Return of The Most Dangerous Man Alive!
Black Panther is an ongoing Marvel comic book series written by Eve Ewing with Chris Allen and Craig Yeun on art and Jesus Aburtov on color art. The first issue debuted on June 14, 2023 and serves as a continuation of the 2021 series of the same name.
T'Challa has officially hit Rock Bottom. Stripped of his crown and banished from his own homeland by the new Prime Minister of Wakanda, T'Challa has begun solemnly Walking the Earth. While the former King was able to reconcile his relationship with the Avengers whose trust he once betrayed, T'Challa is still left with a single question weighing down his spirit: If he is no longer King, who is he?
Venturing on a quest of self-discovery to find his answer, T'Challa has smuggled himself back into Wakanda and now secretly prowls the streets of Birnin T'Chaka, a city seated on the edge of the Jabari-Lands that carries the infamous reputation of being the closest thing this powerful nation has to a true Wretched Hive.
The series ended after 10 issues, with T'Challa's story continuing in Marvel's Blood Hunt event.
Black Panther (2023) provides the following tropes:
- Afrofuturism: Unsurprising given how this franchise is generally regarded as the Trope Codifier, but Ewing gives this genre a darker twist through the debut of Birnin T'Chaka, a crime-infested Wakandan city that lacks the abundance and affluence of the shining metropolises that previous runs have shown before, resulting in a gloomy neon-drenched environment that feels more like Night City than the Wakanda everybody knows and loves.
- Bittersweet Ending: With the help of Beisa, Regent M'Baku, and N'Yobi, T'Challa successfully destroys Kivu'ma and liberates the hundreds of innocents the Undead Abomination was feeding on in order to sustain itself. Baba Nkisu and Aliinya are now dead, freeing the people from the tyranny of their crime family. Beisa reunites with her friend Samari who is now safe and sound, with the implication that the former will continue to operate in Birnin T'Chaka as the city's protector. And T'Challa decides to proudly return to Birnin Zana a changed man, realizing with the help of his new friends that he is so much more than the throne that once defined his existence. But the internal corruption of Wakandan Parliament is still an ongoing problem that he will inevitably have to face upon his return.
- City Noir: Eve Ewing herself has expressed in interviews how her run on Black Panther will channel the Noir genre. Relocating T'Challa to a Wretched Hive within Wakanda's borders, writing his inner thoughts in the flavor of a Private Eye Monologue, and emphasizing street-level adventures akin to the time T'Challa protected Hell's Kitchen in Daredevil's absence.
- The Conspiracy: Baba Nkisu, Cartier St. Croix, and corrupt officials within Wakanda's Parliament struck a deal with one another to secretly construct a Space Station using infrastructure technology smuggled from the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. The original idea would be that this station would serve as both the ultimate Tax Haven for the ultra-rich and a hub for Black Market dealings safe from international jurisdictions by virtue of being in space. And the plot likely would have succeeded...if it wasn't for Kivu'ma hijacking the station to serve as a Soul-Powered Engine for his own power.
- Continuity Nod:
- This series is set after the events of The Avengers (2023), where T'Challa was welcomed back into the Avengers by Carol Danvers as a chance to atone for his previous betrayal of the team back in Black Panther (2021). While T'Challa notes that he would never admit it to their faces, he is genuinely thankful that they took him back regardless of his transgressions and does greatly value his friendship with them all.
T'Challa: [The Avengers] needed me more than they needed the moral high ground. And though I wouldn't say it, their friendship — one trace of familiarity in my now alien life — was a balm.- N'Yobi Umaru is the son of Changamire, the Wakandan philosopher who debuted in the A Nation Under Our Feet storyline by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- Monet St. Croix is introduced as a wanted fugitive thanks to the events of Fall of X resulting in Krakoa's downfall and open season essentially being declared on all mutants globally by Orchis forces.
- Wakanda's new Parliamentary Government has rapidly degraded the once Utopian nation into a Dystopia thanks to Corrupt Politicians in office making backroom deals with underworld figures like Baba Nkisu and Corrupt Corporate Executives like Cartier St. Croix to enrich themselves rather than serve their constituents. Shuri also confirms that a new "Transparency" law was passed that allows all telecommunications to be monitored by the state, limiting her ability to directly help her brother.
