The Brady Family Tree

I'm going to try to turn in a post every week at least for the foreseeable future. Fingers crossed, people! Today's post covers the Brady Family Tree. That's the family of the MC2 supporting character Meagyn Brady, before anyone mistakes this blog for one about the Brady Bunch or something.

Meagyn Brady first appeared in the fan favourite story An Invisible Girl! from Spider-Girl #53. In the issue we are introduced to Meagyn, a lonely girl with low self-esteem and very little confidence in May's year who goes unnoticed by her peers and has no friends or admirers. The only person in Meagyn's life who truly saw her for who she is was her father, who encouraged her to have faith in herself and fostered her love of superheroes, fantasy and role-playing games.

Unfortunately, Mr Brady (first name unrevealed) became ill and died. Mrs Brady (first name also unrevealed) sank into depression after burying her husband, and stopped acknowledging her daughter. Left with no one, Meagyn began to feel as though nobody saw or noticed her, losing her self-esteem in the process.

Meagyn sensed a kindred spirit in Felicity Hardy so after overhearing a conversation between Mayday and Hardy, attempted to join in with what she assumed was a role-playing game. In actuality Felicity was helping Mayday with some Spider-Girl-related business. Following the pair, Meagyn ended up at the scene of a super-battle. Believing the fleeing villain Quickwire would pass her without noticing, as most people did, Meagyn did not move, inadvertently preventing Quickwire's escape when he collided with her. 

Praised for her apparent act of heroism, Meagyn went home reinvigorated. Excited to tell her mother of her adventure, Meagyn began to energetically recount her story, only to lose confidence and become invisble again when her mother continued to not notice her.

Although Meagyn's story ended there, she does appear a few times in later issues, usually with useful information overheard covertly. While it's obviously used as a metaphor in the issue, it is also entirely possible Meagyn also has genuine super powers which manifested after the loss of her father.

Until I run out of interesting characters from the MC2 to explore and discuss, I remain

frogoat

The Blue Wail

A quick little thing I'd like to share. The MC2 introduces a lot of new 'lore' to the established characters of the Main Marvel Universe, much of which is only referenced or hinted at. One such piece of lore is Phil Urich's alter ego after he was forced to hang up the mantle of the 'good' Green Goblin. I'm referring, of course, to his least loved  super hero identity (even by him, it would seem): The Blue Wail! *crickets* Oh, just look at this...

Spider-Girl #3 is the first and to date, only appearance of this costumed identity. Yup. Not only do we never see this identity of Phil's again, unless I'm mistaken it's never mentioned again either. Interesting to note that when he lost his Goblin gear, Phil still seemed to have an affinity for the sonic motif. This would help to explain how Phil appeared to have his Lunatic Laugh sonic abilities in Spider-Girl #5 without the use of any equipment. Did Phil gain sonic scream powers in the unseen years between giving up the Green Goblin role and his present day civilian self in the MC2? Or did he always have them?


On a side note, the Blue Wail costume design bares more than a passing resemblance to another MC2 sound-based super: Reverb. Reverb was the name one of the Hobgoblin's henchmen -Rudolph- gave to himself when donning the high-tech sound-based suit (Amazing Spider-Girl #2).

At first I thought the resemblance must be more than mere coincidence. However the origin of the tech appears to be the Brotherhood of Scriers, who gifted a sonic device to the Hobgoblin when he was tasked with killing Spider-Girl. The sonic device would be utilized to fatal effect when Hobgoblin killed the former Venom symbiote when she -the symbiote- defended the recently wounded Mayday in Spider-Girl #100.

Still, it's possible a connection could exist between the Blue Wail suit worn by Phil Urich and the sonic technology the Scrier's possess which the Hobgoblin later repurposes. There's a potential story in there somewhere, I'm sure. The untold story of Phil Urich's failed attempts at playing hero.


