Who is the Black Panther? Part 6

Ulysses Klaw has invaded Wakanda with the aid of the tyrannical Nigandan government. Racing to the neighboring country, the Black Panther (T’Challa) beats its leader, M’Butu, in an effort to get him to reveal Klaw’s location. However, he gets his answer soon enough when Klaw contacts him and reveals that he has captured his step-mother Ramonda and taken her hostage.[1][2]

Fearing for the life of the woman who raised him, T’Challa whispers to W’Kabi over his comms to ask what is being done about the situation. W’Kabi tells the King that his uncle — Y’San — is leading a team to rescue Ramonda. T’Challa believes this is a bad call as his uncle is too old for combat. Klaw tries to get the Panther to pay attention to him by threatening his mother some more. However, Ramonda tells her adopted son to nevermind her, saying that she has lived a full life. When T’Challa threatens to kill him, Klaw boasts that this isn’t the only part of his plan.

He then contacts the Radioactive Man (Igor Stancheck), who has infiltrated the Vibranium Mound, to begin his part of the plan. Using his powers, the Radioactive Man causes the Vibranium in the mound to begin vibrating. This causes shockwaves to be felt all over the country, causing the warring Wakandan and Nigandan armies to pause momentarily, as well as the Very Special Forces — American cyborg soldiers sent to assist Wakanda for political gain. Klaw then gives T’Challa an ultimatum: Dig his heart out with a knife, or else he will reduce Wakanda to a hole in the ground.

Meanwhile, T’Shan — the Black Panther’s cousin assigned to the United Nations — is rushing back home from New York. With him is a woman claiming to be the wife of the Radioactive Man. She has convinced him that she knows a way to stop him and wants to help end the invasion of Wakanda. T’Shan, clearly attracted to the woman, decides to take her up on her offer after his aide checks her background and learns that it checks out. Little do they know that this woman is the current host body for a killer known as the Cannibal and all part of a trap set by Klaw. Something the two Wakandian officials are completely oblivious to because they’re too busy being thirsty over her body.

Back in Wakanda, Klaw asks T’Challa to make his decision. The Black Panther points out that no matter what he does, Klaw will kill his mother and destroy his kingdom, so he choses to do nothing other than make a threat of his own: He will kill Klaw this day, no matter what happens. Seconds after uttering this, S’Yan (clad in his own Black Panther costume) comes charging into Ramonda’s quarters with two of the Dora Milaje. While the Dora are busy dealing with Batroc the Leaper, S’Yan charges at Klaw. Ramonda takes this opportunity to elbow Ulysses in the dick, allowing her to get away. When S’Yan is about to run Klaw through with his spear, the villain manages to blast one of S’Yan’s legs with his sonic horn. This distraction allows the real Black Panther to disappear from the view screen.

Before Klaw and figure out what has happened to T’Challa, the room beings to quake once more. However, this isn’t the work of the Radioactive Man. Curious to see what’s going on outside, Klaw hacks into Wakanda’s computer systems to see for himself. Using a digital avatar of himself to get access to the security feeds, he discovers that the United States have sent in their cyborg army is converging on the conflict. Fearing that the Americans will take his victory away from him, Klaw orders the Radioactive Man to speed things up before it is too late. However, before Igor can do as he is told, Shuri — who has been hiding out in the mine this whole time — drops a large rock on his head. Recovering from the blow, the Radioactive Man gives Shuri chase.

By this time, W’Kabi and his team have detected Klaw’s intrusion on the system and dispatch their panther themed cyber-security tools after him, forcing him to disconnect from the system. He tells Igor to get on with the plan, but Stancheck is too pre-occupied with chasing Shuri to comply. As the nuclear powered foe begins catching up with her, Shuri finds the Ebony Blade dropped by the Black Knight earlier in the battle.[2] Klaw orders Igor to stop fooling around and follow orders, as he can kill whoever he wants afterwards. When Ulysses turns his attention back to the room, he finds Batroc tied up. He learns that the Dora Milaje were able to get Ramonda and S’Yan out of the room while Klaw was distracted. Looking out the window, Klaw spots them running away and converts his sonic horn into a sniper rifle and attempts to pick them off.

That’s when the Black Panther ambushers Klaw, causing him to fire wildly into the air. As fate would have it, it strikes the wing of the plane carrying T’Shan and his crew, causing the plane to crash.

Meanwhile, the Black Panther restrains his foe and then blinds him by rolling him up in a rug. Trying to get free, Ulysses uses the laser built into his cybernetic eye to cut through the carpet. As he is doing this, T’Challa positions his right arm in a way that the laser ends up blasting through his cybernetic hand. However, Klaw can still control it and gives it a command to revert back into his sonic horn and begin firing blasts at the Panther.

