Black Panther (vol. 3) #7
Caged
Everett Ross is the US liaison for T’Challa, aka the Black Panther, during his time in the United States. He has been called into the office of the President of the United States to give a debriefing on what recently happened in New York City. This has resulted in Everett being chased across the White House by the President who is threatening to beat him with a hockey stick. As he is being chased by the Commander-in-Chief, Everett explains what happened to his boss Nikki Adams.
He last left off explaining how the White House had recently thrown a reception to for the Wakandan king. Things got hairy when a mass of African-Americans gathered outside the hotel to hear from T’Challa. Changing into the Black Panther to meet with the people, T’Challa and Everett were captured by Kraven the Hunter.[1]
The pair were then brought to an abandoned apartment building in Brookyln. There, they discovered that Kraven was hired by Manuel Ramos, a drug dealer that T’Challa had previously given a hard time.[2] With T’Challa shackled to the floor and Everett tied up, Ramos and his crew begin dousing the room with gasoline so they can burn the pair alive. The entire time, the Black Panther is not intimidated and gives Ramos and his goons plenty of opportunities to surrender. Manuel scoffs at this and lights the place on fire. Before they go, he and his gang shoot T’Challa at point blank range with automatic weapons. Although they unload all their ammunition, it does nothing to harm the Black Panther thanks to the Vibranium weave of his costume. Ramos and his gang then fled as the room began turning into an inferno. In panic mode the entire time, Everett pleaded with T’Challa to rescue them. The Panther was struggling against the metal shackles that kept him pinned to the floor. Suddenly, an image from his childhood flashed before his eyes: His father’s assassins the Hatut Zeraze torturing a prisoner. This angers T’Challa sufficiently that he is able to rip the shackles off from the burning floor they are bolted onto.
Outside, Manuel Ramos and his thugs are coming out of the burning building where they are confronted by Zuri, T’Challa’s bodyguard. That’s when the Panther leaps out of a window in the burning building with Everett in hand. He lands safely on the roof of a car thanks to the Vibranium soles of his boots absorbing the impact of the fall. Ramos and his goons try to flee the scene, but are taken down by the two members of T’Challa’s Dora Milaje, Nakia and Okoye. Confronting Manuel, the Black Panther pressures him to reveal who gave his gang the money to hire Kraven the Hunter. Once he gets the information, he runs up the side of a building to get to the rooftops, leaving a frustrated Everett Ross behind.
As T’Challa predicted in the fire, the person who funded Manuel’s revenge scheme was none other than Hunter, the White Wolf of the exiled Hatut Zeraze.[3] Hunter doesn’t deny it and explains that he orchestrated the whole thing to prove to T’Challa that there is still a need for the Hatut Zeraze, a group of Wakandan assassins that have been in exile since T’Challa took the throne. Hunter is convinced that it will take his team to help the Black Panther remove Achebe — a madman who has seized control of Wakanda — once and for all.[4] Having said what he needed to say, Hunter warns T’Challa that the clock is ticking and he needs to make up his mind before it is too late. As he leaves his apartment, Hunter points to a framed photo of T’Challa’s former fiancée, Monica Lynn, and asks if he’s contacted her recently.[5] As T’Challa leaves the apartment, he is ambushed by Kraven the Hunter who has come to finish the job he was hired to do.[6]
Meanwhile, Zuri is racing to his king in a limo with Everett and the Dora Milaje in the back seat. Everett finds himself very uncomfortable watching the two women change in front of him like he wasn’t there. Nakia and Okoye pay him no mind because the two are talking each other in Huasa about a recent development with their king. After being kissed by T’Challa, Nakia believes that the king loves her and only her. Okoye, however, doesn’t believe this reminding Nakia that while the Dora Milaje was traditionally supposed to be wives in training for the king, the position is entirely ceremonial now. This reminder falls on deaf ears as Nakia vows to prove that the king loves her.
It’s by this time, Everett’s recounting of events is interrupted when the President finally catches him. The Commander-in-Chief is furious about a recent statement made by T’Challa and demands that Everett get him to rescind it. If he fails in this regard, the President vows to have Everett reassigned to a position in Iceland.[7] Nikki asks if Everett can pull it off, but he’s not confident when he can because of what went down with the Avengers.
Continuing his story, Everett talks about how the battle between the Black Panther and Kraven the Hunter was a fierce one. Kraven, wanting to learn what the Panther was all about, kept on goading T’Challa to go all out. With all of his recent troubles, the Wakandan king was more than happy to oblige. In fact, after overpowering Kraven, T’Challa kept on pounding on him until he was stopped by Iron Man before Kraven is killed. The armored hero had just arrived with the rest of the Avengers who have come demanding answers.[8]
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Kraven the Hunter, Everett Ross, White Wolf, Zuri, Manuel Ramos, Nikki Adams, Nakia, Okoye, Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Firestar)
Continuity Notes
When T’Challa was investigating the murder of a young girl named Jamie Robins, he roughed up Ramos for information. See Black Panther (vol. 3) #1-2.