- The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda is still going on strong under Regent M'Baku and still recognizes T'Challa as The Emperor regardless of Prime Minister Folasade's decree to banish T'Challa as a political exile. When T'Challa learns about the hundreds of people Kivu'ma has captive on the space station Cartier St. Croix and Baba Nkisu constructed together to serve as Living Batteries to fuel his abilities, he summons M'Baku and his forces to assist with evacuation efforts.
- Crusading Lawyer: N'Yobi Umaru is a small-time defense attorney who regularly works pro-bono for the people of Birnin T'Chaka. As a result, N'Yobi is treated as a hometown hero by his community and rarely has to pay for the services of the people he has represented. Unfortunately, this also means N'Yobi is barely making ends meet and is already in trouble with a Loan Shark who has been sending Cyborg goons to shake him down.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Ultimately the reason why T'Challa relocated to Birnin T'Chaka even though it violates the terms of his exile. His collective transgressions costing him both his loved ones and his crown has shaken T'Challa to the point where he questions his own life's purpose and whether or not he truly knew the people he once governed. While he claims to fight crime in Birnin T'Chaka to symbolize how the Black Panther will always defend the people of Wakanda, it is also an opportunity for him to reconnect with the people from a street-level perspective instead of a position of unchecked authority.
- Expy: Beisa is expy of Selina Kyle, as a Lovable Rogue Classy Cat-Burglar who grew up on Wrong Side of the Tracks and plays opposite to The Cowl throughout the course of the story. Unlike Selina however, Beisa's relationship with T'Challa seems strictly platonic and motivated by a shared interest in taking down the N'Kisu Crime Family.
- Good Old Ways: To reflect his new dedication to street-level vigilantism in Birnin T'Chaka, T'Challa's new Black Panther suit is significantly more low-tech and homespun than the sleek Adaptive Armor he's usually wears. Right down to utilizing physical vibranium spears and throwing knives instead of Hard Light equivalents.
- Transhuman Abomination: Kivu'ma was once Captain N'Dozi, a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist member of the Hatut Zeraze during the reign of King M'Teli who turned against the crown and transformed himself into a soul-devouring spectral Undead Abomination to terrorize whoever he arbitrarily deemed an enemy of the state. M'Teli was able to banish Kivu'ma to The Djalia where he can be kept in check, but the events of Coates' run enabled Kivu'ma to escape back into the world of the living.
- Trans Tribulations: Beisa is "Okulani", which is apparently the Wakandan term for a transgendered person, and alludes to having a troubled history with her father seemingly over her gender identity. When pressed further on the topic, Beisa elaborates to T'Challa that this was less a problem for her old man compared to her complete refusal to follow in his footsteps by enlisting in the Mohanndan military, choosing to rather live on her own terms as her "true self".
- Wretched Hive: Birnin T'Chaka is a deathly cold, cyberpunkish, Urban Hellscape where the only positive trait they have on paper is that the citizens living here generally have the bare necessities they need in order to live. But the manufacturing industry that brought life into their community has all but disappeared, their living conditions are essentially on par with a favela, the people here are more politically divided than ever over the nation's transition into a democracy, and organized crime syndicates partially comprised of the now defunct Hatut Zeraze have an iron grip on the city. T'Challa, having spent much of his life within the affluent capital of Birnin Zana, is ashamed that he had no idea that life here was so grim and notes that the state of affairs is probably happening in other Wakandan Cities just like it.
- You Killed My Father: Aliinya wants T'Challa dead under the misguided belief that he was the one who assassinated her mob boss father Nkisu, and sides with the Undead Abomination Kivu'ma in order to avenge him. In truth, Kivu'ma was the one who took Nkisu's life and is merely using Aliinya as a pawn in his agenda against the Black Panther.
- 0% Approval Rating: Surprisingly downplayed. While the politicians of Birnin Zana like Prime Minister Folasade and former separatists like Tosin hated T'Challa and treated him and the monarchy he represented as the root cause of Wakanda's turmoil, their perspective isn't universally shared by the actual citizens. There are still people like N'Yobi who are staunch admirers of T'Challa and the royal family as well as a very vocal number of activists who have their own fair share of criticisms regarding the new Parliament. The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda also still firmly recognizes T'Challa as The Emperor, and swoop to his aid during the battle against Kivu'ma.
