WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Black Panther #3 by John Ridley, Juann Cabal, Ibrahim Moustafa, Matt Milla, and VC's Joe Sabino, available now from Marvel.
The past few months have seen T'Challa struggling with the tragic consequences of his own worst decision. Now that those most loyal to him are at risk, the Black Panther has been left scouring every corner of the globe and beyond to bring them home. Unfortunately, he has also been learning about the hidden consequences of his actions along the way, and they are making it perfectly clear that Wakanda's worst enemies will always come from within it.
Black Panther #3 has brought the titular hero across the stars to the planet formerly known as Mars. Now Arakko, the capital of the solar system as renamed and decreed by the mutant nation of Krakoa. T'Challa was greeted with a warm welcome by Storm but not everyone is glad to see him. The Black Panther quickly learned that Wakanda's old habit of producing its own worst enemies hasn't been broken in the slightest. Nezhno Abidemi, aka Gentle, couldn't help but lash out at T'Challa upon seeing him set foot on Arakko. Growing up as a mutant in Wakanda, Gentle was constantly beaten and berated. This didn't stop when he returned to his homeland as an adult, either. Nezhno was never officially exiled from Wakanda, but the scars left by the way his people had treated him left very much the same impact, as well as a seething hatred for T'Challa and every other Wakandan alike. Even worse, Gentle is hardly the first enemy that Wakanda has made in almost exactly the same way.
Quite possibly the most famous of Black Panther's enemies, Erik Killmonger, was also a victim of an unofficial exile from Wakanda. He may have been a far less complex adversary during his early appearances, but Killmonger's story gradually unraveled into that of a life rooted in violence. As a child, Killmonger's parents were killed by the same man who escaped Wakanda with him in tow. Over the years Killmonger's hate was cultivated by the same nefarious forces who had stolen him from his home, and even once the truth was made evident, he still felt abandoned by the nation that didn't come to his rescue.
Wakanda might be home to an idyllic landscape, but its way of managing problems consistently puts the nation as a whole at risk. The likes of Killmonger and Gentle alone aren't enough to topple the country, though they are only singular examples of Wakanda turning its own people against it. As enigmatic forces such as those hunting down T'Challa's sleeper agents come into play, it's more than likely that they too are symptomatic of the world's most advanced nation relying on archaic traditions and justice systems.
Considering how much damage T'Challa's latest enemies have already done, it's hard to imagine they aren't just as much of a threat to Wakanda as they are to him. And with all signs pointing towards them also being Wakandan, the question over whether they are trying to destroy T'Challa or his kingdom through him has become even more valid. If the Black Panther can survive whatever comes next, it might be best to review some policy once the dust has settled.
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