The Deadliest of the Species, Part 6

Morlun, a totemic leach, has been unleashed on Wakanda after the Black Panther (T’Challa) was injured in battle. Although she has been rejected by the Panther God (Bast), his half-sister Shuri has suited up as the Black Panther to face this threat.[1] She impales Morlun with a spear before he can consume the life energies of her brother. Morlun is unimpressed, but the attack does force him to turn his attention to her. At first, he believes that she is nothing more than a pale impostor, but then he takes in her scent. What he smells tells Morlun that there is more to Shuri than meets the eye.

Meanwhile, Storm (T’Challa’s wife, Ororo Monroe) has ventured into the limbo between life and death to save her husband. Unfortunately, the mystical ceremony that she used to do this meant that, in order to save T’Challa’s life, she would have to give up her own in exchange. However, T’Challa refuses to have their young marriage be ended so soon.[2] However, Storm insists that this is her sacrifice to make as Wakanda needs their king!

Back in the world of the living, a plan is already in order to try and save both Storm and T’Challa. Shuri allows Morlun to get a few blows in order to make him determined to end her life. She then starts to run toward the home of the witchdoctor Zawavari. There, Ramonda is overseeing the mystics attempt to circumvent the rules of the spell that sent Storm’s spirit into the afterlife.

There, T’Challa has decided to remain in the realm of the dead with his wife as he doesn’t want to leave her. This brings Storm to tears, as much as she loves her husband, she doesn’t want this sacrifice to turn into a suicide pact. She convinces him that returning to the world of the living in the right thing to do. Realizing that Ororo is right, the two kiss, seemingly for the last time.

Meanwhile, Shuri has hopped onto a sky-cycle and snared Morlun in a net, so she can bring him to Zawavari’s place faster. At the same time, Shuri’s adamantium net is ripped apart by Morlun, who then lunges himself onto the sky-cycle. Shuri abandons ship, causing the craft to crash with Morlun still onboard. Simultaneously, the living embodiment of Death appears before Storm and T’Challa. It will no longer be denied and demands that Storm’s or T’Challa’s soul come with it. Once again, T’Challa finds himself defying Death itself, prompting the entity to summon her legions of the undead to take by force what is not being freely given.

At the same time, Shuri lures Morlun into the witchdoctor’s hut despite being seriously injured from the crash. At first, Zawavari is frozen in fear at the sight of Morlun. However, Ramonda gets him to snap out of it and cast the spell needed to banish the monster to limbo. Morlun appears in the middle of Storm and T’Challa’s fight. Sensing the souls of ten thousand souls screaming from within Morlun, Death finds him a much more tantalizing offering. She also knows that this is the work of Zawavari, but decides to let Storm and T’Challa go as their souls are of no interest to her anymore, at least for the time being. Morlun, however, will not surrender to Death without a fight, something that the entity is looking forward to.[3]

Moments later, Storm wakes up crying out T’Challa’s name. They quickly get in touch with Doctor B’Gali, who confirms that the King has also awoken from his coma. Within an hour, they are all by T’Challa’s bedside. However, none can understand how Shuri could have survived being rejected by the Panther God, since those who have usually die. Zawavari points out that it’s pretty easy to understand. Everyone is assuming that Bast’s deeming her unworthy was viewed as the end of the test. He points out that Shuri had been training for this role her entire life and an outright failure would have been a waste of that training. He figures that Bast allowed her to live to see what she did next. When she selflessly dressed as the Black Panther and engaged in a battle that would have been viewed as a suicide mission to others, she proved that she was now worthy of the mantle. He points out that even Morlun sensed it, explaining why he pursued Shuri so relentlessly.

Seeing all the death and destruction that Wakanda experienced during Morlun’s attack, Shuri says that she expected the day she became the Black Panther would have been more celebratory than bloody. Storm reminds her that a great leader is measured by how they rule during the worst of times. “So be it.” Shuri says in response.

Recurring Characters

Black Panthers (Shuri and T’Challa), Storm, Morlun, Death, Ramunda, B’Gali, Zawavari

Continuity Notes

1. T’Challa was seriously wounded by Doctor Doom and has been in a coma for the past five issues. In that time, Shuri underwent the ritual to succeed him as the Black Panther, only to be rejected by Bast.

2. At the time of this story, Storm and T’Challa had only recently got married as seen in Black Panther (vol. 4) #18.

3. This is not the end of Morlun, who will turn up alive again in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #4. As will be explained in Scarlet Spiders #1-3, whenever Morlun dies, his mind is transferred into a cloned body. I hate it when they do that.