Until I figure out where Phil got that scar, I remain


frogoat

Luke Cage in the MC2

With more recent years, Luke Cage has gained a great deal of exposure and recognition, with both his own self-titled Netflix series and the crossover mini-series The Defenders being notable examples. Much of the recent surge in popularity can likely be attributed to the Brian Michael Bendis run on the Avengers, during which Luke first joined the team in 2005 with New Avengers (vol. 1) #3.
Despite his long-time crime-fighting partner and friend Danny Rand aka the Iron Fist appearing on a few occasions, Luke Cage has only had one brief appearance in the MC2 and it's not even really him...let me explain.

In Avengers Next #1 (January 2007) the MC2's current roster of Avengers are unable to stop the theft of various Avengers blood and tissue samples by the teleporter known as Warp. These samples are delivered to Sylene, a sorceress and the daughter of Loki, who uses the samples to create 'magical clones' to attack the Avengers as a diversion.  

Logically, if these were samples from past and present Avengers members and Luke Cage's 'magical clone' appears amongst the shambling monstrosities, Cage was at some point a member of the team in the MC2. This is likely a nod to Cage's longstanding membership over in the Main Marvel Universe. We get the only mention of the real Luke Cage shortly after, when American Dream points out that the monstrosities can't be actual corpses, 'Not with duplicates of Haweye, Cage and the rest of us who are alive.'

And that's about all we know of the Hero for Hire. He's still alive in the MC2 and he was a member of the Avengers prior to the current team founded in A-Next #1. It also seems Luke is known simply as 'Cage', in the same way he was referred to in the 90's. To stray into the world of wild speculation, the most likely placement for Luke's time on the team would be at some point between the (admittedly vague) divergence point between the Main Marvel Universe and the MC2 before the original team was almost entirely wiped out on their last mission. Alternatively, Cage may have served as a member of the interim team that existed for some 18 months afterwards alongside members such as Speedball, Nova, Jolt, Jubilee and the Steel Spider.

Possibly completely irrelevant, but I felt I should point out that Cage's copy is wearing a version of his original costume, complete with tiara. Whether this indicates when the sample was collected from the hero or that he returned to his original costume at some point is unclear. Considering other 'magical clones' aren't wearing their heroic counterparts current costumes, this is probably nothing more than an artistic choice.

If anyone has any insight on this, admittedly very minor point of continuity, please let me know! Until I stop picking apart the very fabric of the MC2-niverse, I remain

frogoat

The Harkness Family Tree

I had a lot of fun with this one. It was mostly straight forward and who doesn't like reading about witches?! So here we have the long and unbroken line of The Harkness Family Tree!

Agatha Harkness made her first appearance way back in Fantastic Four #94 as the governess employed by Sue and Reed Richards to look after their young son, Franklin Richards. It became apparent that there was more to Agatha than it first seemed and in time the Fantastic Four learned Agatha was indeed a witch. Agatha also became a tutor to the Scarlet Witch. Later, it is revealed that Agatha was far older than she appeared, apparently encountering a powerful being known as Scrier some five centuries before the fall of Atlantis and much later having governed the witches of Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. Eventually, she led them into the mountains of what became Colorado where they built the town of New Salem in seclusion.

At some point, Agatha bore a son to an unidentified (though apparently evil) man. Nicholas Scratch first appeared in Fantastic Four #185 wherein he led the people of New Salem in a plot to execute his mother for exposing the existence of the town. The Fantastic Four revealed Agatha had never spoken of New Salem and Scratch's own hand in revealing the existence of New Salem to them (Fantastic Four #186). Scratch's evil was revealed and he was banished to the Dark Realm, though as I'm sure you can guess it wasn't the last we'd see of him.

Agatha reveals Nicholas is her son (Fantastic Four #186)

During the events of Fantastic Four #186, the Fantastic Four first encounter Scratch's enforcers, the Salem Seven, a group of skilled magic users who can transform themselves to gain powers and who collectively were capable of great magical feats. Brutacus, became a leonine creature; Gazelle gained enhanced hearing, agility and gymnast skills; Hydron gained a fish-like appearance and projected high pressure water blasts; Reptilla became a serpentine creature with snakes for hands; Thornn grew sharp spines capable of exploding or releasing neuro-toxins; Vakume could become intangible, absorb energy and create vacuums and Vertigo had the ability to disrupt others equilibrium.

