Black Panther (vol. 4) #1
Who is the Black Panther?
Wakanda, 5th Century AD
An army of warriors from a rival tribe are trying to sneak into Wakanda to slaughter their enemies. However, their surprise attack was anticipated and the Wakandans have hidden bear-trap like traps in the tall grace that kills men by goring through their lower torso. As some of the soldiers succumb to these traps, their leader tells everyone to stay cool. That’s when a down pour of spears rain down on them by the thousands. Men fall as the rest scramble into the nearby forest for cover. Unfortunately for them, the Wakandans are somehow able to hurl their spears farther and they are able to arc in midair to strike the failed invaders, even under the cover of trees. They leave one survivor so that he can go back to his tribe and warn the others that Wakanda is off limits.
A Prison, Now
At a maximum security prison, a man is relating this story to a prisoner who is being held in a specially constructed cell of clear glass. Hearing the story, the prisoner is impressed to learn that the Wakandans were able to develop crossbow technology 5 centuries before the English. His visitor smiles and tells the prisoner that he hasn’t heard anything yet.
Wakanda, the 19th Century
An army of Dutch soldiers have come to colonize the land known as Wakanda. As they approach, the slaves they use as guides refuse to go any further, as they have learned for centuries never to cross Wakanda. Their leader, a man named Klaue, dismisses their fears as nothing more than local superstition. He has confidence that their gatling gun — which was instrumental in South Africa — will be more than enough to deal with the people Klaue has written off as primitive savages. However, as they press forward, the slaves run off. This angers Klaue who orders them all killed. It’s not until after the slaves are all dead do these genocidal bigots realize that now they’ll have to carry all of their equipment on their own.
After a grueling day of lugging their gear under the harsh African son, these pieces of shit eventually make it to the gates of Wakanda. After Klaue gives a motivational speech (the usual white supremacist drivel that cowardly men make) he scans ahead with a telescope. He sees a massive wooden gate with a giant panther statue behind it. Peering into the village he sees many women and boasts to his men how they are going to rape them. That’s when something clad in black streaks past his field of vision. Following it, Klaue gets the first look at the Black Panther of this era and it startles him.[1] Composing himself, Klaue orders his men to ready their rifles.
That’s when a strange machine emerges from the ground behind the Black Panther. The warrior tells Klaue and his men that they have one chance to leave peacefully or else he will kill every one of them except one to send back as a warning to others. Klaue then orders his men to fire, however, the Wakandan device causes all the rifles to explode, killing many of the men. Furious, Klaue orders the gatling gun to be fired next. Unfortunately for him, his men are too frightened to operate the weapon. Annoyed, Klaue decides to fire it himself and suffers the same fate as his riflemen. Among the survivors, one of the men cowardly asks that the Wakandans spare those who did not fire upon them. The Black Panther remains silent, letting his emerging army of warriors answer the question for him.
The White House, Now
The Secretary of State, Dondi Reece, has called a meeting after the nation of Wakanda has declared their airspace a no fly zone to everyone. This angers General Wallace, a bigoted American nationalist who says some disparaging things about Wakanda being primitive, before apologizing since Secretary Reece is an African-American woman. She then asks for intel on Wakanda, and turns it over to their resident expert, Everett Ross.[2] Ross begins by telling the gathered officials that Wakanda has been an independent nation that has successfully repelled every invader, noting that they French, English, Belgian, as well as Christian and Islamic groups have all failed to do so. This is due to the nation’s superior technologies, which everyone in the room assume that they either got it from other nations.
Ross corrects them, by saying that they were supported by neither side of the Cold War, nor did they become beholden to the Arab world after OPEC was formed. In fact, Wakanda is an oil rich nation that hasn’t even bothered to pump it. They have actually created their own sustainable energy sources using solar and hydrogen to meet their energy needs. This bothers everyone in the room as this will not suit American interests. General Wallace then begins bloviating again, questioning how they couldn’t just send in a 12 man Black Ops unit to deal with the Wakandans. Ross tells him that it’s already been tried. When Wallace presses the issue, Everett reiterates the best.
