Bride of the Panther, Part One

Now

Having decided to take a bride, the Black Panther (T’Challa) returns home to Africa in search of Storm (Ororo Munroe) of the X-Men.[1] As he arrives he thinks back to the to the days when he was a young man.

Years Ago[2]

T’Challa recalls how one day he was sparing with his cousin T’Shan. He asked T’Challa who he expected would rule the kingdom. T’Challa knew that his cousin was too preoccupied and scheming for the throne that he would never be king. T’Challa felt very alone during this period of time.[3]

Not as alone as he had felt that way was when he went on a walkabout as a young boy. It was on that pilgrimage that he met the woman he has loved most of his life, Ororo Munroe, the mutant later known as Storm.[4]

Two Days Ago

The Black Panther and Luke Cage were returning to New York City after giving relief in flood ravaged New Orleans.[5] T’Challa says that he is heading back to Africa to search for Storm, as he has decided to propose marriage to her. Cage is reluctant to say anything about Ororo, but T’Challa can tell that he doesn’t have anything nice to say. Luke tries to be polite, but when pressed on the matter Cage admits that he finds her stuck up. He also heard that she doesn’t date other Black men anyway.[6] T’Challa is amused to figure out that Cage once tried hitting on Storm and got rejected.

That’s when Luke asks how his infatuation with Storm all began. T’Challa explained that it started with her father, David Monroe. David Monroe first came to Africa as a small boy when his mother was an aide for a prominent African-American human rights activist. During that trip, young David was present when this activist met T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka. For David, it awoken an interest in his ancestral homeland and as an adult he began attending classes at the University of Kenya. It was during this time that he met and fell in love with N’Dare, a Kenya princess. They were soon married and had a daughter, Ororo Monroe.

T’Challa then tells about how David and his family relocated to Cairo, Egypt. There they were killed in a disaster, leaving Ororo orphaned.[7] She became a thief in order to survive but eventually wandered to her native Kenya. That’s when her mutant powers manifested, allowing her to control the weather. It was during this period of time that Ororo believed herself to be a goddess. That was until she was visited by Charles Xavier, who informed Monroe that she was a mutant and recruited her into his X-Men under the codename Storm. Since then, Ororo has fought for mutant rights along side the team of outlaws.[8] However, anything else T’Challa could tell would have to wait for another time as they had just arrived at Luke Cage’s apartment. There they are greeted by Luke’s girlfriend, Jessica Jones, and their daughter Dani.

After this, T’Challa returned to Africa and began searching for Storm. As the search began, T’Chall thought back to the advice his father had given him…

Decades Ago

T’Challa was only ten years old when his father gave him the talk about love. T’Chaka said that true love was a luxury. He said that while T’Challa’s mother was physically ideal as a mate, it was the fact that he loved who she was on the inside, a feeling that still makes him feel intoxicated with love all these years later, why their romance has endured.[9] Seeing that finding the right person worried his son, T’Chaka assured the boy that he had plenty of time to have fun and adventures before settling down with someone he loved.

However, T’Chaka would be proven wrong, for a few years after his death, T’Challa met the woman of his dreams. Ororo Monroe and the two had many adventures together and fell in love. However, there was one thing that kept them apart. One day while they were in an African market, T’Challa spotted Ulysses Klaw — his father’s killer — and this set him flying into a rage that made him run off.[10] The pair spent days trying to search for Klaw, but the trail eventually went cold. In the end, T’Challa decided that to avenge his father he needed to focus all of his energies on tracking down Ulysses Klaw and killing him. Ororo took this to mean that he viewed her as a distraction and was deeply hurt by his words. She then left him then and there and the pair have been apart ever since, until recently when T’Challa was reminded of their former love.

Now

While T’Challa is out searching for her, Storm has travelled to the Sudan where she and her fellow X-Man, Wolverine (Logan), have helped freed a group of women from being sold into the local slave trade. Logan had come after hearing how Storm has been making up for lost time by using her mutant gifts to make Africa a better place. He had grown concerned that her good deeds would cause an opposite reaction to the forces she opposed and came out to personally watch her back.

When they both see the Black Panther’s ship arrive, Wolverine begins teasing Storm by calling T’Challa her boyfriend. She denies this, but when the Panther lands and starts handing out water to the women they just saved, Logan begins to feel the tension between the Panther and Storm. Realizing he’s becoming a third wheel, Logan gives the pair some privacy so they can sort things out with one another.

T’Challa commends Storm for all the good she has been doing recently. This leads to a conversation about their childhood. T’Challa apologizes for his obsession with hunting down his father’s killer and getting revenge. He now realizes that pushing her away was a big mistake and wants to make up for it. Although she doesn’t initially believe him, T’Challa says that with Klaw now dead, he can finally be the man she has always desired. He then gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him.[11]

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Dani Cage, Storm, Wolverine, (in flashback) T’Chaka (see below), T’Shan, Ramonda, Shuri, T’Chaka

Continuity Notes

1. Storm has been residing in Africa after a mission with the X-Men in Niganda. See X-Men (vol. 2) #175-176 and Black Panther (vol. 4) #8-9.

2. This story states that the first flashback in this story happened 10 years prior to the main story. This is inaccurate, see below.

