Wakanda

Kingdom of Wakanda
Map of Wakanda from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12 (December 1983). Art by Don McGregor.
First appearance	Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966)
In-universe information
Type	Monarchy African country
Locations	Birnin Zana (Golden City), the Vibranium Mound, Jabari village
Characters	Black Panther Man-Ape Vibraxas Storm Gentle
Population	Wakandans
Motto	Wakanda forever
Currency	Wakandan Dollar

Wakanda is a fictional African nation appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is the most prominent of several fictional native African nations in the Marvel Universe and home to the superhero Black Panther. Wakanda first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Location

In the MCU, Wakanda is located just north of Lake Turkana, at a fictional point bordering Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Sudan.

Wakanda is located in East Africa, although its exact location has varied throughout the nation's publication history: some sources place Wakanda just north of Tanzania, while others - such as Marvel Atlas #2 - show it bordering Lake Turkana, near South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia (and surrounded by fictional countries like Azania, Canaan, and Narobia).

History

In the distant past, a massive meteorite made up of the sound-absorbing element vibranium crashed in Wakanda, and is unearthed a generation before the events of the present day. T'Challa, the current Black Panther, is the son of T'Chaka, the Black Panther before him and a descendant of Bashenga. Knowing that others would attempt to manipulate and dominate Wakanda for this rare and valuable resource, T'Chaka conceals his country from the outside world. He sells off minute amounts of the valuable vibranium while surreptitiously sending the country's best scholars to study abroad, consequently turning Wakanda into one of the world's most technologically advanced nations. Eventually, however, the explorer Ulysses Klaw finds his way to Wakanda, and covers up his work on a vibranium-powered, sound-based weapon. When exposed, Klaw kills T'Chaka, only to see his "sound blaster" turned on him by a grieving teenaged T'Challa. Klaw's right hand is destroyed, and he and his men flee.

Wakanda has an unusually high rate of mutation due to the dangerously mutagenic properties of the Vibranium Mound. A large number of these Wakandan Mutates are working for Erik Killmonger.

Vibranium radiation has permeated much of Wakanda's flora and fauna, including the Heart-Shaped Herb eaten by members of the Black Panther Cult (although T'Challa once allowed a dying Spider-Man to eat it in the hope that it would help him deal with his current illness) and the flesh of the White Gorilla eaten by the members of the White Gorilla Cult.

In the 2008 "Secret Invasion" storyline, Skrull forces led by Commander K'vvvr invaded Wakanda and engaged Black Panther and his forces. Technological efforts lead to both sides being forced to fight with swords and spears. The Wakandan forces voluntarily wear panther masks; this prevents the Skrulls from focusing attacks on their leader. Despite losses, the Wakandans defeat the Skrulls. They kill every single one, including K'vvvr, and send their ship back, packed with the bodies. A warning against invading Wakanda is left written on the wall of the ship's control center.

While under the cosmic power of the Phoenix Force, Namor attacks Wakanda for hiding the Avengers and destroys much of the country with a tidal wave. After the attack all mutants are banned from Wakanda as stated by Black Panther and attack on some students from the Jean Grey school by its people who barely flee with the help of Storm.

Technology base

Due to its intentional isolationism, Wakandan technology has, until recently, developed entirely independently of that of the rest of the world. As such, the design philosophies and methodologies are different and often incompatible with conventional equipment. Wakanda is the world's most technologically advanced country. For example, Wakandan computer technology is more powerful than that of the rest of the world and completely immune to outside hacking, as it is not based on binary electronics; it can, however, emulate the behavior of such electronics at hugely enhanced efficiencies, allowing it to easily hack almost any conventional system. Vibranium was used liberally in Wakandan technology, but the recent destruction of all Vibranium has forced large-scale redesigns.

Wakanda's cults

Wakanda contains a number of religious cults devoted to Heliopolitan deities, who left ancient Egypt at the time of the pharaohs and orishas.

Panther Tribe

Bast the Panther Goddess, based on Bastet the ancient Egyptian deity, is the primary deity of Wakanda. After the vibranium meteor fell, a number of Wakandans were painfully mutated into "demon spirits" and began attacking their fellow Wakandans. T'Challa's ancestor, Bashenga became the first Black Panther and closed the vibranium mound to outsiders, forming a religious order that guarded the mound and fought to keep the "demon spirits" from spreading across the kingdom. The Black Panther is a ceremonial and religious title given to the chief of the Panther Tribe. As part of the cult's ceremonies, a chosen Black Panther is entitled to the use of a heart-shaped herb. The herb enhances the physical attributes of the person who consumes it to near-superhuman levels, similar to the super soldier serum.