While he does so, Klaw begins barking orders at Radioactive Man, who is still too busy chasing Shuri to listen. When he things he has the girl cornered, she uses the Ebony Blade to slay him with a single slice. While this stops her attacker, Shuri is horrified that she had to take a human life in order to save herself.[3] While Klaw is once again distracted, T’Challa is able to get hold of a tribal shield weaved out of Vibranium. This allows him to deflect from Klaw’s severed sonic horn and get in close enough to fatally stab his nemesis through the chest. As Klaw seemingly dies, T’Challa tells him that this is for his father.[4]

At the same time, T’Shan emerges from the wrecked aircraft and discovers that his female passenger is dying. He makes the mistake of getting close enough for her to kiss him, allowing the Cannibal to cheat death by hopping into a new host body.[5]

Meanwhile, T’Challa stands over the corpse of his dead enemy. He is interrupted by the Very Special Forces, an American team of military cyborgs that were deployed to assist Wakanda for political leverage. The VSF offers their assistance in quelling the rest of the uprising. Unimpressed by the American interference, T’Challa orders them to leave Wakanda or their presence will be considered an act of war. This message is relayed back to Everett Ross who is in charge of the operation. He wisely orders the cyborgs to return to base.

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Klaw, Batroc the Leaper, Rhino, Black Knight, Radioactive Man, the Cannibal, Shuri, S’Yan, Ramonda, W’Kabi, T’Shan, M’Butu, Everett Ross

Continuity Notes

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.

2. Klaw states that when he kills Ramonda, it will make T’Challa an orphan. Klaw was responsible for murdering T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, years earlier. This tale was originally told in Fantastic Four #53.

3. Per Marvel Super-Heroes #17, the Ebony Blade has a blood curse. Once a person wielding it has drawn blood with it, they are compelled to commit more acts of bloodshed. It is unexplained how Shuri isn’t saddled with this curse by killing the Radioactive Man as of this writing (Jan, 2024). I’d presume that perhaps the Radioactive Man — due to his condition — may no longer have blood in his body. Speaking of whom, Igor Stancheck is still considered among the deceased, time of this writing.

4. Although seemingly killed here, Klaw will turn up alive again (and back in his solid sound form) in Fantastic Four: Foes #5, according to the Marvel Chronology Project. How he cheated death is (time of this writing) is yet another unexplained anomaly of this story arc that has yet to be explained. I posit a theory below.

5. The Cannibal will remain an unresolved plot threat for a time. He’ll turn up in Black Panther (vol. 4) #16-18.

How Does Klaw Cheat Death?

Among the many outstanding continuity issues with the Who is the Black Panther? storyline, the inconsistencies with Ulysses Klaw remain the only one left outstanding, as of this writing (Jan, 2024). I covered how he origin story differs from other versions of events at the end of the summary for issue #3, so there’s no need to rehash it there. Instead, I want to take some time to discuss how Klaw could have survived this encounter, and the fact that he is human here. I would like to posit some theories on how this can be using some precedence that exists in the Marvel Universe.

Theory #1: Klaw lost his powers

The first, and the most likely explanation is that Klaw somehow lost his powers. There are many instances where a character loses their powers only to get them back again. The Thing (Ben Grimm) of the Fantastic Four is a perfect and one of many examples of this. So the idea that Klaw somehow lost his powers is not outlandish, all it needs is an explanation. This will explain all the cybernetics, and the fact that he is flesh and blood here.

How he cheats death could likely be explained based on the fact that Klaw has cheated death multiple times. Usually, it is caused by his solid sound form being disrupted and later being reconstituted. We saw this in Dazzler #9/Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #10, Captain America (vol. 3) #22/Black Panther (vol. 3) #26, and in Superior Carnage #5/Avengers Stand-Off: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1. He finds some way to reconstitute himself.

My theory is that while he was trapped in his human form, his sonic powers were dormant and in killing Klaw’s physical body in this story, T’Challa released the sonic energy which later reconstituted itself.

Theory #2: A Temporal Anomaly

There are two great examples of instances where a temporal anomaly was created to explain a character appearing in different and contradictory ways. The first is from Avengers Forever, which revealed that Immortus created a chronal duplicate of the android Human Torch, one that was buried in the ground and the other becoming the Vision. This was all part of a plan that Immortus used to manipulate the Avengers. This could be a temporal anomaly created by Immortus, given that T’Challa is a member of the Avengers.

Possibility #2 is provided in Captain Marvel (vol. 5) #18, which revealed that a temporal anomaly affected a number of characters on Earth, such as the Absorbing Man who simultaneously reformed (in Thor (vol. 2) #55-56) while also fighting the Hulk in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #59.

And perhaps the most recent explanation in this vein that would apply here is the House of M. Because readers of New X-Men and Avengers: Disassembled will tell you, Wanda was slowly warping reality before changing it completely. This could explain why Klaw looks different and remembers events differently. Hell, he could even be the House of M version of Klaw who somehow pre-existed the House of M. If William Traveler can travel through time and pop-up on Earth-616 (as he did in Ms. Marvel volume 2), or Proteus dimension hope after his encounter with the Exiles, I don’t see how this couldn’t be possible with Klaw.

Either instance could have created a duplicate version of Klaw that was never transformed into solid sound that existed simultaneously with the version who had. This would also explain how Klaw is depicted on the loose in this story arc while also being incarcerated by the FF in Fantastic Four: Foes #1-6.

Theory #3: This is a version of Klaw from somewhere else in the Multiverse

The least interesting (in my opinion) theory is that this isn’t the Ulysses Klaw from Earth-616, but one from an undisclosed alternate reality. This would easily explain away his lack of powers, cybernetic implants, and the vastly different back story. After all the Spider-Verse whatever and the Hollywood bleeding out the concept of a multiverse, this would be the easiest explanation. However, it would also be the laziest and I hope that when a competent writer gets around to explaining all of this, they don’t choose this one.