KASHMIR VENNEMA
(Earth-71211)

Real Name: Kashmir Vennema

Identity/Class: Extradimensional/Alternate Reality (Earth-71211 ) human technology user

Occupation: Technological weapon purchasing and sales

Group Membership: (Formerly?) Vennema Multiversal

Affiliations: None specified outside of Vennema Multiversal, but she apparently idolized Agent Amazon & Rocket-Lass.

Enemies: Black Widow-616, Black Widow-26111, Captain America-616 (though under instruction from another, it was she that transported them from Earth-616 to Earth-12128)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed, possibly Earth-71211;
    formerly Vennema Multiversal, Earth-17121;
    formerly Earth-71211

First Appearance: Captain America and Black Widow#637 (November, 2012)

Powers/Abilities: Kash does not have actual superhuman powers; however, she is highly intelligent (possibly genius level) and charismatic,    

    She had access to advanced technology from Vennema Multiversal and other sources. She was seen to operate the "slingshot" technology that could transport everything within the perimeter containment field to another dimension; when the perimeter field (sometimes contained within energy pylons) was damaged, she could not control nor record to what dimension the contents were sent.

    She took orders from another Kashmir, and her position within the organization is uncertain.

Height: Approximately 5'8"
Weight: Approximately 135 lbs.
Eyes: Green (some panels look more brown)
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Features: Kashmir-71211 typically wore her hair long and straight, with a part down the middle, and some locks of hair sometimes hanging in front of her face. She also wore a pair of glasses (they look to be red-tinted, but a lot of the lighting (or whatever) in Vennema Multiversal made things look red).

History:
(Captain America and Iron Man#637 (fb) - BTS) - As a child, Kashmir Vennema-71211 dreamed of being a super hero, like Rocket-Lass or Agent Amazon.

(Captain America and Iron Man#637 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Kashmir Vennema-71211 was recruited into Vennema Multiversal, an organization of Kashmir Vennemas across numerous universes, who obtained technology from one reality and sold it to another for profit, heedless of the damage to each reality.

(Captain America and Iron Man#637 (fb) - BTS) - Despite taking the job, Kashmir-71211 never wanted anyone to get hurt because of her actions.

(Captain America and Iron Man#637 (fb) - BTS) - Sometimes, when no one was watching, Kashmir-71211 took naps at her desk.

(Captain America and Iron Man#637) - Having either been monitoring the mission or having received notification of complications, Kashmir-71211 (seated at her desk/computer) reported to another Kashmir (standing and wearing her hair in a pony tail; either her superior, or perhaps just a co-worker willing to make hard decisions) that Kashmir-16211 had been slain (she noted non-specifically that an agent had flatlined) and that her mission was compromised. The other Kashmir told Kashmir-71211 to scrap the mission, and Kashmir-71211 replied that they had lost several of the pylons, and that the perimeter was broken.

    When the other Kashmir wondered if this had been another hit (Black Widow-62111 had been assassinating Kashmirs for Kash-13010, whose family had been killed by Vennema Multiversal when Kash-13010 had tried to get out of the business), Kashmir agreed that it looked like that...she further added, "Guess we should be glad we're not field operatives, huh?" Ignoring this, the other Kashmir asked about the payload (12 superhumans in stasis, selected from a dozen different worlds and indoctrinated into serving whatever cause was programmed into them), and when Kashmir-71211 told her it was "in the wind" (lost, or at risk of being captured by others), the other Kashmir told her to "slingshot it" (transport it to another reality). Kashmir-71211 voiced her concern that they wouldn't have any control over where they were sending the materials because of the damaged pylons, but the other Kashmir more strongly repeated, "Slingshot it." Without another word, Kashmir-71211 complied, though she was thinking how she had never wanted her actions to hurt anyone.

(Captain America and Iron Man#637 - BTS) - Everything within the damaged pylons' perimeter field -- including the stasis containers, Captain America-616, Black Widow-616, Black Widow-62111, and the dead Kashmir-16211 and Secret Empire-616 agents -- was transported another dimension at random (Earth-12128).

(Captain America and Iron Man#637 - BTS) - Vennema Multiversal CEO Kashmir-11712 made it a priority to track down the beings that had been randomly transported, but the nature of the "slingshotting" delayed the discovery for some time; eventually, a pair of Vennema Multiversal agents located them (see comments).

Comments: Created by Cullen Bunn and Francesco Francavilla.

    This Kashmir had some characterization and back history, so I elected to go ahead and give her her own profile. In #638, Kashmir-11712 questioned two Kashmirs about whether they had found them yet (those who had been slingshot). One of them, with her hair in a bun  apologetically told Kashmir-11712 "No...we shunted them into the wastelands."  After some discussion of the length and difficulty of findings someone after such a random transport, Kashmir-11712 told them to make it a priority.
    Sometime thereafter, a pair of Kashmirs summoned Kashmir-11712 to tell her they had located them on Earth-12128. The one (seated) said, "This is where you sent them."
    Either or both pairs of VM agents mentioned above may be Kashmir-71211 and her superior. Same uniforms, and they could have just changed their hair styles and taken off their glasses. Still, it makes it unclear whether they were meant to be the same beings or not.

