Black Panther (vol. 4) #16
Bride of the Panther, Part 3
The Black Panther (T’Challa) has just proposed to Storm (Ororo Monroe) of the X-Men. Now Wakandan society is all abuzz from the news. Everyone wonders if a mutant from America is a suitable bride, along with concerns about their genes being compatible.
The news soon spreads across the world. From the New Avengers, to the X-Men, to the Fantastic Four are all delighted by the announcement.[1][2] Also reading the news is Princess Zanda, who has her own aspirations to marry T’Challa herself.[3] This recent development upsets her and when she demands her butler to prepare a plane, she is reminded how she is living in France as an exile with many outstanding warrants globally. While aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, Dum Dum Dugan and his team lament over how huge a headache this wedding will be, given the potential guest list.[4] To help them sort it out, they have called on the State Department’s resident expert on Wakanda, Everett Ross.[5]
A personal invitation — via a holographic device — is sent to the home of Isaiah Bradley, the African-American man who briefly operated as a prototype Captain America during World War II.[6] This invitation touches Hope Bradley, his wife. When their granddaughter Stephanie asks if they will be allowed to go, given that the United States has been trying to keep Isiah’s existence a secret for decades, Faith decides to give a call to Captain America to see what he can do to help.
While in Wakanda, S’Yan and W’Kabi are overseeing the monumental task of preparing security and construction for the big day. They discuss Storm and her commitment to the King. They are concerned about her associations with the US government as well as past relationship with the mutant inventor named Forge.[7] However, whereas Monica Lynne — former fianceé to T’Challa — mourns that her one-time lover is getting married,[8] Forge actually hopes for the best as he views their past relationship as a trainwreck. While at the United Nations, the Black Panther’s cousin T’Shan is practically beaming at the news of the wedding. This comes as a surprise to the staff, who are aware that T’Shan was a rival for the Wakandan throne years earlier. T’Shan tells them that after his near fatal plane crash he has had a complete change of mind. What they don’t realize is that T’Shan’s body had been hijacked by the body-swapping serial killer known as the Cannibal.[9] The wedding gives the Cannibal a chance to get close enough to T’Challa to carry out his mission to eliminate the King.
Meanwhile, the Black Panther and Storm have just finished reconnecting Ororo with her mother’s side of the family.[10] Now he wants to help her reconnect with her father’s side of the family. Storm mentions how she tried reconnecting with her past only to discover that the apartment building her family used to live in had turned into a crack house.[11] T’Challa bemusedly tells her that her past attempts to reconnect with her family were done without the resources of the entire nation of Wakanda and that he was able to track down surviving relatives on her father’s side.
The Black Panther isn’t the only one to have tracked down the brother of David Monroe. The terrorist organization known as Hydra has also tracked the family down. However, David’s brother and his wife are unphased by the home invaders as they have their grandson, David (named after his late uncle) to protect. They fend off the first wave of invaders with nothing more than a pistol and a frying pan. This gives the couple time to recover shotguns from another closet. When they go outside to deal with the rest of the Hydra operatives, they discover that Storm and the Black Panther have arrived and dealt with them already. After a heartfelt reunion, Storm and T’Challa are invited in and Ororo catches up on lost time. Her aunt and uncle explain that they believed Ororo died with her parents, but whenever they saw Storm on TV they always suspected that she might be their long lost niece. They were well armed to defend their home because they have a long history of being human rights activists that often find themselves at odds with the government of the day, and were prepared in case the FBI ever came knocking at their door. T’Challa apologizes for Hydra coming to their home as they were seeking to kidnap the Monroe family to use against them. He then offers them protection in Wakanda and any other relatives that might need it. Storm’s grandfather says that they are the last of her family along with their nephew, David, who they have been looking after since his mother died.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Africa, word of Hydra’s defeat leads back to the man who hired them. He is unsurprised as Hydra hasn’t been the same since Baron Strucker died. He also notes that with the Red Skull dead, Magneto de-powered, and the Green Goblin in prison,[12] there is a power vacuum that needs to be filled. This is great news to the man who hired Hydra to begin with, as he is M’Baku the Man-Ape and he intends to use the wedding of his mortal foe to achieve his goals.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Storm, New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, “Spider-Woman”), X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat), Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), SHIELD (Dum Dum Dugan), Mary Jane Watson, Everett Ross, Isaiah Bradley, Faith Bradley, Stephanie Bradley, W’Kabi, S’Yan, Forge, Monica Lynne, Magneto, Sentinel Squad ONE
Continuity Notes
Iron Man quips that “another one bites the dust” and then apologizes to Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson used to be married, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, following the events of Amazing Spider-Man #545, their marriage has been erased from existence. In the new timeline, Peter and Mary Jane would be in a long term/common-law relationship here as opposed to being married. As such, one could assume that Iron Man wouldn’t be offering them an apology as they’d no longer be married.