White Gorilla Tribe

Ghekre the Gorilla God is an ancient Wakandan deity. Wakanda evolved from a hunter-warrior society, and was traditionally ruled by its greatest warrior. The dominant Black Panther Cult outlawed the rival White Gorilla Cult's worship in Wakanda. M'Baku (Man-Ape) of the Jabari tribe is one of Wakanda's greatest warriors, second only to T'Challa, the Black Panther himself. While T'Challa, king of Wakanda, is on a several month leave of absence from Wakanda, the ambitious M'Baku plots to usurp the throne. M'Baku flouts T'Challa's edicts and revives the White Gorilla Cult, killing one of the rare white gorillas living in the jungles near Wakanda. M'Baku bathes in the gorilla's blood and eats its flesh which "mystically" confers the gorilla's great strength upon M'Baku. He tries to defeat T'Challa in combat, hoping to take over the country, but is beaten and banished from Wakanda. According to the 2018 film, the White Gorilla cult, known in the film as the Jabari (or the Mountain Tribe), revere the monkey god, Hanuman.

Lion Tribe

Sekmet the Lion Goddess, based on the deity of the same name, could possess the form of any human worshipers or the bodies of those sanctified and sacrificed by her worshipers, she transformed these subjects into human avatars of herself. She has a number of other powers, some of which she has demonstrated. Sekhmet could grow in size, move at rapid speeds, teleport herself and others, and alter her specific density. The Lion goddess possessed superhuman strength and durability, and she was immortal. She can manipulate the minds of the weak willed.

Little is known of the history of the Lion Goddess. She had apparently lost many worshipers over the years to the Cult of the Panther God, despite the fact that Sekhmet physically manifested before its followers, and the Panther God only appears to its priests.

Crocodile Tribe

Sobek the Crocodile God, based on the deity of the same name, appears to be an ancient and somewhat forgotten Wakandan deity.

In other media

Television

• Wakanda appears in the 1994 Fantastic Four episode "Prey of the Black Panther." The Black Panther lures the Fantastic Four to Wakanda in order to test them and see if they were worthy enough to help him fight Klaw.
• T'Challa appears in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Panther's Prey".
• Wakanda appears in the Black Panther TV series. Like the comics, Klaw killed T'Chaka resulting in T'Challa becoming king and the new Black Panther. Later, Klaw decides to invade Wakanda and manages to round up Juggernaut, Batroc the Leaper, Cannibal, the second Radioactive Man, and the Vatican Black Knight to help him with his plans.
• Wakanda appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes micro-episode "Welcome to Wakanda". Man-Ape challenges T'Chaka for the throne of Wakanda and manages to defeat him with some unseen help from Klaw which resulted in T'Chaka dying from his injuries. Following T'Chaka's death, Man-Ape and Klaw enslave the Wakandans and have them mine for vibranium. This causes T'Challa to become the new Black Panther as he plans to find some allies to help liberate Wakanda. In the episode "Panther's Quest", T'Challa asked the Avengers for help to regain his kingdom from Man-Ape and Klaw. After Man-Ape and Klaw are defeated, T'Challa tells his people that they should no longer remain isolated from the rest of the world.
• Wakanda appears in the Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers episode "His Majesty, Black Panther!"
• Wakanda appears in Avengers: Ultron Revolution and Avengers: Secret Wars as both feature Black Panther.

Film

File:Wakanda in Black Panther teaser poster.jpeg

Wakanda in a teaser poster for the 2018 film Black Panther.

