Ascension, Part 4

In order to take down the 66 Bridges Gang, Kevin “Kasper” Cole sought out the Rite of Ascension to gain the powers of the Black Panther. Getting the required heart-shaped herb from Erik Killmonger, Kasper has gone blind.[1] Unaware of any of this, Kevin’s mother (Ruth) and pregnant girlfriend (Gwen) rush him down to the emergency room. While Ruth struggles to get her son registered, Gwen interrogates him to find out if he was doing drugs or something. All Kasper can think of is Okoye, the member of the Dora Milaje whom he has recently kissed.[2]

However, over the last two hours, Kasper’s vision has come back even stronger than ever before. Now, natural light is almost blinding, forcing him to keep his eyes closed. He is also being overwhelmed by all the sounds and smells in the chaotic emergency room. The sensory overload is so powerful and he begins throwing up in a bowl. That’s when the hallucination of Francis Tork’s ghost reappears beside him and asks him if making the deal with Killmonger was worth it.[3] Kasper pulls out a picture of Max Anthony, saying that he was willing to do whatever it takes to find the kidnapped child as it will bring him closer to shutting down the 66 Bridges.[4] Tork tells Kasper that he’s going to need someone who thinks like a lawyer to get out of his deal with Killmonger and avoid death. When Tork disappears, Kevin notices a business card on the floor and picks it up. He then takes off when nobody else is looking.

Putting on his Black Panther duds, Kasper heads to the name on the business card. This is the apartment of Everett Ross, the former State Department attaché to T’Challa whenever he was in America. Ross is woken up by his apartment buzzer and slowly gets to the door. When he opens it and sees who is waiting outside, another Black Panther, he wants nothing to do with it and slams the door in Kasper’s face. Not willing to give up, Kasper talks to Ross from behind the door and convinces him to help. Ross finally resigns, muttering that he hates his life.[5] Ross quickly gets dressed and takes the new Panther to Monica Lynne, T’Challa’s former fiancée. At first, Monica also wants nothing to do with what’s going on, but Ross convinces her to help. Monica tells Kasper that he needs to stop focusing on finding Max Anthony, and defeating Killmonger.[6] This will appeal to his ego and track Erik, as he will ultimately lead Kasper to Max.

Coming up with a plan, Kasper changes out of his costume and goes and visits Sal Anthony, the dirty cop who promised to help Cole take down the 66 Bridges if he saves his son. Seeing that Kasper is sweating profusely, he suggests he go home and get some rest. Cole dismisses this advice and tells Sal to give him the password being used by drug dealers working for the 66 Bridges. With this, they then go to the home of Sal Anthony. While Everett creates a distraction for Sal’s wife, Kasper breaks into Max’s old bedroom.[7] There, the ghost of Tork guides Kasper on how to get Max’s scent.

With that, they go down to the ruined safehouse where Max may have been kept.[8] Cole finds the boy’s scent and it leads him to a nearby mailbox. The wait for the local mailman arrives on his rounds and Everett uses his credentials to question him. They pressure him into revealing where he delivers packages for the local drug dealers. Everett plays decoy one again while Kasper tries to find the boy’s scent. When the drug dealers decide to shoot Ross, he is saved at the last moment by Queen Divine Justice. She quickly incapacitates the gang-bangers, dispensing a speech about how drugs disproportionately affect the Black population in America. When the drug dealers are dealt with, Kasper and Queen almost get into an argument. Luckily, Ross intervenes and the two stop bickering.

Queen takes them on a Wakandan jet headed for Chicago, the home base of the 66 Bridges Gang. QDJ explains that someone who knows Kasper asked her to come and lend him a hand since she was born and raised in Chicago and knows the lay of the land. She was also able to steal data from the Drug Enforcement Administration and learn the locations of all the 66 Bridges dormant safe houses in the area. Now its just a matter of figuring out which one recently had the utilities turned back on and hope the child was still there. Still incredibly sick from eating the heart shaped herb, Kasper laments about how T’Challa could have figured all of this out and begins to doubt himself. That’s when Killmonger radios him and says that he has gotten a lead on Max Anthony. Remembering his sticky situation, Kasper trashes the radio.

When they land outside the active safehouse and bust inside, Kasper and his allies discover all the gang members have already been taken out. Running into the next room, they find T’Challa sitting in a chair. By his side is young Max Anthony, Okoye, and the ghost of Francis Tork. This was all some kind of test that T’Challa has been running on Kasper the entire time. Now that he has better control of his enhanced senses, Cole can now tell that the “ghost” of Francis Tork is real. Angered at being deceived, Kevin socks Tork who disables the technology that made him appear as a ghost. As it turns out, Tork’s death was faked to help with the DEA’s investigation into 66 Bridges, and Wakandan technology was used to make it seem real.

T’Challa then speaks, telling Kasper that he originally thought that Cole was just an “American Mongrel” between a Jewish and Black American. However, he has since learned that his father originally came from Uganda giving Kasper direct roots to Africa. This is enough to give Erik Killmonger leverage to pressure the Tribal Council into accepting Cole. However, Kasper is not to be the Black Panther ever again. T’Challa then tells Cole that he has a choice to make.

Later, back in New York, Kasper returns Max to his father Sal Anthony, bringing him one step closer to shutting down the 66 Bridges Gang. When he walks outside he finds Okyoe waiting for him outside. He has already figured out that being allowed to kiss her was a test of his character. Knowing that Cole had strong feelings for her, T’Challa wanted to see if Kevin would abandoned Gwen and his unborn child to be with her. He also passed this test and so Okoye has come with a gift. Taking it home with him, Kasper watches his girlfriend Gwen sleeping and wonders how he ever even considered abandoning her and their child. He is glad that he made the right choice and goes into the next room to open the package that was given to him.

