Black Panther (vol. 3) #33
Seduction of the Innocent, Conclusion: War and Love
In Wakanda, ships carrying Ramonda and the Dora Milaje were mysteriously shot down. When Vibraxas (N’Kano) learns of this he barges in on Zuri and W’Kabi — put in charge of King T’Challa’s (aka the Black Panther) absence — to offer to aid. They are none-too-happy with young N’Kano because of his dalliances with Queen Divine Justice, one of the Dora Milaje, and tell him that there were be no search for survivors. Unwilling to accept this, Vibraxas argues with them. When his godfather warns him that his vibrational powers are out of control, Vibraxas realizes that his powers are now back under his full control once more and heads out on his own.
The plane carrying Queen Divine Justice had crashed in the wintery regions of the Crystal Forest. This was the work of the Man-Ape (M’Baku) who was freed by Malice (Nakia) as part of her revenge scheme against T’Challa. M’Baku intends to kill Queen as he views her as a mongrel of the western world, tainted by its technology and decadence, despite her Wakandan ancestry. However, QDJ isn’t as helpless as she appears, and manages to get free from the Man-Ape’s grasp by kicking him in the face with her Vibranium tipped shoes. She then scurries up a tree wondering why M’Baku hasn’t chased here. This is because N’Gamo, the Man-Ape’s subordinate, has stopped to tell him that he cannot harm Queen Divine Justice because she is the fabled queen of their tribe. This is something that M’Baku cannot accept, but N’Gamo insists that it is true. At that same time, QDJ tries to call for help on her Kimoyo Card, but nobody is answering. In fact, W’Kabi orders his subordinates to cut the transmission as he intentionally takes Wakanada’s forces in a ship to the southern region of Q’Noma. He tells the others not to question his orders, saying that the fate of the stranded women are in the hands of the panther god now.
Meanwhile, in New York, private detective Dakota North and Monica Lynne have just survived an attempt on their lives by one of Malice’s love slaves. Seeking out the Black Panther, they go to the hospital where where T’Challa had set a trap for her. They sneak through the ventilation system to get into the room of M’Koni, the Black Panther’s cousin who is recovering from an attempted suicide.[2] They find Omoro, the head of security at the Wakandan Embassy who poses as a mere butler. He explains how Malice got the drop on the king and he is gone. He also tells them how he cured T’Challa of the juferio spores that Nakia uses to enslave her pawns by injecting him with naloxone. However, they can’t be sure if they can trust Omoro or if he is another one of Malice’s slaves. They do not find her mark (a cut in the shape of a heart) at the base of his neck like the others. Dakota North decides to look elsewhere just to be sure. Yanking down his pants, they find the tell tale mark between his legs.
Later, at the Wakandan Embassy, the Black Panther is seemingly under the thrall of Malice. The two kiss for a time until Nakia insists that they consumate their romance. T’Challa tells her that he cannot do so until they are wed, and assures her that he has summoned a priest to carry out the ceremony right away. This satisfies Malice who leaves the king so she can finish off N’Koni and Maria Henkle, two other women that are close to T’Challa.[3] When Nakia is gone, T’Challa tells Dakota North and Monica Lynne that they can come in from the window ledge. He assures them that he is not actually under Nakia’s control, having took percautions when he picked up Malice’s scent earlier and hid anti-toxin patches in his costume that slowly cured him of her control.
He then checks with W’Kabi, whose forces have arrived in Q’Noma Valley, where they have recovered both M’Koni and Okoye of the Dora Milaje. M’Koni is still in a coma with weak vital signs, and the prognosis doesn’t look good. T’Challa orders him to evacuate the village and wants this order followed without question. When W’Kabi also mentions that his step-mother Ramonda and Queen Divine Justice are lost in the Crystal Forest, T’Challa assures him that need not concern him and that they won’t be in any danger. T’Challa tells the two women that his next move is to track down Malice and stop her once and for all. When asked what this entails after everything that has gone down, T’Challa admits that the only way to stop her is to kill her.
After the Black Panther leaps out the window, Monica goes to the washroom to compose herself. This has been an emotional day for her and she forces herself not to cry. Instead, she feels a sudden burst of anger and punches the mirror instead, cracking it. When she leaves the washroom she discovers that Malice has returned and is trying to strangle Dakota with a garrot. Seeing Monica, Nakia takes North’s gun and tries to shoot her. Having had enough, Monica offers her own life in exchange for an antidote for N’Koni and the location of Maria, willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good.[4]
That’s when the Black Panther comes ripping through the wall and attacks Nakia. As the two fight, T’Challa tells her to hand over the antidote for M’Koni and tell her where Maria has been hidden. As their fight spills out into the streets of New York, she continues to resist him. The Panther warns her that the situation is much more grave than she believe. He warns her that should the people of Wakanda learn of her betrayal, tribal custom will made her home of Q’Noma Valley will be blacklisted from the other tribes. No longer able to trade, this could lead her tribe to famine and war. Rather than allow that to happen, T’Challa tells her that he intends to order his troops to destroy the village. Nakia calls his bluff, but the Black Panther pulls up a video feed of the warships over Q’Noma via his Kimoyo Card. Seeing this for herself, Malice kisses T’Challa one last time and says she loves him. She then kicks him off the transport trailer they are fighting on just as it reaches an overpass.[5] When T’Challa gets to safety, his Kimoyo Card gets a notification. The message contains the information he sought from Malice.
