Black Panther (vol. 3) #12
Enemy of the State: Conclusion
After seizing the Wakandan throne, Achebe enacted his master plan by trying to destroy the entire nation. Responding to this threat was the T’Challa the Black Panther, deposed ruler of Wakanda. With his allies Everett Ross, Zuri, Francis Tork, the Dora Milaje and the Hatut Zeraze, they have managed to shut down Achebe’s plans.[1]
In the aftermath of the battle, Everett Ross recounts what happened. However, he starts his story a few years earlier. At the time, T’Challa’s step-mother Ramonda had been kidnapped and was held as a prisoner of Anton Pretorius. For years she was believed to be dead until T’Challa learned she was still alive, tracked her down, and rescued her.[2] She had lived in Wakanda ever since and had a strong bond with T’Challa even if the people of Wakanda didn’t full accept her due to her South African heritage.
Skipping ahead, Everett then talks about Hunter, a white child who survived a plane crash in Wakanda that was adopted by king T’Chaka. Hunter formed a strong bond with both of his adopted parents. He later trained to become the White Wolf, leader of the royal assassin squad the Hatut Zeraze. However, not long after that T’Chaka was killed defending Wakanda from Ulysses Klaw, a tragedy that fell under his watch. Orphaned once more, Hunter took the loss pretty hard and blamed it on T’Challa the new king, especially when the Hatut Zeraze were exiled by the new king.[3]
With this bit of backstory out of the way, Everett explains what happened after Achebe was seemingly defeated. Someone wearing a Black Panther costume emerged from the palace and was greeted by Captain America. Cap was in the area on another mission and had come back to assist T’Challa with the liberation of his country.[4] However, Steve Rogers quickly realizes that he is not talking to the Black Panther, but an impostor. Soon he and NYPD’s Francis Tork unmask the impostor and discover that it is Achebe in disguise. The mad man tells the two heroes that he left T’Challa in the palace in one of his death traps. This forces the two men to head into the palace allowing Achebe to escape.
Inside, T’Challa and his ally Everett Ross have been placed in a giant prize grabber machine. They are trapped with a number of explosives all set to go off at different times. Worse, the bottom of the machine is flooded with acid and T’Challa has been left completely nude with none of his weapons to gadgets to get them out. When Captain America and Tork arrive, T’Challa gets them to use the claw inside the machine to grab one of the explosive filled capsules. As it turns out, the claws fingers are razor sharp and another layer to the trap. With no other choice, T’Challa unscrews one of the capsules, disarms the bomb, and climbs inside with Everett. Everett is very uncomfortable being in such a confined space with a nude man, helps push the capsule to the exit slot. Along the way, he tries to convince T’Challa to rescind the declaration of war he made against the United States. However, T’Challa points out that this is neither the time nor the place.[5]
Once they are out of the trap, they are ambushed by the White Wolf, who has discovered that Ramonda was apparently murdered by Achebe. With nothing left to be loyal to, Hunter has decided to kill T’Challa. With the bombs set to go off any moment, T’Challa quickly ducks into another room to get a spare Black Panther costume he has stashed away. As everyone else evacuate the palace, the Black Panther and White Wolf fight one another as the bombs start going off. Fearing for T’Challa’s life, Everett decides to turn back and try and help any way he can. By this point, Hunter has T’Challa pinned to a wall and will kill him unless the Black Panther orders him to stand down. However, T’Challa refuses, saying that he does not want to rule the type of Wakanda that Hunter seeks. That’s when Hunter is ambushed by Everett. However, the White Wolf is much stronger than the spindly government paper pusher and easily shakes him off. But, before Hunter can run Everett through he suddenly collapses to the floor thanks to a number of nerve pinches that T’Challa delivered when they were fighting earlier. With the bombs all going off now, the Black Panther leads Everett back outside to safety, confident that the White Wolf will find his own way out as well.[6]
After the battle is over and a victory celebration is held, the Black Panther recovers the body of Ramonda. As it turns out, she wasn’t dead after all, but put in a death like state by a suspension cell. As it turns out, Ramonda never really betrayed T’Challa by siding with Achebe. She had done so under the king’s order so that they could figure out what the mad man was ultimately up to.[7]
This concludes Everett’s tale, which he has been telling to a group of penguins from his new post at an observation outpost in Iceland. His punishment for not being able to convince T’Challa to rescind his declaration of war. However, moments later Zuri and the Dora Milaje arrive in a ship. Zuri explains that T’Challa spoke with the State Department and had Everett reinstated as his American liaison. When offered the opportunity, Ross accepts it without a second thought.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Captain America, Achebe, White Wolf, Zuri, Nakia, Okoye, Romanda, Francis Tork
Continuity Notes
Achebe’s grand scheme took place over the last 12 issues. Where were you?
For more on Ramonda’s imprisonment at the hands of Anton Pretorius, see Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 and Black Panther: Panther’s Prey #1.
Hunter’s origin was told in Black Panther (vol. 3) #10. The death of T’Chaka was originally told in Fantastic Four #53. As explained in Black Panther (vol. 3) #4, T’Challa did not like the function of the Hatut Zeraze and ordered them into exile once he took command of the throne.
Captain America was in Wakanda to prevent a Vibranium cancer from reaching the Wakandan Vibranium Mound, which would have caused an explosion significant to destroy the entire world. See Captain America (vol. 3) #20-23.
Over the course of Black Panther (vol. 3) #9-10, T’Challa discovered that the United States backed Achebe’s coup of Wakanda and went to the UN to declare it as an act of war. As seen in issues #6-8, the President of the United States had charged Everett with convincing T’Challa to rescind this declaration or else he would be shipped off to Iceland.
Hunter will absolutely survive this explosion, turning up again in Black Panther (vol. 3) #25.
Ramonda appeared to be in league with Achebe in Black Panther (vol. 3) #5. Later, in issue #10, Achebe seemingly beat her to death in order to get access to the access codes for Wakanda’s defenses.
Topical References
Before being unmasked the Black Panther impostor (Achebe) claims to be Wesley Snipes and Michael Jackson. Both of these should be considered topical references.
Wesley Snipes was a prominent Black actor at the time this story was originally published. As of this writing (December, 2022) Snipes is in his 60s.
Michael Jackson is a musician who sang nearly his entire life. His works were so popular he was frequently referred to as the “King of Pop”. That said, Jackson has been dead since 2009.
The caption used when Everett is trapped in a capsule with naked T’Challa reads “Excuse me, but is that Aqua Velva?” Aqua Velva is an after shave lotion. One of its old advertising campaigns involved people being close enough to smell someone’s after shave. This should be topical as Aqua Velva is a real world product.
Errors
Everett is depicted talking to penguins at his new job in Iceland. However, penguins are only found in Antarctica and sometimes in the southern regions of South America, Australia and its surrounding islands. They couldn’t survive in the northern regions due to there being land predators on top of sea predators. One could assume that Everett — who is living in isolation — is hallucinating the animals.