• Wakanda appears in the straight-to-DVD animated feature Ultimate Avengers 2 as a central location and the focal point for an alien invasion. Here the country is portrayed as extreme isolationist nation that views all outsiders as enemies.
• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Wakanda is briefly shown on a map in Iron Man 2 and is mentioned in Avengers: Age of Ultron as the source nation of vibranium, but is portrayed for the first time in the final scene of Captain America: Civil War, where Captain America takes refuge with Bucky Barnes. The film also introduces Black Panther to the MCU, ahead of his solo film. In Civil War, T'Challa and his father are shown conversing together in the Xhosa language. For Civil War, Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman uses a "regional accent based on where Wakanda would be. He did great research on the very cultural aspects of the character. Even though it's a fictional culture, [he figured] out ways to tether it into real African culture." In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its location was established in Captain America: Civil War when it was shown on a map: at the northern end of Lake Turkana, at a fictional point bordering Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya. In real life, this area is actually a disputed border region known as the Ilemi Triangle, claimed by each of these countries. The Black Panther film further established that, in keeping with this map location, it is a landlocked country in the central mountains far from the coasts. Impassable mountains and jungles around its borders have helped Wakanda isolate itself from outsiders. Internally, Wakanda consists of lush river valleys, mountain ranges rich in natural resources, and a fabulous capital city that integrates space-age technology with traditional designs.
• Wakanda appears prominently in the film Black Panther, which further expands on its background and culture:
  • The film establishes that, as in the comics, the Black Panther's super-strength comes from consuming the "heart-shaped herb", stating that it is local vegetation that was mutated over millions of years of exposure to Vibranium.
  • Wakanda consists of five tribes, four of which were united under the rule of the first Black Panther 10,000 years ago. As in the comics, the four main tribes worship Bast, the panther god, amongst others, and also have a strong spiritual tradition of ancestor worship. The fifth tribe are the Jabari, who follow the white gorilla cult (of the god Hanuman) – they are staunch traditionalists who live isolated up in the mountains. While considered part of Wakanda, the Black Panther's hold over the Jabari is tenuous; during the film, their leader M'Baku rejects T'Challa as a worthy heir to the throne during his coronation, and challenges him to ceremonial combat to claim it for himself. T'Challa defeats M'Baku in the duel, but honorably insists that M'Baku yield instead of fighting to the death – at which M'Baku concedes and departs. The other four tribes are the River tribe, the Mining tribe, the Merchant tribe, and the Border tribe. The lords of each of these four tribes sit on the king's councils. Furthermore, after the Mountain tribe assists T'Challa in his overthrow of the usurper, N'Jadaka aka Erik Kilmonger, to take back the throne, M'Baku is also granted a seat on that council in recognition of his loyalty.
  • The four main tribes of Wakanda speak in a Xhosa language, while the Jabari speak a Yoruba dialect.
  • Because Wakanda has never been invaded in its millennia-long history, it advanced undisturbed into a post-agricultural, technological society: its social standards evolved accordingly, thus Wakandans are valued equally regardless of gender. The all female royal bodyguard of the Dora Milaje are considered the best warriors in Wakanda, and two of the five current tribal leaders are female.
  • Their society also advanced to have a great respect for the unspoiled natural wonders of their homeland, thus the Wakandan capital city is a thriving ecotopia, mixing space-age technology with green energy: the roads are unpaved because they don't need to be (preventing urban runoff), with a sophisticated magnetic-levitation train network running on elevated rings throughout the city.
  • Being devoted to isolationism and peace, Wakanda does not have a standing army as such - though its royal guards and special forces possess such advanced technology that they are more than capable of defending their nation (often led by the Black Panther himself).
  • The opening animated sequence explains Wakanda was aware that the outside world was becoming increasingly chaotic, throughout the various atrocities of history such as the Atlantic slave trade, the Colonisation of Africa by European powers, World War I, and World War II. The Black Panthers of the past, however, were devoted to defending their own country and did not interfere, instead choosing to hide Wakanda from the world - fearing that if they became involved and revealed themselves, it would eventually lead outsiders to try to invade Wakanda itself. By the present day, Wakanda passes itself off as a small, poor Third World nation of humble herdsmen - literally hiding itself by means of an advanced holographic projection shroud around its borders, hiding the advanced technological civilization within. A core tension of the film's narrative is that the new Black Panther, T'Challa, is torn between his loyalty to hide and defend Wakanda as its king, and his own conscience to help the faltering world beyond its borders. Erik Killmonger then arrives in Wakanda to try to seize the throne - mirroring T'Challa's desire to end Wakanda's isolationism, but by conquering the outside world using Wakanda's advanced technologies and weapons (saying that "The sun will never set on the Wakandan Empire", referring to the old colonial British Empire). Ultimately T'Challa defeats Killmonger, and decides to reveal Wakanda's true nature to the world during an address at the United Nations.
• Wakanda will appear in Avengers: Infinity War and the Untitled Avengers film.

Video games

• Wakanda appears as a location in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. When the control nanites start to infect the world, Wakanda is one of its victims when The Fold absorbs some mercenaries into its ranks. After taking out Havok, A-Bomb, and Justice, the heroes make their way to Black Panther's palace where they discover that Nick Fury has fallen victim to the control nanites. They end up defeating The Fold-absorbed Wakandans led by Green Goblin and Venom III. When Green Goblin and Venom III are subdued, Black Panther's palace serves as a hub since Stark Tower has fallen under the control of The Fold (and the nanites cannot comprehend Fury's files on Wakanda). When the heroes are fighting Tinkerer at the Repeater Tower in Iceland, Wakanda is under attack by The Fold until the jamming signal is unleashed, thus neutralizing the nanites and saving the world.
• Wakanda makes a cameo in Storm's ending in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. She and Black Panther oversee the land while discussing whether or not humanity is worth saving, what with mutant discrimination still being rife.
• Wakanda appears in Marvel Heroes. The players must try to defeat Man-Ape in a level called "Vibranium Mines" in order to keep him from and his followers from mining the Vibranium.
• Wakanda is referenced in Lego Marvel Super Heroes. In the mid-credits, Black Panther tells Nick Fury that the people of Wakanda thank him for thwarting Loki and Galactus' attack.
• Wakanda appears as a stage in Disney Infinity 3.0.
• Wakanda appears as a stage in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, merged with Val Habar from Monster Hunter 4 to become Valkanda.

External links

• Official website
• World of Black Heroes: Wakanda Biography
• Black Panther at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• The Religion of Black Panther
• Lion God at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Marvel Directory: Man-Ape
• Marvel Universe Online: Queen Divine Justice
• The Museum of Black Superheroes
• Black Panther series index