The woman who appears as Spider-Woman here is not Jessica Drew but a Skrull sleeper agend named Veranke. She switched places with Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1, something that will be revealed in Secret Invasion #3.
Princess Zanda’s obsession with T’Challa dates back to Black Panther #1.
One concern mentioned by SHIELD is if Mister Fantastic and the Sub-Mariner are in the same room. The two men have had a long rivalry over the affections of the Invisible Woman which dates back to Fantastic Four #4. Namor still pines for Sue even after she and Reed got married in Fantastic Four Annual #3.
Everett Ross is an expert on Wakanda thanks to an lengthy assignment as State Department attaché to T’Challa from Black Panther (vol. 3) #1-49.
If you don’t know who Isiah Bradley is, go and read Truth: Red, White and Black #1-7.
Storm had an on-again-off-again romance with Forge that last from Uncanny X-Men #186-290.
Monica Lynne had an on-again-off-again relationship with T’Challa since they first met in Avengers #73. Tired of constantly having her life at risk, Lynne ended their romance for good in Black Panther (vol. 3) #30.
The Cannibal was recruited by Ulysses Klaw to participate in an invasion of Wakanda. He joined on in exchange for a Presidential pardon for his past crimes. While this coup ended in failure, the Cannibal’s involvement remains unknown. T’Shan’s aspirations for the Wakandan throne as well as the Cannibal hijacking his body happened in Black Panther (vol. 4) #1-6.
This visit with Ororo’s Kenyan family was chronicled in Uncanny X-Men Annual (vol. 2) #1.
Storm discovered the shocking reality of he childhood home in X-Men #122. It was revealed that her parents — David and N’Daré — were both killed during a military conflict in Egypt. See X-Men #102.
It shouldn’t be surprising to you, dear reader, that the status of a lot of these villains have long since been reversed. Let’s get into the weeds of the issues here:
Here, Man-Ape states that Baron (Wolfgang von) Strucker is dead. However, this is a misconception on his part. A clone of Strucker was killed in Wolverine (vol. 3) #25. The genuine Strucker has been in hiding since New Thunderbolts #17. He will resurface in Secret Warriors #2.
At the time of this story, the Red Skull was seemingly assassinated by the Winter Soldier in Captain America (vol. 5) #1. However, it is later revealed in issue #14 of that series that the Red Skull cheated death by using the Cosmic Cube to transfer his mind into the body of Aleksander Lukin.
Magneto was de-powered following the events of House of M #1-8. However, his powers will get restored in New Avengers #20.
Lastly, the Green Goblin has been in prison since he was busted for murder in The Pulse #1-5. He will remain incarcerated until he is used as a government pawn in Civil War: Front Line #7-11.
Topical References
When discussing potential guests at attending the wedding, Dugan expresses his concern about Cuban leader Fidel Castro being at the same event as the President of the United States. This should be considered a topical reference as Castro stepped down 2008 and died in 2016.
It is stated that Isiah Bradley has been a US secret for 60 years. This would have been the length of time between World War II and when this comic was originally published in 2006. Due to the Sliding Timescale, the gulf of time between the end of the War and the start of the Modern Age will continue to grow over time. As such, this should be considered a topical reference as it is relative to the date of publication.
When discussing Monica Lynne’s heartbreak, two of her aides say that she is like Jennifer Aniston times ten. Aniston is an American actor that was at the height of her popularity around the time this comic was published. At the time, she had just been divorced from her first husband, fellow actor Brad Pitt. He started dating another actress, Angelina Jolie shortly thereafter, making much fodder for the tabloids. This reference should be considered topical as it could be replaced by a more contemporary example since celebrity divorces never go out of style.
Storm’s nephew is excited to watch the latest episode of 24. This was a dramatic television series that was at the height of its popularity when this comic was published. It aired from 2001 to 2010, and then enjoyed a brief revival in 2014. This should be considered a topical reference as you could replace this reference with a more contemporary example.
The Monroe family is stated as being part of the 60’s Civil Rights movement and were activists during the period of time that saw the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy. They also make a reference to former FBI director (and cross-dresser) J. Edgar Hoover. Due to the Sliding Timescale, these statements would become increasingly difficult to be true as the Monroe’s are ordinary humans with a normal life span. As such, these should be considered topical references. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that they were civil rights activists roughly 40 years prior. The events and people should be generalized (rights activists, the President of the United States, and Director of the FBI) in place of actual names.
David Monroe’s mother (Storm’s aunt) is said to have become addicted to drugs and died of AIDS, harkening to a time when getting this auto-immune virus was a death sentence. Since that period of time treatments have improved that people with AIDS have been able to live full lives and a potential cure could happen in our lifetime. As such, this should be considered a topical reference as the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s would also age everyone present. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that David’s mother died of an unspecified auto-immune disease as opposed to something specific.