• Kashmir-71211 wore her hair long and straight, with a part down the middle, and some locks of hair sometimes hanging in front of her face. She also wore a pair of glasses with rectangular rims with rounded corners.
  The other Kashmir working with her wore her long hair in a pony tail, and she wore a more unique pair of glasses with wider rims, taller medially and shorter laterally. Click the link to the left to see them.
• For the two Kashmirs (see link in the first paragraph above) told to make finding the transported beings a priority, neither wore glasses. The one with her hair in a bun did the speaking and told the other one (long straight hair...maybe Kashmir-71211?) to stop complaining when, after Kashmir-11712 left, she said, "God...we can really be a bitch sometimes."
      The "we" could refer to the two Kashmirs, or it could refer to Vennema Multiversal.
      IF these two were the same as the ones who made the transport, I'd think the one in the bun was the one who gave the "slingshot" order, while the other was Kashmir-71211
• For the pair of Kashmirs who located the targets on Earth-12128, both had straight hair and appeared physically indistinguishable (to me) in the limited panels we had to work with; neither wore glasses.
      The "you" could be referring to the other Kashmir in the pair, or it could be referring to Kashmir-11712, meaning her organization as an extension of her.
      IF these two were the same as the ones who made the transport, I would think that the seated one who specifically did the finding was the same as the one who said she wanted to confirm the targets' death (meaning she stood up between panels...not a stretch) --> the Kashmir who gave the "slingshot" order. With Kashmir-71211 having thought to herself she didn't want to hurt anyone, it would seem out of character for her to want to be certain Cap and the others were dead, but she could obviously have been putting on a front to look tough/strong in front of the boss.
• Regardless, it is not clear to me, so I'm leaving that to the comments section for now. More detail on the "priority" and "locating" interactions are included in the Vennema Multiversal profile, specifically at the sites linked to above.

    While geography and real world history aren't really my strong-suits, you can Google "Kashmir" to see it is an Asian region incorporating different territories ruled by India, Pakistan, and China.

    These Kashmir Vennema profiles may be a bit heavy in detail and dialogue, but that's because I'm trying to give each counterpart some distinction in terms of behavior, speech patterns, etc.

    What is up with the choice of her name? I think Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) says it best in Avengers Assemble#21: "What's a cashmere enema?"

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Kashmir Vennema-12116 should be distinguished from her various alternate reality counterparts:

• Kashmir Vennema-11712 - formed Vennema Multiversal in an alternate world, recruited variations of herself to work for her, and engaged in many criminal plots. After many plots failed, she was eventually killed by an alternate Black Widow. Captain America and Black Widow #637
• Kashmir Vennema-12069 - An appointed member of Vennema Multiversal traveled to Earth-616, where she became involved with Archstone and Damocles Research, and then with Stegron and Symbiotes merged with Dire Wraith-tainted Saurian/People skeletons and dinosaur fossils, as well as with Captain America and Hawkeye. Captain America and Hawkeye#629
• Kashmir Vennema-12083 (referred to as Operative 12 by other counterparts) was in the all-girl heavy metal cover band Pretty Apocalypse before joining Vennema Multiversal. She traveled to Earth-616, where she plotted with Batroc’s Brigade, MODOK 2.0, and AIM and battled Iron Man and Captain America. She used the Harvester Protocol, copying Iron Man armor-tech and sending it back to VM, before getting arrested. Captain America and Iron Man#633
• Kashmir Vennema-12116 - recruited by Vennema Multiversal. She traveled to Earth-62111, where she interacted with President Doom, tried to sell him a cube containing and powered by an alien world populated by telepaths, and was killed by Black Widow-21611. Captain America and Black Widow #636

• Kashmir Vennema-13010 - recruited by Vennema Multiversal, but later left the group and had a husband and child, but her family was killed by VM. She liberated brainwashed heroes from them and worked to destroy VM. This Kash teamed with other heroes to see VM destroyed. She later went on to recruit a few other versions of herself to start a new VM. Captain America and Black Widow #640

• Kashmir Vennema-16211 - recruited by Vennema Multiversal, traveled to Earth-616, where she tried selling brainwashed heroes to the Secret Empire, but was killed by Black Widow-21611 instead. Captain America and Black Widow #636

• Kashmir Vennema-60413 - recruited to Vennema Multiversal, later helped return their captive heroes to their own realities when VM was dismantled. She planned to return to her own reality. Captain America and and Black Widow #640

• Kashmir, a Led Zeppelin song from the album Physical Graffiti (not side 1 of Zeppelin IV, as Mike Demone said in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, one of the best movies ever)
      Google it, and play it along while you review this and related profiles

images: (without ads)
Captain America and Black Widow#637, pg. 8, panel 1 (two Kashmirs discussing -16211's demise & compromised mission);
            panel 2 & 7 (Kashmir-71211 face)

Appearances:
Captain America and Black Widow#637 (November, 2012) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Francesco Francavilla (artist), Jake Thomas (assistant editor), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)

Last updated: 05/20/15

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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