Black Panther Annual #1
Black to the Future
The Future[1]
On the Blue Area of the Moon, one of King Solomon’s Brass Frogs appears before Uatu the Watcher. Apparently, it has been observing the Watcher as long as he has been observing the Earth. It has come, curious to know how it feels to have one of his predictions come true. While Uatu cannot travel through time he has been observing the Earth long enough to figure things out. When the Watcher observed the marriage of the Black Panther (T’Challa) and Storm (Ororo Monroe) years earlier, he knew that it would create a dynasty that would end up ruling the world.[2]
In Wakanda, a new wedding is about to happen between T’Challa’s son, T’Chaka the 2nd, and Danielle Cage, daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. On the big day, T’Challa gathers his other children and has them promise not to act up on such an important day. That’s when he notices his other son, T’Wari is not present and the other children don’t know where he is. T’Challa contacts his wife, Storm, to ask her if she knows where T’Wari is. She doesn’t know, but flies off to go looking for him.
She finds the young man brooding at the city walls. He doesn’t understand why T’Chaka is marrying Danielle Cage. He finds it kind of repugnant given that they all grew up with the Cage family and Dani is viewed as a cousin. He also doesn’t like how this wedding is primarily to set the Americans at ease with Wakanda’s dominance.
Ororo tells her son that this marriage is out of necessity as it will help save Wakanda’s souls. She tells him how their home land was an isolationist society that only interacted with the outside world whenever necessary. This also meant turning a blind eye to the European slave trade. While Wakanda could defend itself from human traffickers, neighboring countries were not so lucky. The Europeans did not face much opposition often, but they weren’t totally unopposed. Particularly from Ororo’s ancestor who also controlled the elements as she does. This brought up much debate in Wakanda as the leaders of the time believed that the barbarians from Europe needed to be stopped. However, to openly oppose the slave trade would put Wakanda at war with the rest of the outside world. The Black Panther of that time period decided that the slave trade could not continue unchecked.
Wakanda then covertly began buying slaves and taking them back to Africa. There, they were trained in military tactics. Soon a war started, but since those who were captured never knew who they were really working for. Black men who sold their own kind knew the truth, but were too afraid of the Black Panther to even bring him up with the Europeans who buy their stock and trade. However, the Europeans wouldn’t accept ceasing their business and turned on their partners. Through violence, they beat the truth out of them and later hired a local tribe to attack Wakanda in retaliation. This ended with the tribe being slaughtered before they could even reach Wakanda’s borders.[3]
The powers in Europe wouldn’t stand for this and eventually old rivalries were put aside in an effort to maintain their dominance over the world. What none of these politicians, religious leaders, and businessmen knew was that Wakanda had spies everywhere. Meeting with his council, he decided to give warning to the powers that be. With his spies, the Panther had warnings delivered to the bedroom of world leaders in the United States, the UK, and other territories that delt in slavery. It was a warning to leave Wakanda alone, and many listened because it was just becoming too much trouble.
Hearing all of this, T’Wari is interprets this to mean that his ancestor was a coward and a sell out. Storm corrects the boy, telling him that Wakanda is more than just a country, it is an entire culture. If one sacrifices Wakandan values then the nation is already lost. He still can’t understand why they are accommodating the Americans if they are supposed to be a warrior race. Ororo responds by telling the lad that being a warrior doesn’t mean being a bully. She goes on to say that a war with the outside world would require a ruthlessness that would threaten the moral fiber of their entire society. As such, it has long since been decided that Wakanda would take a longer view, working slowly — even over centuries — to try to get the rest of the world to see that the Wakandan way of life was the correct path. Those that did not accept this reality would not survive a changing world.
When T’Wari still doesn’t get it, Ororo explains that the greatest weapon a warrior can have is love. That by putting aside artificial concepts like race and loving people for who they are they can conquer all challenges. She speaks of how African art has helped transform the world and evokes the humanitarian work of historical figures like Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. T’Wari still doesn’t buy the whole idea of love conquering all, pointing to the war that Wakanda waged against the United States and won.
Storm remembers this war very well because it was so horrifying, it made the previous super hero civil war seem tame by comparison.[4] T’Wari knows it well, he recalls how the United States pushed the superhuman law beyond its border. This led to the downfall and destructions of both Latveria and Atlantis, as well as the deaths of their leaders Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner. Eventually, Iron Man and his forces go far enough down the list where Wakanda became the next target. He recalls how Iron Man showed up at the borders with an army of Iron Man robots and a giant Iron Man mech that he built. T’Challa was ready, having constructed a massive robot panther of his own. It was superior to Stark’s design and quickly dismantled the robot. Unknown to T’Challa at the time, Tony Stark was bonded to the robot in order for it to operate. In destroying it, he killed Tony in the process.
Storm confirms that all of this true, but it was never her husband’s intention to kill Stark. Regardless, his death caused the world to rethink a global police force. T’Challa then established a global peace treaty before retiring from leadership and passing it on to his sister Shuri. Shuri went on to become the most powerful Black Panther in history, and the first woman in over a century.[5] Storm asks if T’Wari questions her judgement on the wedding. When T’Wari can’t argue against it, Storm points out the real reason why he is upset over this: That he himself had a crush on Dani Cage and is jealous of his brother. She assures him that this was what was meant to be and tells him to come and watch the wedding.
Officiating over the ceremony is Shuri, in her Black Panther garb, and members of the superhero community — including the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four — are in attendance. After the wedding, T’Challa and Ororo commend Luke Cage on his recent Presidency. At the same time, T’Wari congratulates the newly weds. Dani warmly hugs her new brother-in-law and says they will always be family. Watching this, T’Challa is pleased that letting his wife handle this situation was the right choice.
After observing all of this, the brass frog returns home to its partner and tells it everything it saw of the future. Although this was assuredly an alternate timeline, they view the possibility of Wakanda becoming the dominant nation in the world would work against them. They agree to prevent this from happening. They then hush up because someone is coming. It turns out to be King Solomon himself, looking for his brass frogs. Finally finding them, he wonders why the two items keep disappearing on him.
Continuity Notes
This story takes place in an alternate reality that takes place a few decades into the future. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3, this timeline exists in Reality-8441. The Brass Frog’s visit to era predates his first encounter with T’Challa in Black Panther #1, as per the Brass Frogs entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2.
On Earth-616, T’Challa and Storm were married in Black Panther (vol. 4) #18. In the Prime Marvel Universe, their marriage doesn’t have a happy ending. T’Challa annuls their marriage in Avengers vs. X-Men #8 after Wakanda is devastated by members of the X-Men.
We saw this tribe get wiped out in the Prime Marvel Universe in Black Panther (vol. 4) #1.
Storm is referring to the Civil War event that had the hero community in America torn in half over a law requiring superhumans to register with the government. On Reality-616 this tale was told primarily in Civil War #1-7. T’Challa and Storm were also involved, as seen in Black Panther (vol. 4) #22-25.
Although the circumstances will be different, the Shuri of Reality-616 will also become the next Black Panther as we’ll see in Black Panther (vol. 5) #1-5.