Curiously, the Salem Seven only refer to Nicholas Scratch as their master in their early appearances. It's not until Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 that we learn Scratch is the father to all of the Seven, by way of various unidentified wives, also making Agatha their grandmother. It's also here that we learn the little that we know of Nicholas' own father. During this story, Agatha is burned at the stake and apparently killed, though this was apparently only temporary because she resurfaced sometime later very much alive, an ability her entire family seem to have inherited.

The only other potential family member I came across in my research for this Family Tree was a witch named Abigail Harkness from Salem, Massachusetts in the 17th century. However her first (and only) appearance is in in X-Men: Hellfire Club #1 which was cover dated January 2000, beyond the usual MC2 divergence point, so I have not included her in the Harkness Family Tree above.

Aerika Harkness, also known as the Crimson Curse first appeared in A-Next #3 and was fully revealed in A-Next #4 as a member of the Dream Team. A sorceress who used elemental powers, we learn that Aerika is descended from an unbroken line of highly skilled practitioners of the magic arts, the Harknesses of Salem in A-Next #8. We don't have any specifics about how Aerika is related to the Harkness family at this time. The Crimson Curse apparently dies during an encounter with an alternate reality Dr Doom in A-Next #11, however she does make an appearance during the 2015 Secret Wars event very much alive.

I spoke to co-creator Ron Frenz about this and he revealed that this was due to the nature of the reality of the Battleworld aka Doomworld. The event established that the Main Marvel Universe/616 Victor Doom made the Battleworld reality with him as the sole existing Dr Doom in existence, meaning the Crimson Curse couldn't have been killed by an alternate Doom in this version of reality. A big 'Thank you' to Ron Frenz for talking with me and clarifying this point.

I'll be damned if I can figure out who Scratch's dad could be. Until then, I remain

frogoat

The Rambeau-Freeman Family Tree

After some tedious computer repair, I'm back to present the latest MC2 Family Tree: The Rambeau-Freeman Family Tree! This particular family tree presents us with a case of 'Word of God' rather than a solid on-panel confirmation. Let's get to it.

The obvious place to start is with Captain Marvel herself. Or... Photon? Or perhaps Pulsar? Or maybe I should call her Spectrum? Monica Rambeau is only the second person to assume the title of Captain Marvel in Marvel Comics publication history, as well as the first woman to do so. Following her introduction in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, Monica became a major character during her time as a member (and leader) of the Avengers. Soon, Monica would fall prey to the greatest foe in comics history: marginalisation. Monica would leave the Avengers after being depowered and left as a near-dead husk (Avengers #294).

After regaining powers, Monica made mostly guest appearances apart from two single-issue Captain Marvel comics in 1989 and 1994 before relinquishing the heroic identity to Genis-Vell, the son of the original Captain Marvel. Monica also takes on the name Photon in the same story (Avengers Unplugged #5) before next appearing in Avengers (vol. 3) #1-3. So, presumably she's still called Photon in the MC2. If you've been keeping up with these MC2 Family Tree entries, you already know the usual point that the Main Marvel Universe diverges into the MC2 Universe is.....somewhere around 1998, maybe. Oh, boy. This stuff is confusing. We'll come back to it later.

Monica's parents both make their debut in  Avengers (vol. 1) #246. Maria Rambeau is a seamstress and Frank Rambeau is a retired fire chief for the New Orleans Fire Department. While Frank is supportive of his daughter's super heroics, Maria had difficulties letting Monica risk her life after years spent worrying about her husband in his dangerous occupation.

Derek Freeman is an FBI Agent who encountered Monica several times during her time with the Avengers as Captain Marvel, at first in an official capacity but soon in a romantic context. Derek first appeared in Avengers (vol. 1) #263 and at some point prior to Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #2 had deduced Monica's duel identity. It's also in the latter issue that we are introduced to Derek's nephew, Raymond Washington.