Wakanda, World War II[3]
During the war, Captain America was sent to Wakanda to prevent the Nazis from exploiting their advanced science. Unaware that the Black Panther had already killed the Germans, Cap battled the Panther and lost.
The White House, Now
When Everett tells this story, General Wallace refuses to believe it and has to be dragged out before he attacks Ross.[4] Once Wallace is dealt with, the Secretary of State and the rest of her staff begin wondering who might be able to deal with the Black Panther now.
This brings us back to the man in the prison, his visitor has come to recruit him in exchange for a Presidential pardon. The visitor has had a history with the current Black Panther, even killled his father. However, it cost him his hand. This visitor then shows a cybernetic limb in the place of his right hand. As the prosthetic hand transforms into a sonic weapon, the man introduces himself as Klaw![5][6]
Recurring Characters
Everett Ross, Klaw, Cannibal, Dondi Reece, (in flashback) Black Panther (Azzuri), Captain America
Continuity Notes
As of this writing (Jan. 2024), the true identity of this Black Panther has yet to be revealed. It is unclear if this is one of the known historical Black Panthers or if this is someone else.
Ross would know from Wakanda since he was closely involved in the goings on of its king from Black Panther (vol. 3) #1 through 49. At one point, between issues #13 and 25 of that series, Everett was temporarily put in charge of the nation.
This story states that Captain America’s encounter with Azzuri the Wise happened in 1944 here. However, Steve Rogers is depicted here with his triangular shield, which he only wielded early on in his career, as seen in Captain America Comics #1, He started using his trademark circular shield in the following issue of that series. Per Captain America #255, Cap switched shields in 1941. This is reinforced in the version of this encounter told in Black Panther (vol. 3) #30 and again in Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers #1-4. A possible explanation for this discrepancy could be gleaned from Captain America #225 and 247, wherein it was revealed that the US government obfuscated facts about Captain America’s origins to frustrate any attempted espionage by the Nazis.
Everett Ross also mentions how the Black Panther defeated the Fantastic Four during their first encounter as well. That was in Fantastic Four #52.
The man in the cell is unidentified here. Next issue he will be referred to as the Cannibal. His actual name and how he came to be a prisoner, as of this writing (Jan, 2024), has yet to be revealed.
Black Panther (vol. 4) #1-6 features Ulysses Klaw without as flesh and blood rather than the solid sound form that he has had since Fantastic Four #56. As of this writing, there has been no explanation as to why he’s like this in these issues. My assumption is the Klaw temporarily lost his powers somehow. Here, he also mentions how he killed T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, as originally told in Fantastic Four #53.
Topical References
The Secretary of State is a character called Dondi Rice, while her name is different she is a stand-in for Condoleezza Rice, who held that position when this comic was published in 2005. Her nickname was “Condi” and it was often used by the general public. That said, any suggestion that the fictional Dondi and IRL Condi are the same person should be considered topical. Since Marvel made an effort to change her name, this character should be assumed to be unique to the Marvel Universe and not be considered the IRL person she is based off of.
One of the individuals at the intel meeting mentions their “boys at Haliburton” know about the Wakandan oil. Haliburton is a multinational corporation that is part of the oil and gas industry. At the time this story was published, Haliburton was very much involved in the US invasions of Afganistan and Iraq. I could go at length about how the “War on Terror” was actually a war to enrich oil and gas companies, but I am exhausted so do your own research. This should be considered a topical reference as Haliburton is a real world corporation.
The staff’s near frothing-at-the-mouth over oil is also representative of the era in which this is published. As the world pivots away from the use of fossil fuels this will probably become topical as well. Don’t worry though, America has all sorts of things they could exploit African nations for other than oil. Blood diamonds, rare metals, trust me there is plenty of shit in the ground America is willing to murder and oppress for over there.
