippines to the U.S.

THE 99 sells one million copies annually, and the series is being turned into an animated film. Nestle wants the characters on its bottled water sold in West Asia, according to an article in Forbes India. Forbes has listed THE 99 as one of the “Top 20 Trends” worldwide.

Like the fictional Dr. Razem, Dr. Al-Mutawa, has a PhD in clinical psychology, and UNESCO presented him with the prize for children’s literature for his first book, since expanded into a series.

Save Colorist Monica Kubina from Tehran, the rest of THE 99 team hails from Marvel and DC Comics: writer Fabian Nicieza is best known for his work on top-selling titles like X-Men, X-Force, and New Thunderbolts; Dan Panosian started his career drawing for Spider-Man, Hulk and Captain America; John McCrea won the Eisner award in 1999 for his work on Hitman.

Dr. Al-Mutawa will introduce THE 99 concept and show a preview of the new animation at the Concert for Pakistan on Sept. 12 at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The only thing that broke the Catholic Church’s grip on Europe after having led it into the dark ages and terrible wars was the Renaissance,” Al-Mutawa said. “It was Arts and Culture that went head to head with fundamentalism and ultimately won. It was the ability of giving interpretation of everything, including religion, back to the people. The stage has been set for an Islamic Renaissance. The time is now.”