Raymond Washington is a 21 year old student at Empire State University majoring in Political Science. Ray is also a campus activist and student counselor. During a series of racial-motivated attacks by members of the Sons of the Serpent, Ray attempts to form a coalition between the various minority groups on campus to provide protection. Using his contacts in the FBI, Derek arranges for Monica to investigate the attacks while undercover at ESU. Ray organises a counter-demonstration to stand up to the hate-group while Monica defeats the leader of the Serpent group (revealed to be the super-powered Skinhead).

Duane Freeman (brother of Derek Freeman) was the Federal Security Liason assigned to the Avengers who first appeared in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. As anyone who's read previous MC2 Family Tree's knows, the usual 'cut-off' point for characters and events from the Main Marvel Universe existing in the MC2 is generally at some point around late 1997-1998, roughly coinciding with the beginning of the MC2's own publication history. Though Duane Freeman dies off-panel and behind the scenes in Avengers (vol. 3) #49, it is entirely possible the events leading to his death did not occur in the MC2. I'll definitely have to do another post someday covering my theories of how much of the Main Marvel Universe post-divergence can be included in the MC2's own history.

Given that Derek is Raymond's uncle and Duane is never stated to have children, in addition to Raymond already being 21 years of age in Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #2, it's logical to assume that Derek and Duane have another as-yet unseen older sibling.

And now for the character that ties these two families together: Blacklight. First appearing in A-Next #9, we learn little about Blacklight during her fight with the Soldiers of the Serpent. However, in the same issue we are also introduced to Kendra Freeman, a young woman on the committee for the Neighborhood Pride Street Festival which was attacked by the Soldiers of the Serpent. While it's not established on-panel, 'word of god' from co-creator Tom Defalco here confirms the familial relationship. Additionally, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 lists Blacklight's real name as Kendra Freeman. As Tom's original answer doesn't specify which Freeman brother is the Kendra's father, I reached out to Ron Frenz, the characters co-creator who clarified that it was in fact Derek Freeman.

So there you have it! Two families brought together in the Might MC2 Manner! Hoo-Ha!

Until I run out of characters to mine for MC2 Family Tree's, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Girl's 20th Anniversary

Despite technically already missing the real 20th anniversary of May 'Mayday' Parker's first appearance in What If #105 by a few months (publication dates being earlier than the cover dates) I'm pleased to jump on the bandwagon in celebrating this momentous occasion!

Unfortunately I am currently experiencing laptop-related technical issues so the extent of my posting will be linking to other peoples wonderful work. So, apologies for that! A good friend of mine and all around prolific poster on tumblr has made a series of posts to celebrate May's anniversary. They can be found here: https://hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger.tumblr.com/

and here: https://mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker.tumblr.com/

The wonderful comic-fan-turned-professional Kat Calamia has conducted a great interview with the series creators Tom Defalco, Ron Frenz and Pat Olliffe over on Newsarama:
https://www.newsarama.com/38572-happy-20th-anniversary-mayday-parker-spider-girl.html

As I come across further celebrations, I'll try to post them. Hopefully my laptop won't give it's last gasp before then!

Until we get an announcement of a new series by the original team, I remain (hopefully)

frogoat

Wild Thing #6: The Untold Story

So, as I mentioned in my last MC2 Family Tree post, I had a possible theory about Cameron Bryce-Jones. To recap, Cameron is a spoiled rich girl at Upper Saddle River High who first appeared in Wild Thing #1. Cameron was identified as a 'Dormant Class 'A' Mutant Designate' by a newly awakened sleeper Sentinel in Wild Thing #3.

For reference, the Sentinel identifies Wild Thing as 'Class 'B' Mutant Designate' and engages her in combat, only to change objectives once Cameron is detected.  This suggests that she is more of a priority, presumably possessing greater power. 

