Black Panther (vol. 4) #4
Who is the Black Panther? Part 4
In Wakanda, a group of school children are a on a fieldtrip to the Great Mound to learn about the country’s rich supply of Vibranium. As they are learning, one of the miners strikes a new vein of the rare metal, somehow causing a massive earthquake. This causes one of the children to fall over a safety railing. He would have fatally fell into the mound if not for the Black Panther (T’Challa) leaping in to save him. Little does anyone know that this is the work of Klaw, the Panther’s arch nemesis who is plotting an invasion of Wakanda. With the help of the Radioactive Man (Igor Stancheck)’s powers,[1] they were able to cause the Vibranium to radiate out of control.
Meanwhile, the Black Panther sends the school children back to the city. He summons his advisory council who assess the accident. They find that none of the miners were injured. They also assess that had the Vibranium not been there to absorb the worse of the quake, it would have been much worse. While everyone tries to downplay it, Shuri — the Panther’s sister — offers her fears that something is negatively affecting their Vibranium supply. She asks for permission to go down and do a complete investigation. T’Challa, however, declines this request, saying it is too dangerous. He is also annoyed that the boy he saved wanted to bow in gratitude before being taken to the hospital for injuries. Realizing the boy revears him as a god, T’Challa removes his mask to reveal that he is an ordinary man. He tells the boy that he acts on behalf of the gods, and that there is no feat the boy is incapable of.
As the sun begins to set, the Vatican’s Black Knight prays to God in the coming battle.[2][3][4] Klaw interrupts him to ask if he can say a prayer for the troops, as it would be good for morale. When the Knight asks if Klaw is religious, he says that he went to church every Sunday as a boy. When asked if he believes, Klaw will only say that he believes that this mission will save lives and souls. This is enough for the Knight, who puts on his helmet and addresses the soldiers. With them are Batroc the Leaper, the Rhino,[5] and Klaw, whom make pithy comments during the entire speech. Despite this the Black Knight tells the soldiers of the important and religiously justified conflict they are about to wage.
That evening, while T’Challa sleeps, he dreams of being stalked by a massive white panther. When he beckons the creature to come out, it ambushes him and rips him to shred. T’Challa’s remains are tossed over a cliff as the panther tells him that he is not worthy. Miraculously, T’Challa survives being dismembered and his body parts are carried ashore by the Dora Milaje. They reassemble his body and then seductively start asking him if there is anything else they can do for him.[6] That’s when he wakes up and finds some of the Dora Milaje standing at his bedside to tell him that there is a situation.
After putting on his ceremonial garb, the Black Panther heads down to the war room of the palace. Here, W’Kabi shows him security footage of the Rhino charging through all of the outer defenses. At his current rate of speed, T’Challa orders fighter jets scrambled to deal with him before he enters a populated area. Two Wakandan planes are deployed, but before they can engage in the enemy they are attacked by the Black Knight, who is riding on his flying horse, Aragorn. As the Knight uses his Ebony Blade to wreck the plane, the invaders launch a missile directly toward the Vibranium Mound. Still, one of the ejecting pilots manages to shoot the Black Knight. This knocks him off his horse, but the flying steed is able to swoop under him in time.
At the Mount, Shuri is doing her examination even though she was ordered not to do so. That’s when the missile strikes their location. However, rather than exploding, the missile burrows into the Mound because it was being used to deliver the Radioactive Man. When he emerges from the missile, Igor uses his powers to kill one of the minors who comes to Shuri’s protection.
Meanwhile, the attack on Wakanda reaches American officials who send for Everett Ross to provide his expertise.[7] In the situation room, Secretary of State Dondi Reese meets with the Secretaries of State and Defense to discuss the situation. The decision they make is to lend their assistance to Wakanda in order to put them in their debt. To that end, they order the deployment of the Very Special Forces.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Klaw, Batroc the Leaper, Rhino, Black Knight, Radioactive Man, S’Yan, Shuri, W’Kabi, K’Shan, Dondi Reece, Everett Ross
Continuity Notes
This, Igor Stancheck is the Radioactive Man. He should not be confused with Chen Lu, the original Radioactive Man, who first appeared back in Journey into Mystery #93.
This Black Knight is obviously not Dane Whitman, who was operating as the Black Knight at the time of this story. His real name is revealed to be Augustine du Lac in the Black Knight appendix added to the softcover edition of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1.
How the Ebony Blade ended up in the hands of this Black Knight is complicated and messy. So let me clear up the details for you:
The root of the problem is that while the Ebony Blade appears in the pages of this volume of Black Panther, it will also simultaneously appear in the pages of New Excalibur series that will start up a few months later. In New Excalibur #14-15 would identify the Ebony Blade used by Dane Whitman during this period is a fake.
However, it’s not until Captain Britain and MI-6 #7-10 that it is explained that the Blade was swapped out with the fake by Dracula as part of some convoluted plot.
For clarity, the swap out happened sometime between Dane Whitman’s appearances in Avengers (vol. 3) #37 and New Excalibur #1.
For some reason, during Black Panther (vol. 4) #1-6, Klaw appears human form. As of this writing (January, 2024), there has yet to be an explanation for this. One could assume that Ulysses temporarily lost his powers.
It is stated here that Rhino the Rhino represents America. In reality, the Rhino has been identified as being a Russian immigrant as of Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #5. The mistake is understandable since Rhino being Russian was a recent revelation, in fact older editions of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (the original run, deluxe, and master editions) all list him as being an American citizen and make no mention of Russia. His Russian background was not officially mentioned in handbooks until Marvel Encyclopedia: Spider-Man and all profiles since then have reflected this more recent revelation. That said, just because his a Russian immigrant doesn’t mean he couldn’t be representing American interests here since he holds citizenship in both countries.
This dream is foretelling two upcoming events: T’Challa’s desire for a bride (a task he will accomplish in Black Panther (vol. 4) #14-18 and how he will be stripped of the title of Black Panther in Black Panther (vol. 5) #1-6.
Everett is an expert on Wakanda due to the fact that he spent a lot of time with T’Challa from Black Panther (vol. 3) #1-49, even temporarily ruling the nation from issues #13-25 of that series.
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.
Likewise, the Secretary of Defense and State are depicted to resemble Donald Rumsfeld and Colon Powell. Both men also served in these roles when this comic was originally published. Their appearances here should be considered topical as they ceased operating in these roles once the Bush Administration completed their two terms in 2009. Moreover both men died in 2021, and if there is an afterlife hopefully they are rotting in Hell.