I take it all back. The X-Men and their confusing and muddled family relationships and connections are nothing- NOTHING-compared to the insanity that is the Wakandan Royal Family Tree. So, after two weeks of painful riffling through various comics, I've managed to piece together what I consider to be a complete MC2 Family Tree. Wait....the Black Panther movie hasn't been and gone yet, has it? I haven't missed it, have I?!
Speaking of the upcoming film, it looks to be integrating more recent additions to the Black Panther's family. I often wonder if anyone stumbles upon this series of blog posts not knowing that it's tailored to the world of the MC2, and leaves muttering about absent family members and errors? Maybe I should append a notice to each one of these posts? Anyway, here goes!
First and most certainly most importantly, let's talk about T'Challa, the King of Wakanda himself. The Black Panther first appeared in the Fantastic Four #52 and has since gone on to become one of the most successful and influential characters of African descent ever to grace comics. T'Challa's father T'Chaka is introduced in the very next issue (Fantastic Four #53) where we learn he died at the hands of Ulysses Klaue aka the villainous Klaw.
Black Panther (vol. 1) #7 introduces us to Bashenga, the very first Black Panther and apparently T'Challa's ancestor. You'll notice I've split the family tree this time around. This is mainly because, as you'll see, there are several relatives with unclear familiar connections to the main Royal Family. A perfect example of this would be The Black Musketeers. Also first appearing in Black Panther (vol. 7) #7 is Dr Joshua Itobo, a cousin of T'Challa who is called upon to defend Wakanda in his absence. The very next issue we are introduced to three more of T'Challa's cousins who fill out the so-called The Black Musketeers: Ishanta, Khanata and Zuni.
Over in Avengers (vol. 1) #77 T'Challa talks about his uncle N'Baza who organised for him to attend the finest school in Europe and America. In Avengers (vol. 1) #87 we learn that N'Baza is the witch doctor who became the Regent of Wakanda following T'Chaka's death. It was from him that T'Challa claimed the Black Panther title. Presumably, this makes N'Baza the same witch doctor seen in Fantastic Four #53 who held a young T'Challa back when his father was murdered. N'Baza's own son, B'Tumba also first appears in Avengers (vol. 1) #87 wherein we learn he accompanied T'Challa abroad and eventually betrayed Wakanda to AIM. Curiously, the father and son are never referred to as family anywhere else.
We learn that T'Chaka had a second wife from another tribe, with whom he had a son named Jakarra, T'Challa's half-brother (Black Panther (vol. 1) #6). Jakarra was born frail and small in stature and grew up in foreign military schools, only to return and live in T'Challa's shadow. Staging a military coup, exposing himself to Vibranium which turned him into a mutated creature and rampaging through the country, Jakarra was finally defeated and killed thanks to the efforts of the aforementioned cousins and T'Challa himself before his proximity to the Vibranium mound could trigger a destructive explosion.
It's important to note that Jakarra's mother was identified as a different woman to that of T'Challa's own mother. While I'm not certain if she was ever stated to have died prior to Marvel Comics Presents #13, T'Challa is surprised to learn that Ramonda may be alive at the beginning of this story. Through the course of the twenty-five part 'Panther's Quest' story we learn that Ramonda returned to her native South Africa for the funeral of her father Lungile, only to be abducted, held captive and abused for several years by a white supremacist named Anton Pretorius(Marvel Comics Presents #37). Pretorius anonymously spread rumours and sent photo's to King T'Chaka, leading the King to conclude his wife had left him for another man. T'Chaka would thereafter rarely mention his lost wife to his son, leading T'Challa to believe his mother had died. At the story's conclusion, mother and son are reunited at last.
Oddly enough, we learn of another of T'Challa's cousin's in Daredevil #245. M'Koni (apparently taking the name 'Mary' in America) married a member of the Wakanda Flying Patrol named Wheeler, the two moved to New York and had a son named Billy. Wheeler led the family to ruin after his gambling addiction left them with no money and mobsters looking for payment. Following an encounter with both Daredevil and the Black Panther, Wheeler cleaned up his act and made a fresh start.
A back-up story in Fantastic Four Unlimited #1 gives us a story about T'Chaka's father and mother, Chanda and Nanali. The story is told through a book left by N'Baza to T'Challa and claims that Chanda befriended by Fritz Klaue, (identified as the father of Ulysses Klaue) a Nazi officer who crashed in Wakanda during a mission. After being nursed back to health, Fritz -obsessed with the Vibranium mound- convinced some of the Wakandans to worship the Panther Totem as God in contradiction to their prior beliefs. When Chanda refused, Fritz killed Nanali. Nearly dead, Chanda escaped only to return rejuvenated by eating of the heart-shaped herbs and having killed a Black Panther which offered itself to him, driving out Klaue and restoring the status quo of his people. Annoyingly, this story makes the claim that Chanda was the first Black Panther despite the previous story about Bashenga over a decade prior.
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.
Hunter aka White Wolf was a Caucasian boy adopted by T'Chaka after his parents died in a plane crash in Wakanda (Black Panther (vol. 3) #4). After T'Challa was born, he grew jealous and resentful of his sibling.
Azzuri the Wise was implied and later official retconned as the father of T'Chaka, fighting against and alongside Captain America during WWII (Black Panther (vol. 4) #1, Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers #1).
A previously unseen daughter of Ramonda and T'Chaka, Shuri was first introduced in Black Panther (vol. 4) #2. She later took up the mantle of the Black Panther, becoming the first female ever to do so.
Also first appearing in Black Panther (vol. 4) #2, S'Yan is the previously unseen brother of T'Chaka. Upon T'Chaka's death, S'Yan takes up the mantle of Black Panther as King of Wakanda until his nephew claimed the throne through trial of combat.
Again in Black Panther (vol. 4) #2 we are introduced to T'Shan who is the son of S'Yan and was jealous of his cousin T'Challa.
T'Challa also marries the X-Man Storm aka Ororo Monroe in Black Panther (vol. 4) #18. As is often the case in modern comics, the two later separate.
Kwezi Dzana is identified as a nephew of T'Challa's in Ms. Marvel (vol. 4) #16.
As you can probably tell, many of these new characters fill much the same roles as previously established characters, and in some cases actually supplant the earlier characters. You could simplify this by splitting the Wakandan Royal Family history into two separate canons....as I've done here. But for different reasons.
Now, onto the MC2 proper! First appearing in A-Next #4, T'Chaka aka Coal Tiger is the son of T'Challa, King of Wakanda. While visiting America for a trade agreement, T'Chaka was attacked and briefly kidnapped by the hate group Soldiers of the Serpent. It's at this point we learn that T'Chaka has the ability to transform into a humanoid cat-like being resembling a Black Panther.
It's also in this issue that T'Chaka refers to N'Kano ( aka the Wakandan hero Vibraxas) as his uncle. I was unsure if this was a term of endearment or an actual familial connection, as non had been established prior. Additionally, I can't determine on which side of the family he might fall without further information. As such, I've omitted him from this family tree for now.
Next time I won't pick such a complicated family to delve into for this MC2 Family Tree series. Until then, I remain
frogoat