Cameron does not appear in Wild Thing #4 and only makes a brief appearance in Wild Thing #5, the series' last published issue. This means any powers that Cameron may have possessed remained a mystery. However, comic writers usually have plots written months before the issue's publication, allowing the artists to complete the art work in time. It would appear this was the case with Wild Thing #6. 

Wild Thing's entire series was collected into a single volume digest as Spider-Girl Presents Wild Thing: Crash Course in 2007. Tucked away in the back of this digest was the unpublished cover to Wild Thing #6- pencilled, inked, coloured and even lettered. And what does it say on that unused cover? 'There's a New Mutant in Town!' Judging by the cosmic-style background, the glowing and the look of awe on the faces of both Wild Thing and X-People leader Jubilee, I'd say that's a Class 'A' Mutant, wouldn't you? The hair style even looks like Cameron's! Tell me I'm wrong!

Until I unearth every scrap of information about this wonderful fictional universe, I remain

frogoat

The Bryce-Jones Family Tree

Okay, this time I've done it. I've actually found a simple MC2 Family Tree to pump out with ease. Sue me. This time around, our subjects hail from the very short-lived Wild Thing series: The Bryce-Jones Family.

Cameron Bryce-Jones first appears in Wild Thing #1 and it's obvious from the beginning that she isn't a nice person, bullying Upper Saddle River High's new student Rina Logan by slamming a locker door into her head and making negative comments about her family.

Cameron appears to have no qualms using underhanded methods to achieve her goals either, as she ceases an opportunity to steal test answers and mentions using her position as office monitor to look at student records.

In the same issue, Cameron is kidnapped by the villain Thrash Bandit in an attempt to extort twenty-five million dollars from Brooks Bryce-Jones, Cameron's wealthy father. Brooks attempts to talk down the price, offering Thrash Bandit a mere ten thousand with stock options for the safe return of his daughter. While it's not strictly relevant, it's worth mentioning that the Offices of Bryce-Jones Investments was located within the World Trade Center, something that would now be impossible. Curiously, this was not altered or changed for the 2007 digest collection.

While never seen, Cameron seems to have a mother in her life as she calls for her 'mommy' while in peril in Wild Thing #3. In the same issue, a newly-reawakened sleeper-Sentinel seems to identify Cameron as a 'Dormant Class 'A' Mutant Designate', suggesting that there may be more to Ms Bryce-Jones than meets the eye. I may post a theory about that soon.

Until I commit to another huge MC2 blog project, I remain

frogoat

The Lang Family Tree *Updated*

While digging for another family to highlight, I hit upon the Lang Family. Initially, this seemed like a bigger challenge due to the fairly extensive list of relatives I discovered for Scott Lang. As it turned out, the list of relatives pre-MC2 is really quite small.

Obviously, the reason for this entry in the MC2 Family Tree is one Cassandra 'Cassie' Lang aka Stinger of the Avengers. Cassie is the daughter of Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, who I'm sure most are now at least somewhat aware of thanks to the titular movie. Scott made his first appearance in Avengers (vol. 1) #181 and stole the Ant-Man identity in Marvel Premiere #47. Cassie also makes her first appearance in the latter title, along with her Aunt Ruth and (I'm assuming they're married) Uncle Carl.



There's really only a few tidbits to address. Despite my initial belief that Cassie's mother ( Peggy Rae) was a fairly long-established character, I discovered that she makes her first appearance well after the MC2 branching point in Avengers (vol. 3) #62.


*As a result, Peggy wasn't initially identified by name in the Family Tree above. However, more recently I discovered that Peggy is named in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #1 published back in 1983. As a result, I've corrected the Family Tree above.*

With the increase in audience recognition for the Scott Lang iteration of Ant-Man arising from the recent movie, the character has been the subject of a few solo titles which have introduced several new members to the Lang extended family....all of whom are not included for the same reasons I've mentioned previously. So with all that said, I think that's a wrap, people.


Until I run out of ideas or get something terribly wrong and collapse into a puddle of shame, I remain



frogoat

The Wakandan Royal Family Tree

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