In short order, T’Challa has the cure given to M’Koni who finally wakes up from her coma in the hospital and is expected to make a full recover. Omoro then informs him that their associate — the Thing — was able to find Maria Henkle. Malice had brought her to a monetary in Tibet and forced the monks there to care for her until she was found.
Back in the Crystal Forest, Queen Divine Justice continues to try and flee from Man-Ape from the tree tops. Unfortunately, when one of the branches breaks, she falls into the hands of the members of the White Gorilla Tribe. They take the girl back to the Man-Ape, but they all surprise here when they call her their Queen then begin to bow.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Malice, Vibraxas, Queen Divine Justice, Man-Ape, W’Kabi, Zuri, Monica Lynne, Dakota North, Omoro, M’Koni, Thing, Maria Henkle
Continuity Notes
Vibraxas’ vibrational powers have been out of whack since Black Panther (vol. 3) #24. He and Queen Divine Justice have been fooling around with one another since after their first meeting in issue #26. According to Wakandan law, this is forbidden because Queen is a member of the Dora Milaje, a group of women representing each tribe of Wakanda. Their role in society is to act as “wives in waiting” to the king. In earlier times, the king would chose one to become his bride. However, in the modern age the role of the Dora Milaje is mostly ceremonial to keep the peace between the tribes and most members act of bodyguards and warriors who fight for the country. This was all explained back in issue #1, but the complications of N’Kano’s affair weren’t fully realized until the last two issues.
Malice elicited an affair with M’Koni’s husband in Black Panther (vol. 3) #31. After hiring Dakota North to prove his infidelity, M’Koni nearly died by taking a near lethal dose of sleeping pills. Last issue, the Black Panther tried to use M’Koni to lure Malice into a trap and seemingly failed because he was still seemingly under the influence of the jufeiro spores Malice uses to enslave her pawns.
M’Koni is the Black Panther’s cousin while Maria was once his student. See Daredevil #245 and Marvel Two-in-One #40, respectively.
Of course, if you’re just picking up this issue and know nothing about either Monica or Malice, the romantic entanglements here aren’t entirely clear. Let me break it down for you:
Monica Lynne and T’Challa have had an on-again-off-again relationship since they first met back in Avengers #73. The two eventually got engaged to be married in Black Panther: Panther’s Prey #3.
By Black Panther (vol. 3) #1, T’Challa had called off their engagement and was later tricked by Mephisto into kissing Nakia in issue #3. This made her obsessed with becoming T’Challa’s bride.
This obsession led to the point where Nakia attempted to kill Monica in Black Panther (vol. 3) #11. When the Panther learned the truth he exiled her in issue #13.
Nakia, as Malice, has been trying to get at the Black Panther by going after those he cares about dating back to Black Panther (vol. 3) #21. Meanwhile, Monica ended her relationship with T’Challa once and for all in Black Panther (vol. 3) #30.
It’s implied here that Nakia ends up getting killed upon impact with the overpass. However, she turns up alive again in Black Panther Annual (vol. 2) #1. This is not really explained If she’s able to match wits with T’Challa, so faking her death doesn’t seem quite so impossible. People cheat death all the time in the Marvel Universe. Always treat an off panel death as suspect.
Topical References
Queen Divine Justice compares Man-Ape to Ida Amin, the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ran a military dictatorship and has gone down in the history books as one of the most ruthless and bloody rulers of modern history. His career is a greatest hits of terrorist attacks, rape, murder, ethnic cleansing, all the truly repellant evil shit a human being is capable of. Amin was forced into exile after a failed attempt to annex neighboring Tanziania and was forced into exile. He lived in various Middle Eastern countries until his death in 2003. Since the majority of his atrocities were committed in the past his reference here wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference as they are not being referred to here in a the present tense.
QDJ mockingly refers to M’Baku as “Mayor McCheese”, one of the many mascots of the McDonalds restaurant chain. The character appeared between 1971 and was ultimately retired in 1985. This reference should be considered topical as a more contemporary example could be used in his place.
Another nickname she gives M’Baku is “Magilla”, this is a reference to the titular character of the cartoon Magilla Gorilla which ran for two seasons in 1964 and 65. It was produced by Hannah Barbara (now owned by Warner Brothers) as this is a dated reference to a character not owned by Marvel or its parent company this should be considered topical.
Monica Lynne states that they were attacked by Malice’s love slaves at Macy’s, a famous New York City department store. However, this should be considered a topical reference as Macy’s is a real world establishment.
When injecting T’Challa to cure him of the jufeiro, Omoro refers to the drug as Narcan. This is actually the brand name of the actual drug, which is called naloxone. At the time this story was published this would be considered a topical reference. However, with the increasing opoid crisis of the late 2010s and early 2020s, Narcan has become a proprietary eponym in modern times. It remains to be seen if this eponym will stick in the long run, get back to me in another 40 years.
