The Deadliest of the Species, Part 3

The Black Panther (T’Challa) was ambushed by Doctor Doom during a state visit to Latveria. It was an encounter that he barely survived thanks to his loyal Dora Milaje getting him safely back to Wakanda.[1] Reliving this near death experience, T’Challa wakes up shouting into a black void. He is soon joined by an almost angelic looking Dora Milaje who tells T’Challa that she has come to take him home.

Meanwhile, in the waking world, efforts are being made to restore T’Challa to his health. Not confident that modern science can save her step-son, Ramonda has convinced T’Challa’s wife Storm (Ororo Monroe), to take a more traditional approach. The two women then pay a visit to a local witchdoctor named Zawavari to get his assistance. He tells them that he cannot help directly, but will guide them to help themselves. When Ramonda asks what the price of this service will be, Zawavari flashes a fiendish grin and says that this one is on the house, as he lives to serve the royal family.

He then tells them that T’Challa’s spirit hangs in the limbo between life and death. The only way to save him from crossing over is for someone with a strong lifeforce to venture into this realm and recover him. He offers to send Storm’s spirit into this realm to recover her husband. When Ororo asks why the Panther God (Bast) doesn’t intervene. He tells her that the old gods do not involve themselves in the affairs of mortals, and revere life and death as the natural order. He then warns Storm that the journey will be one fraught with danger. Unphased by this, Ororo asks what she needs to do. Zawavari tests the women’s patience by saying he’s not too clear on what will happen since he last performed this ritual over a century ago. He also says there are rules that need to be followed.

Meanwhile, Shuri — T’Challa’s half-sister — has been selected to succeed him as the next Black Panther while his fate is unknown. She is now undergoing the rituals to earn her the right to eat the heat-shaped herbs that give a Black Panther their powers.[2] Under the direction of Zuri — an elder warrior — she has passed every test so far. Her current challenge is to scale the side of a mountain by hand. As she climbs she mutters to herself about how easy this all has been. That’s when her overconfidence gets the better of her and she loses her grip. Luckily, she is able to turn her fall into a flip and grab a lower outcropping before she falls too far. She reminds herself to focus on the task and that this is what she trained for, before continuing on.

At the same time, on the other side of the African continent, members of various cults that rival the Panther Tribe of Wakanda are seizing on the nation’s moment of weakness. They pool their mystical resources in order to bring a powerful warrior to turn against the their rivals.[3] With their magic, they are able to summon the totemic vampire known as Morlun back to their world.[4] He tells them that he thirsts for totemic energies, and they offer him up the Black Panther as his next meal.

Back in Wakanda, Zawavari has finished whispering the rules of the ritual into her ear. She is unsurprised to learn that there is a catch to doing all this but still wants to go through with it, just the same. This makes Zawavari flash his devilish grin once more. Concurrently, Shuri has made it to the top of the mountain. From her vantage point, she can see the special plant that grows the heart-shaped herb. It is also surrounded by 25 real live panthers all sleeping around it as protection. Shuri does a head count and smiles to herself as she is confident that the herb is hers for the taking.

At the same time, Morlun has fed on all of the mystics that have summoned him to Africa. Thanking them for their sacrifice, he then heads off into the jungles in order to make his way to Wakanda. This is while, Shuri successfully retrieves the needed herb for her communion with Bast, and Storm undergoes the ceremony to send her to limbo. There, T’Challa is encouraged to enter the light with the angelic Dora Milaje. However, when she reaches out her hand to guide him, T’Challa gets a good look in her eyes and sees that this isn’t one of his “Brides in Waiting” and recoils away. That’s when the “Dora Milaje” drops her illusion, revealing her to be the embodiment of Death itself!

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Storm, Shuri, Ramonda, Zawavari, Crocodile Cult, Lion Cult, Morlun, Death

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place during the Dark Reign event and follows Secret Invasion. At this point in time, Norman Osborn was put in charge of SHIELD after killing Queen Veranke, the leader of the Skrulls in Secret Invasion #8. In Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1, he recruited a Cabal of global superhumans with mutual goals of world domination. In Black Panther (vol. 5) #1, the Black Panther was invited to join and he refused, leading to his near fatal battle with Doom seen in that issue and last issue.

2. Shuri was selected to succeed her brother last issue. This is because she has been training in the role since she was young. She even attempted to compete in the same ritual T’Challa did. Only she arrived too late, as we saw in Black Panther (vol. 4) #2.

3. Present here are members of the Crocodile Cult, who worship the Egyptian crocodile god Sobek. They are making their first appearance here. Last issue, we saw that the Lion Cult were also involved in this scheme (they first appeared back in Avengers #112) who worship Hathor-Sekhmet. Presented here are a third group, identified by wearing falcon headdresses. As of this writing (March, 2024), this group has yet to be named. Given the theme going with these rival tribes, I would assume that this group worships the Egyptian god Horus, who is traditionally depicted with the head of a falcon.

4. At the time this story was published, Morlun was seemingly killed in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3. However, Morlun is but one member of a reality hopping family of leech totems from Reality-001. They traverse the multiverse feeding on the energies of those who represent various animal totems. At this point in time, every time one of these family members dies, their minds are downloaded in a newly cloned body back home in order to cheat death. This will all be explained in Scarlet Spiders #1-3.