The package is that of the White Tiger, an apostle of the Black Panther. He puts it on and goes out on patrol in his new role with the real Black Panther by his side.[9]

Recurring Characters

White Tiger, Black Panther, Everett Ross, Queen Divine Justice, Okoye, Francis Tork, Monica Lynne, 66 Bridges Gang, Ruth Cole, Gwen, Erik Killmonger (voice only)

Continuity Notes

1. Kasper has been trying to take down the 66 Bridges Gang since Black Panther (vol. 3) #50 and has been seeking the heart-shaped herbs since issue #59. He made a deal with Erik Killmonger for the herb last issue, which was also when he went blind.

2. With Okoye, it was love at first sight (issue #52) for Kasper. Although she hated his guts and is forbidden of having relations with any man but the King of Wakanda (see issue #1), the two gave into their lust for one another in Black Panther (vol. 3) #60-61.

3. At the time of this story, Kasper believes that Francis Tork was killed by the 66 Bridges following the events of Black Panther (vol. 3) #54. As we’ll discover later this issue, that was all a ruse to test Kasper of his worthiness.

4. Max Anthony is the son of Sal Anthony, a dirty cop working for the Bridges since issue #50. In order to force Sal to work for them, they kidnapped his son Max, as we learned in Black Panther (vol. 3) #56. In order to get Sal to help him bring the gang down, Kasper promised to rescue his son.

5. Everett mentions how he was once threatened by Lord Ghaur, this happened during a diplomatic mission in Black Panther (vol. 3) #26-29. It is also mentioned how Ross knows the key to defeating Erik Killmonger, as he was present during T’Challa’s last battle with his arch nemesis in Black Panther (vol. 3) #13-20.

6. There are a few facts about Monica that are dropped during her introduction to Kasper Cole. They are:

   • That she used to be the T’Challa’s fianceé: T’Challa and Monica had an on-again-off-again relationship for years after their first meeting in Avengers #73. T’Challa eventually proposed to her in Black Panther: Panther’s Prey #3. However, he abruptly called it off around Black Panther (vol. 3) #1. This is because (as revealed in issue #48-49), T’Challa had recently discovered a future version of himself that was dying of brain injuries. Believing that this was his fate, T’Challa ended his engagement because he had no future to offer her, but would not explain why. Still, even after this T’Challa went back and tried proposing again in Black Panther (vol. 3) #30. Fed up of all the drama, Monica ended their relationship for good.

   • It is mentioned here that Monica and Erik Killmonger are “friends”, which is putting it one way. See, during a coup of Wakanda, a Dora Milaje named Nakia obsessed with T’Challa (long story!) and tried to kill Monica in Black Panther (vol. 3) #11. However, she survived and was stranded in the jungle until she was found by Killmonger in issue #13. Monica then spent a period of time under his protection until Black Panther (vol. 3) #20.

7. Everett Ross distracts Sal’s wife by posing as a member of the Triune Understanding. This is a religious cult formed by Jonathan Tremont as part of a complex scheme to stop alien invaders from destroying the Earth. Check out Avengers (vol. 3) #50 for all the details on that.

8. Kasper and the Falcon came to this home in Black Panther (vol. 3) #60 to try and find Max only to come up empty handed as the 66 Bridges were able to move the boy.

9. A footnote here states that the White Tiger will be seen in The Crew, a short lived follow up series following Kasper’s further adventures. It also states here that the Black Panther can be found in the pages of the Avengers. It is specifically referring to Avengers (vol. 3) #66, he will appear in that series until the upcoming relaunch of the Black Panther title starts its publication about a year after this issue.

Topical References

• Everett states that he agreed to escort T’Challa for four days and it spiraled out into two years. However, this is not an accurate measurement of time. Black Panther (vol. 3) #1 was published in November of 1998 and this issue was published in September, 2003. Per the Sliding Timescale, a year has gone by at most since the first story happened around the first quarter of “Year Ten” and this story occurring in the 2nd quarter of “Year Eleven”

• Some real world products are name dropped when Kasper runs into T’Challa: Snapple, Whiskas, and Disney. Only Disney would be considered factual since the legendary studio now owns Marvel Comics and this would be an instance of brand synergy.

Unresolved Plotlines

While this story wraps up the whole Sal Anthony/66 Bridges storyline, it doesn’t address the elephant in the room that has been quietly ignored since issue #54. Namely, the plot line about T’Challa’s brain injury that he sustained in Black Panther (vol. 3) #39. Between issues #36 and 49 it was suggesting that the time displaced version of T’Chally from Reality-1145 was the future of T’Challa-616. The book wasn’t selling very well and was finally cancelled after being on the brink for many years. With a relaunch in the works to wipe the slate clean, this plot point fell on the wayside. In fact, this is never mentioned again. Even the last profile written for T’Challa in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1 doesn’t properly address this. The issue has not been clarified as of this writing (January, 2024).

My presumption is that the intervention of future self ultimately led to Wakandain scientists developing a cure for T’Challa’s condition. Yes, the 10-years-from-the-future T’Challa was beyond help, but that doesn’t negate the possibility that they developed a cure as long as the head injury hadn’t progressed from a specific point. To assume they couldn’t have a solution before or develop one after really underrates how technologically advanced Wakanda is.