Warning! Spoilers ahead for King in Black: Black Panther #1 from Geoffrey Thorne and Germán Peralta
In the latest tie-in issue to Marvel’s King in Black, the Black Panther actually gives Knull a real fight, unwilling to let his nation and kingdom fall at the hands of his symbiote legions. Despite losing his love Storm in the first issue of King in Black, King T’Challa remains strong and dutiful to his kingdom in King in Black: Black Panther #1, returning to a Wakanda under siege. While his sister Shuri and General Okoye are overwhelmed by the massive hordes and dragons overtaking Wakanda’s troops and shields, T’Challa comes up with an epic defense to fight back against the Symbiote God and his armies.
While the armies of Wakanda are wielding “sheaths,” a new protective technology to help ward off the symbiotes’ attempts at bonding, it’s not enough to repel their assault completely. As such, King T’Challa rallies Shuri and Okoye, coming up with the three-pronged defense involving each of them carrying out specific roles. However, there simply isn’t enough time to explain fully, so T’Challa’s most trusted must trust their king and hope for the best in the issue from writer Geoffrey Thorne with art by Germán Peralta.
Firstly, Shuri is instructed to enter one of her vaults in order to conduct a series of magical and scientific processes, wielding the combined force of alchemy to bolster Wakanda’s armies. As such, she’s able to form multiple copies of herself, allowing her to be in multiple regions at once to rally the troops. For Okoye, the formidable general is given command of the Hand of Bast, a secret weapon created by Wakanda to potentially defeat the Phoenix Force. Taking the form of a giant panther avatar, Okoye takes the fight to the symbiote dragons with a vengeance. This leaves King T’Challa, who modifies the sonic cannon of one of his greatest foes, Ulysses Klaw. Heading to a high point in his kingdom, the Black Panther fires the cannon up into the sky, and Wakanda’s shields amplify its power, creating a massive vibrational wave that repels all of the symbiote legions from his nation, effectively ending the symbiote’s siege of Wakanda in epic fashion.
Not only are the symbiote legions eradicated thanks to the the sonic cannon, but the vibrational wave also punches a hole through the massive symbiote dome that Knull had formed to cover the globe and block out the sun. Now, the sun is shining on Wakanda due to the Black Panther and his allies giving the King in Black a real fight, as opposed to the very real struggles the rest of the world has been dealing with in the face of Knull’s seemingly unstoppable power.
Now that King T’Challa has just confirmed that Wakanda wields various methods and weapons that actually work against the symbiote armies, this could mean that the Black Panther is going to step up in some big ways in the main King in Black event from Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. The rest of the Marvel Universe could certainly use the help, as many of its heroes have already been corrupted and turned into symbiote warriors in Knull’s army.
