Black Panther (vol. 3) #8
That Business With the Avengers
Everett Ross is the US liaison for T’Challa, aka the Black Panther, during his time in the United States. He had been called into the office of the President of the United States to give a debriefing on what recently happened in New York City. Unhappy with the news, the Present ordered Everett to fix the situation right away.[1] Leaving the White House with his boss and girlfriend Nikki he tells her the rest of the story.
He begins by telling Nikki about an incident that happened a number of years ago. Captain America had teamed up with the Black Panther to stop Baron Zemo from unleashing a death ray satellite on the world. With the assistance of Agent 13 of SHIELD, the pair had foiled Zemo’s plan. As they returned home, Captain America mentioned how he was taking a leave of absence from the Avengers and wanted to nominate T’Challa to take his place. Honored by the offer, the Black Panther accepted.[2]
Everett tells Nikki that this is really important to know for what happened next. Picking up his story where he left off, he mentions how the Avengers arrived during the Black Panther’s brawl with Kraven the Hunter. The team had come to bring T’Challa back to the hotel where the White House was holding a gala on his behalf. This is because a crowd of African-Americans have gathered outside the hotel to hear T’Challa speak as members of the Black community were largely uninvited to the party. The hope is to get the Black Panther to address to crowd and get them to disburse without any trouble, because they’re all frightened white people.[3][4]
When T’Challa and Captain America arrive on the scene find the NYPD’s Sergeant Francis Tork trying to get the crowd to chant various slogans. T’Challa is unimpressed with the situation because it was all put into motion by Senator Kamal Rakim, a former college rival, to make a political point about how the American government reacts to its African-American population.[5] Rakim smugly offers T’Challa a chance to punch him in the fact, but the Panther manages to keep his cool. Captain America arranges for the President to get in touch with security forces to order them to follow the Black Panther’s orders from here on out. Sensing trouble near by, T’Challa asks Captain America to address the audience on his behalf while he invesitgates.
As this was all going down, Everett was trying to get to the front of the crowd and ends up running right into Thor from behind. As it turns out, the Avengers were also among the crowd, which was already starting to get agitated by their presence. However, the Scarlet Witch orders everyone to stand their ground as any sudden moves could panic the crowd.[6] While everyone was busy trying to keep the crowd under control there was a sniper on the roof looking for the right target, this was the threat that the Black Panther had detected earlier. He was alerted to the sniper due to a microwave transmission they were given off that was picked up by Kimoyo, a Wakandan orbiting security satellite. When he unmasks the shooter he is so shocked to discover that it is his former fiancée Monica Lynn that he is unable to prevent her from squeezing off a shot.[7] The bullet strikes Thor in the forehead, causing the thunder god to topple down on Everett Ross. This causes the crowd to begin to panic, and the Avengers to scramble to get things under control before anyone gets hurt.
Meanwhile, the Black Panther tires to subdue Monica. In the struggle, her jacket opens up revealing a device that is controlling her movements. From a screen on her chest, Achebe appears and reveals that he is the one controlling Monica. He found delight in using T’Challa’s former fiancée for his mad schemes. He also informs the Panther that one of the people in the crowd is a suicide bomber that he planted and that he is wired up with enough C4 to level the entire block. In order to alert the other Avengers of what’s happening, T’Challa opens his communications so they can all hear what Achebe is saying. Since the signal to set off the explosives is using a microwave channel, Firestar is asked to use her powers to try and single out the signal. While the team works to navigate the crowd and find the bomb, T’Challa works at disarming the device that is controlling Monica.
While all this is happening, Achebe mentions how he had learned that T’Challa had originally joined the Avengers so he could spy on the group. This is heard by Firestar who is shocked by this revelation. In the end, the bomb is found and disarmed and Monica is saved. However, this isn’t without repercussions. Once regaining control of her body, Monica tearfully asks T’Challa who the Dora Milaje are. When T’Challa reminds Monica that she had seen them at his palace before, she points out that was when they were teenagers old and now they are grown women.[8] Although she is thankful that T’Challa saved her life, she points out that she has once again become a target of her villains, much to her annoyance. Since she promised herself never to speak to him again, she walks away cursing herself for breaking another promise.
In the aftermath of the battle, Thor recovers having only been knocked out by the snipers bullet. Spoiling for a fight, the thunder god gets one when Zuri steps him to defend Everett. T’Challa then meets with the Avengers and apologizes for what happened and takes full responsibility. Following this attack, T’Challa now realizes that he has no choice but to return home and deal with the political situation in Wakanda. As the Panther walks away, Firestar tells the others what she heard Achebe say about T’Challa originally spying on the Avengers. This comes as a shock to everyone and when Captain America gives T’Challa a chance to deny the allegations, the Panther confirms that what Achebe said was all true.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Firestar), Achebe, Everett Ross, Monica Lynn, Zuri, Nikki Adams, (in flashback) Baron Zemo, Sharon Carter
Continuity Notes
What the President is upset about will be explained in Black Panther (vol. 3) #10. T’Challa will have discovered that elements within the United States government assisted Achebe in staging a coup in Wakanda (as seen in issues #1-5). T’Challa will go on to declare it an act of war.
This is recapping the events of Tales of Suspense #98-99 and Captain America #100. Some facts that were glossed over here:
Although Russell refers to the villain as Baron Zemo and he is depicted to resemble Heinrich Zemo, this man is an impostor as we found out in the original story. This impostor was given the name Franz Gruber in a Avengers and Thunderbolts novel. Later both Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Iron Man and Captain America would go on and confirm that this is his name. Gruber was a former agent of Zemo until Heinrich’s death in Avengers #16 and usurped the identity shortly thereafter for his own ends.