3. T’Shan’s aspired to become the King of Wakanda and entered the trail by combat at the same time T’Challa did. While T’Shan got his ass handed to him, T’Challa won the contest. See Black Panther (vol. 4) #2.

4. T’Challa and Storm first met in Marvel Team-Up #100, however, this flashback is recounting the time they met in Storm (vol. 2) #1-6. See below for more about that.

5. The Black Panther and Luke helped Blade wipe out a vampire infestation in New Orleans in Black Panther (vol. 4) #12-13.

6. Cage’s offhand comment about Storm not dating other African-Americans men. Which is pretty accurate at the time of this story. Storm’s past romances included a brief affair with Aarkon of Polemachus in Uncanny X-Men Annual #5. She also had an on-again-off-again relationship with the mutant inventor known as Forge from Uncanny X-Men #186 through 290.

7. This recounting downplays how Storm’s parents were killed, saying that they died in a disaster. In reality, per X-Men #102, Storm’s parents were killed in an armed conflict. That story says it happened during the Suez War of 1956, but that should be considered topical.

8. Storm was recruited into the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and has been a member almost consistently since then.

9. It’s is unclear if T’Chaka is talking about T’Challa’s biological mother or his adopted one. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #2, T’Challa’s biological mother was a woman named N’Yami who, per Black Panther (vol. 3) #1 had died giving birth to T’Challa. Following N’Yami’s death, T’Chaka met and fell in love with South African born Ramonda who we first met in Marvel Comics Presents #14. Ramonda raised T’Challa as her own and T’Challa now refers to her as his mother.

10. As originally told in Fantastic Four #53, T’Chaka was murdered by Ulysses Klaw over Wakanda’s supply of Vibranium. T’Challa and Klaw fought many times over the years until recently when T’Challa seemingly slew his foe in Black Panther (vol. 4) #6. However, Klaw has since turned up alive after that seemingly fatal encounter, as seen in Fantastic Four: Foes #5.

11. And I shouldn’t have to tell you what her answer is, because they will get married in Black Panther (vol. 4) #18.

Topical References

• This story states that the first flashback in the story — the one that recounts T’Challa’s young adventures with Storm — took place ten years prior to the main story. However, this does not mesh with the Sliding Timescale. This issue was published in May, 2006, placing it as occurring the 12th “year” of the Modern Age. 10 years prior would have been 2 years into the Modern Age. Per Fantastic Four #52, which took place during “year two” T’Challa had already established himself as the Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda. Per the dialogue, this story takes place prior to T’Challa ascending to the throne. As this takes place during the events of Storm (vol. 2) #1-6, when T’Challa and Storm were both about 12 years old. Per Rise of the Black Panther #1, T’Challa was 10 years old when his father was murdered, placing that happening as two years after that. Since T’Chaka’s death happened eight years prior to the start of the Modern Age, T’Challa’s first encounter with Storm happened six years prior. As such, the “ten year” reference should be considered incorrect. It actually would have happened 18 years prior to the main story, per the Sliding Timescale.

• This story also states that Storm’s father, David Monroe first visited Africa with his mother who, at the time, was an aid to Civil Rights activist Malcolm X. T’Challa states that this happened prior to the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965. This would be considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale. This is because the Modern Age would get pushed forward, it would become increasingly impossible for David Monroe to have been alive at the same time as Malcom X without prematurely aging him. This scene could be interpreted in two ways, YMMV:

  • Given the historical importance of Malcolm X, one could assume that the Monroe family also had a historical connection to the famous Civil Rights icon. One could assume that X’s trip to Africa had a similar impact on the Monroe family who kept visiting.

  • The alternative is that the Monroes went to Africa with an prominent individual that seeks equal rights for African-Americans in the United States. Rather than Malcolm X himself, one could assume a more contemporary activist. I’d err on the side of saying that it was some unspecified activist unique to the Marvel Universe as one would not need to constantly update this story if/when it gets retold.

Storm and T’Challa’s First Meeting

The flashback presented in this story, recounting the first meeting between T’Challa and Storm ties into Storm (vol. 2) #1-6, which was published around the same time of this story. That tale appears to contradict the previous “first meeting” that was depicted in Marvel Team-Up #100. In that story, Storm is said to have met T’Challa when she was 12 years old and was the one who rescued him. Per the Marvel Chronology Project, both encounters did occur, with the meeting in Marvel Team-Up #100 happening first.

The meeting between Storm and T’Challa started in issue 2 of the Storm limited series. Lazy people on the internet seem to think that the limited series somehow retcons the previous encounter based on the fact that when Storm is rescued by T’Challa for the “first time” in Storm (vol. 2) #2, she asks him who he is. Completely ignoring the fact that she was suffering from the effects of a tranquilizer gun. Clearly none of these people have never been sedated before. Medically speaking, sedatives can impair the memories of those under the influence, particularly those of children. Storm covered both of those criteria when she met T’Challa for the “first time” in the Storm mini-series. One could assume, then, it wasn’t that she was meeting T’Challa for the first time, but was unable to recognize him as she was under the influence of drugs.

As for T’Challa saying that this their first meeting, one could assume that this was the first time he saw her as a romantic interest. Perhaps he views it as the “first time” he really saw Storm as a woman he could spend the rest of his life with.