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In Black Panther #2, the Marvel Avenger and King of Wakanda discovers a surprising change in loyalty from one of his most personal allies.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Black Panther #2, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
T’Challa’s return to Earth from the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda has been followed by some of the biggest shakeups of his life. Not only has the nation of Wakanda transitioned to a parliamentary government with no real need of a king, but the worst decisions T’Challa ever made as ruler of the country have come back with lethal consequences. Now desperate to bring his best agents back to Wakanda, the Black panther is learning the uncomfortable truth of exactly where his peoples’ loyalty lies in Black Panther #2 (by by John Ridley, Juann Cabal, Federico Blee, and VC’s Joe Sabino), and it isn’t where he had hoped.
Someone has uncovered the sleeper agents T’challa sent out all over the globe decades ago, and whoever it is has begun hunting down and eliminating them. While he hasn’t managed to bring every one of them back to Wakanda, T’Challa has at least been able to reach out to the remaining agents, although he hasn’t been able to convince them to abandon their mission, or the lives they have built in service of that mission.
Several agents, including Kimura, make it perfectly clear that they have no interest in returning to Wakanda, nor do they care what T’Challa has to say about the matter. Omolola, who has joined T’Challa in his quest since losing Jhai, another agent she had fallen in love with, puts things in the simplest terms when she reminds her king that her loyalty lies with Wakanda, not its regent. As much as T’Challa might like to think that his people hold him in the highest regards, that is hardly the case. Even worse is the fact that he really should have seen it coming considering that his position as king has been reduced to an advisory role at best.
Far from the trusted and beloved hero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this Black Panther is quite possibly the last person anyone would put their faith in, let alone pledge their allegiance to. Taking the reins of a cosmic empire and losing those of his home, on top of having to step back from the Avengers and losing the foothold he once had with the mutants of Krakoa have all added up to make an unsteady if not entirely unreliable figure out of T’Challa, and that is not something he knows how to handle. Of course, the lack of trust which he has exuded through his past actions and continued secrecy certainly contribute to the similar lack of trust that T’Challa is experiencing from his peers, yet he still isn’t doing anything to help bridge that gap. Instead he has doubled down on his own concerns and beliefs being automatically more valid or correct than anyone else’s, all without realizing that this tendency is the cause of his current issues.
At this point it’s hard to imagine anything T’Challa could do to reclaim the faith his people once had in him. Even if he did manage to rescue every last sleeper, that wouldn’t make up for the fact that their mission itself was a deeply disturbing act of espionage, nor the fact that T’Challa’s own misplaced paranoia has cost Wakandans their lives.
The future of the Black Panther now appears to be uncertain for the first time since his reign as King of Wakanda began, and although his title to the throne is still intact, his reputation as the leader of the African nation may now be facing serious jeopardy.
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