Agent 13 is not mentioned by name in this story. Her name is revealed to be Sharon Carter for the first time in Captain America #103. Her being referred to as Agent 13 here is in line with the story as she hadn’t been given a name yet (although a later story in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1 revealed that Cap knew her true name at the time). In story, the reason why she is not mentioned by name here is because at the time the real names of SHIELD agents was classified. When in the field they would only refer to each other by their agent numbers.
When narrating this part of the story, Everertt makes a passing reference to how Captain America spent decades frozen in suspended animation. See Avengers #4.
Captain America is depicted here carrying a photonic shield instead of his usual round shield. At the time of this story, Cap had lost his trademark weapon in the ocean in Captain America (vol. 3) #2. He started wielding a photonic on in issue #9 of that series. The weapon will eventually be recovered and he’ll go back to using it again in Captain America (vol. 3) #22.
Kamal Rakim organized the mass of people to come and hear the Black Panther talk in Black Panther (vol. 3) #6. That same issue also revealed that both T’Challa and Kamal attended the same college together and Kamal took issue with the fact that the future king of Wakanda was dating a white woman at the time.
While commentating on the Avengers, Everett mentions Black Panther’s previous association with the team. He joined in Avengers #53 and was an active member until Avengers #88. From then on he acted on the team on a reserve capacity since. Also here, we see Firestar having a hard time convincing people in the crowd that she is an Avenger. This is because she only recently joined the team at the time of this story in Avengers (vol. 3) #4.
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. The footage that Achebe shows of T’Challa announcing his engagement to Monica is actually taken from a flashback scene from next issue.
A past encounter between Monica and the much younger Dora Milaje is depicted in a flashback seen in Black Panther (vol. 3) #11. However, I don’t think this was their first encounter. See below.
Topical References
Everett refers to the hotel where the White House gala took place is the Waldorf Astoria hotel (in error, see below). In this case, the hotel wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference. Although a real world business it has been given a historic building designation ensuring that the building will remain intact and unlikely to be anything else but a hotel in for the foreseeable future.
When discussing Cap’s time in suspended animation, Everett states that Steve Rogers was frozen for 40 years. This should be considered a topical reference relative to the date of publication. This is due to the fact that the Sliding Timescale. It pushes the events of the Modern Age forward in time, ever spending the gulf of time between the end of World War II and the present.
Francis Tork suggests that they get the crowd gordidas and Yoo-Hoo and tries to get them to chant “Free Wesley Snipes”. Both of which are topical references.
Yoo-Hoo is a chocolate drink beverage sold in the United States since 1928. I am guessing that drinking Yoo-Hoo is a stereotype regarding Black Americans. That’s a new one for me. Anyway, this is a topical reference due Yoo-Hoo being a real world beverage.
“Free Wesley Snipes”: Wesley Snipes is a prolific Black actor who appeared in movies like White Men Can’t Jump, Demolition Man, and (more relevant to when this comic was published) the Blade trilogy of films. I don’t recall nor could find anything about him being in any kind of legal trouble in 1999, however he’d later get into trouble for the IRS for non-compliance with taxes. Snipes’ defense was that he was a “sovereign citizen” and therefor didn’t have to pay his taxes. Let me tell you (since my career was in taxes for 20 years) the sovcit movement has never won a tax law case ever because it’s all bullshit. Anyway, Snipes spent a few years in a prison for tax evasion.
Monica Lynn states that when she first met the Dora Milaje they were 14 years old. Depending on where you measure from this would be a factual assessment of time. See below.
Just How Old are the Dora Milaje in This Story?
Since they first appeared in Black Panther (vol. 3) #1, the Dora Milaje have been referred to as being young women. While their actual ages are never stated outright, Everett makes a few comments that hint at how old they might be. In issue #1 he refers to them being “barely legal”, likely referring to the age of consent, which in most places in America is 18 years old. In issue #6 he says that they aren’t old enough to buy cigarettes. In the state of New York (where the story takes place) the legal age to buy a pack of smokes is 21.
A clearer picture can be gleaned from Monica’s statements in this story, saying that when she met the Dora Milaje they were only 14 years of age. From there, we can extrapolate when that was based on the chronologies of the involved characters and various flashbacks.
T’Challa met Monica in Avengers #73 but the two didn’t start their relationship until he brought her to Wakanda for the first time in Jungle Action (vol. 2) #6 (published September, 1973). Per the Sliding Timescale, that happened during “year three” of the Modern Age. The earliest chronological appearance of Nakia, seen in Black Panther (vol. 3) #6, is said by the Marvel Chronology Project to have happened after Avengers #129, which was published in August 1974, placing it as happening during “year four” of the Modern Age. This is during the period in which Monica was in Wakanda as Jungle Action (vol. 2) was still in publication and also happening around the same time chronologically. The Avengers story in question takes place just before issue 6 of Jungle Action volume 2.
The only time we see T’Challa, Monica Lynn, and the Dora Milaje in a flashback is in Black Panther (vol. 3) #11. The Chronology project places that as happening following the Black Panther’s appearance in Web of Spider-Man Annual #7. Published in September of 1991, that annual would be part of “year eight” of the Modern Age. Since Monica acts as though she already met them here, we can assume this isn’t their first meeting. Based on this, I think that it’s reasonable to accept that Monica met Nakia and Okoye behind the scenes during her Jungle Action appearances. If the Dora Milaje were 14 years old during “year four” and Black Panther (vol. 3) #8 takes place in “year ten”, that would make them around 20 at the time of this story. This definitely puts them in the age range that Everett pegs them into.
Assuming that Dora Milaje are all selected at the same age, one could assume that Okoye is also the same age.
Errors
In this story, the White House gala for T’Challa is stated as happening at the Waldorf Astoria. While in Black Panther (vol. 3) #6 states that the Hilton in midtown Manhattan.