Mephisto tricked T’Challa into kissing Nakia by making her appear as his former fiancée, Monica Lynn in Black Panther (vol. 3) #3. This will has repercussions down the road where she tried to kill Monic in issue #11, causing T’Challa to expell her in issue #13. This will put her into the hands of Erik Killmonger who will train her into being the assassin known as Malice by Black Panther (vol. 3) #24.
As a baby, Hunter was the only survivor of a plane that crashed in Wakanda and was adopted by T’Chaka and treated him like a son. Hunter later became the leader of the Hatut Zeraze and served T’Chaka loyally until his death. When T’Challa took the throne, he ordered the Hatut Zeraze into exile and he did not agree with their methods. See Black Panther (vol. 3) #10, 12 and 27 as well as Rise of the Black Panther #4-6, and Black Panther: Legends #1-4. T’Challa previously encountered the Hatut Zeraze in Black Panther (vol. 3) #3-4.
Achebe is a deranged lunatic who came from the war torn nation of Ghudaza as a refugee. After making a deal with Mephisto he was able to seize political power in Wakanda. See Black Panther (vol. 3) #1-5. He will remain in this position until T’Challa liberates his home land in issues #11-12.
Monica Lynn has been a long time ally of T’Challa dating back to when he saved her from the Sons of the Serpents in Avengers #73. T’Challa proposed to her in Black Panther: Panther’s Prey #3. However, by the time we see her again in Black Panther (vol. 3) #8, T’Challa had called off their engagement. It’s revealed in Black Panther (vol. 3) #48-49 that this was due to the fact that T’Challa met a future version of himself that was dying of a brain aneurysm that he himself was just in the early stages of. Seeing that he had no future to offer Monica was the reason why he broke off their engagement, although he kept the reason why a secret.
Kraven the Hunter is drawn to look like Sergei Kravinoff, the original Kraven the Hunter. However, Sergei was dead at the time of this story, having taken his own life in Amazing Spider-Man #294. He will not be resurrected until Amazing Spider-Man #635. At the end of the story, Kraven states his name as Aloysha Karvinoff likely to explain away the mistake without having the artist redraw the character. Aloysha took over the mantle of Kraven the Hunter in Spectacular Spider-Man #243. When he first appeared on the scene he disguised himself as his father as a means of taunting Spider-Man. One could assume that he is doing the same thing here for…. reasons?
The President is referring to an event that we’ll see happen in Black Panther (vol. 3) #10. After discovering that elements within the United States government were responsible for helping Achebe take power in Wakanda, T’Challa will speak to the United Nations and declare it an act of war.
The “incident with the Avengers” is fleshed out more next issue. In a nutshell it is revealed that T’Challa originally joined the team (circa Avengers #52) in order to spy on them.
Topical References
The President of the United States is depicted as Bill Clinton in this story. Clinton was President from 1993 to 2001, making him the President at the time this comic was originally published. His appearance here should be considered topical.
Ramos and his gang speak in slang that was popular at the time. Much of it is, at the very least, considered dated and at worst perpetuating negative stereotypes by today’s standard. The usage here should be considered topical.
When talking about his manliness, Everett states that he has an entire collection of Hanson records. Hanson is a pop trio of brothers who were a major hit after their 1997 song “MMMBop”. The band was notable since the brothers were all very young being 16, 14, and 11 when their hit single came out. At the time this comic was published, Hanson had released 6 albums. The the 1990s owning Hanson albums would have been viewed as less masculine and a grown man listening to that music could become a target of ridicule as a result. Everett’s statement should be considered topical since his attitude regarding masculinity would be considered problematic by today’s standard.
As Ramos and his men open fire on the Black Panther, Everett recounts that he screamed like “The blue chick in the Fifth Element.” The Fifth Element was a 1997 science fiction film that starred Bruce Willis. It was very horny because it was produced by a French director. What’s important to know is that there is a scene where an alien named Plavalaguna sings opera during a gun fight. She was played by real life opera singer Inva Mula. She hits some very high notes while singing.
Everett is full of dated pop-culture references in this issue. He describes the shooting as being overkill, likening it to Leanne Rhime’s cover of “Purple Rain”. The song was originally performed by Prince in 1984 and it appeared in an album and a movie of the same name. Rhimes covered the song in her 1998 album Sittin’ Atop the World. Is it that bad? You be the judge.
When Everett backpedals on complaining about T’Challa he remarks that the Black Panther is so magnificent that “if I was black — and gay — well, there you go.” As if being a certain ethnicity or sexual orientation negate attraction to someone. This attitude was pretty prevalent in the 90s, particularly due to the stigma toward homosexuality that was still very prevalent at the time. While things aren’t perfect now they are certainly more enlightened and this kind of attitude would be considered problematic to some. This representation should be viewed as topical because it reflects some attitudes at the time of publication.
