The Once and Future King, Part 2

25 years into the future, T’Challa has been forced to return to his role as the Black Panther after his enemies have kidnapped is long time friend, Everett Ross.[1] Travelling to America to rescue him, he discovers that his enemy Achebe has murdered his daughter Oni Faida and left her crucified outside a Brooklyn church. The sight of his dead daughter causes T’Challa to start suffering a seizure. Luckily, Monica Lynne happens to arrive in time to give him an injection that prevents him from dying. When the Panther mentions his son — Prince T’Charra — Monica asks if his enemies have him as well. T’Challa, knowing his son has betrayed him, mournfully says they already have the boy.

At that moment, T’Charra and Achebe are moving Everett Ross to a new location by hijacking the J train. As Achebe plays conductor, T’Charra explains his plans to Everett. He tells Ross that his father has gone soft and needs to be a more powerful force in the global community. In fact, he thinks that Wakanda should be dictating terms to the United States, not the other way around. He intends to push his father into seeing things his way. Ross is unimpressed, warning the young man that he grossly underestimates who his father is. He is also disgusted that T’Charra would kill his own sister. The young man scoffs at this, saying that his father has gone soft, and after eliminating Faida, Hunter, and Erik Killmonger, he’s more than willing to use lethal force against his father if push comes to shove.

Meanwhile, the Black Panther has come to the office of Sam Wilson, now the mayor of New York City, to recruit him in his cause as the Falcon. Sam reminds T’Challa that he’s an old man with grandchildren and his responsibilities as mayor. It’s not a no, he’s just making a record so his wife understands why he’s in the ICU later. He then pulls his Falcon costume out of storage, saying that he can’t turn down the man who made his wings.[2] Wilson is not T’Challa’s only ally as he has also recruited Luke Cage and Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm) to his cause.

The heroes track T’Charra to Coney Island where the split up and begin searching the grounds. When Luke Cage is asked to search the tunnel of love, he tries to hide the fact that he is scared of going into the abandoned ride by complaining about his dry cleaning bill. When Brother Voodoo decides to search it instead, Luke thanks him until he’s told that he now has to look in the haunted hosue instead.

Inside the Tunnel of Love, Brother Voodoo comes across what appears to be Everett Ross in one of the tunnel’s boats. However, Drumm doesn’t fall for the trick and uses his voodoo powers to blow on a match, turning it into a massive flame that burns the “captive” enough to reveal that he is a zombie. Suddenly, more of the undead rise out of the water. They are joined by Baron Macabre and Sombre who have set this trap in the first place.

Meanwhile, the Falcon finds Achebe who is on the roller coaster intending to run over Everett Ross who has been tied to the track.[3] When Achebe states that Sam can’t capture him and save Ross at the same time, the Falcon disagrees, sending his faithful pet Redwing to untie Ross. The Falcon then races over to the haunted house and breaks through the ceiling to get Luke. Before the two men can get back to the roller coaster they are attacked by Salamander K’Ruel, Venomm, Madam Slay and Lord Karnaj. Luckily, Everett Ross isn’t left to die, as Redwing manages to cut through the ropes that keep him tied to the tracks of the roller coaster. Once he is loose, the Black Panther swings in and pulls him to safety.

While his allies round up the villains, the Black Panther goes after his son T’Charra who is trying to flee the scene. Crossing over into a nearby subway station, T’Challa is caught in an explosion rigged up by his son. This triggers another seizure allowing T’Charra to seemingly escape. As T’Challa fights past the seizure the authorities arrive on the scene and order him to surrender as the Wakandan ruler is banned from the United States. Unwilling to be deported, the Panther takes out the helicopters with anti-metal knives and catches up with his son.

When T’Charra enters a the passenger car of a subway, he finds his father waiting for him in one of the seats. Realizing the jig is up, T’Charra decides to try and negotiate himself out of trouble. T’Challa realizes that his son just doesn’t get what it means to be the king of Wakanda and chastises him for killing his own sister. He recounts the sacrifices her has suffered including the deaths of his father, and T’Charra’s mother.[4] Fed up of waiting to gain the Wakandan throne, T’Charra orders his father to abdicate the throne or kill him. T’Challa grants his son his wish and both men quietly leave the train when it passes through a tunnel. T’Charra attempts to flee up the side of a building, but he is quickly ambushes by his father who knocks him out and tosses him in the trunk of his royal limo.

Getting in the back seat, he finds Everett Ross waiting for him. Ross comments that T’Challa used to work a lot of faster than this and jokes that his old friend must be getting old. He then brushes his kidnapping as nothing compared to T’Challa’s war with Magneto.[5] That’s when T’Challa starts suffering another stroke. Ross begins giving T’Challa first aid and pleading with him not to die. The Black Panther sees a vision of his daughter, Oni Faida who reaches out and beacons him into the light. T’Challa grabs his daughter and hugs her one last time before willing himself back into the land of the living. When his seizure stops, T’Challa shrugs it off and tells his driver to take them home as there is much work that still needs doing.[6]

Recurring Characters

Black Panther (T’Challa), Black Panther (T’Charra), Everett Ross, Achebe, Venomm, Baron Macabre, Sombre, Lord Karnaj, Salamander K’Ruel, Madam Slay, Monica Lynne, Oni Faida (corpse)

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place in a future timeline that occurs roughly 25 years in the future of the Modern Age. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4, this timeline has been designated Reality-11236.

2. Much like in the Prime Marvel Universe (Reality-616), the Black Panther helped develop the Falcon’s wings. See Captain America #170.

3. Here, the narration by Everett Ross mentions how T’Challa became King of Wakanda when he was 13 years old. A version of these events were first told in Fantastic Four #53.

4. The identity of T’Charra’s mother, as of this writing (January, 2024), has remained unrevealed.

5. As of this writing (January, 2024) this is an as yet untold story.

6. Here, Everett’s narration states “that’s when things really got wacky” suggesting that there was more to this story. However, time of this writing (Jan, 2024) further stories taking place in this reality have yet to be told.

Topical References

• Even in the future Everett Ross can’t seem to not make topical references. His narrative makes a reference to Macy’s which is a real world business.