I always endeavour to provide accurate information with
sources provided so others can themselves check my work. So when I find out I
have made a mistake, I’m going to do my best to address it and make the appropriate
corrections or updates. Today’s post will be one of those times with a Correction
and Update to the MC2 Family Tree for my previous Wakandan
Royal Family Tree.
Originally, I had declared the Black Panther aka T’Challa’s
mother Ramonda to be his biological mother with this explanatory paragraph
and statement:
“There aren't any new additions to the Wakandan
Royal Family Tree until the publication of Black Panther (vol.
3) #1, cover dated November 1998. As the MC2 first
appeared several months prior in What If #105 (cover dated February
1998) any stories and characters published after this point should be
considered non-canon unless otherwise referenced within MC2 comics.
For completeness’ sake I will give a brief account of later additions and
changes to the Royal Family.
The aforementioned Black Panther (vol. 3) #1 retcons Ramonda as T'Challa's
step-mother and states that his biological mother was a woman named N'Yami
who died giving birth to T'Challa.”
Well, it turns out I was wrong as I recently discovered.
Thanks to the recently published mini-series’ Wakanda #1 which contains
a back-up story detailing the history of the nation followed by annotations courtesy
of some of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe writers, I again
saw the mention that N’Yami was T’Challa’s biological mother. So,
I went digging and as it turns out, while she had not made an on-panel appearance
prior to the MC2, N’Yami had in fact been named and declared
deceased in the Black Panther’s profile from the Official Handbook of
the Marvel Universe Vol. 1 #2, and again in Official Handbook of the
Marvel Universe Vol. 2 #2.
What this means is that when Christopher Priest wrote
Black Panther (vol. 3) #1’s above mentioned explanation about N’Yami,
he was attempting to provide a workable solution that did not contradict either
the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe nor the phenomenal epic ‘Panther’s
Quest’ from Marvel Comics Presents #13-#37 by Don McGregor. A
veritable No-Prize effort. I apologize for dismissing this as an unfounded retcon
out of hand, Mr Priest. Well done.
As a side-note to all this, in light of N’Yami being the
first wife of T’Chaka and it being explicitly stated that T’Challa’s
half-brother Jakarra’s mother was T’Chaka’s ‘second wife’, we can
logically conclude that Ramonda was the T’Chaka’s third wife. So,
had Jakarra not died, it would presumably be he and not the non-MC2-canon
Shuri in the running for the title of the next Ruler of Wakanda
and Black Panther. Just something to think about before I *finally* go
see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tomorrow.
Until I manage to catch up with the rest of the MCU
releases and simultaneously gain flawless obscure comic lore, I remain
frogoat