Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers #1After his recent betrayal of the Avengers and exile from Wakanda, T’Challa the Black Panther is in desperate need of friends, so Captain Marvel’s invitation for him to join her new team in Avengers #1 couldn’t have come at a better time. However, he will need to work hard to regain the trust of his former colleagues.
John Ridley’s run of Black Panther over the past two years saw the former King of Wakanda fall so terribly from grace that he now has no land, no allies, and no purpose. This is especially true after the reveal of his covert sleeper agent betrayal, which ruined his relationship with many of the Avengers and his former wife Storm.
That being said, T’Challa is nothing if not a persistently heroic person, so it is no surprise when Carol Danvers recruits him to join the newest Avengers roster in Avengers #1 from writer Jed MacKay and artist Carlos Villa, regardless of his recent betrayal. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to need to take responsibility for the harm he’s caused and prove his loyalty to his Avengers friends.
T’Challa Seriously Betrayed All Of His Avengers Teammates
Over the course of the 15-issue run of Ridley’s Black Panther, it was revealed that T’Challa not only planted secret sleeper agents across the world, but he also had these agents spy on his Avengers colleagues. Beyond just spying, they studied the powers and abilities of each one of his former teammates. This incredibly sensitive information could be very dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, similar to Batman’s betrayal of the Justice League in the infamous Justice League of America: Tower of Babel arc by Mark Waid. Of course, it did fall into the wrong hands, as T’Challa’s former best friend and sleeper agent Jhai betrayed Wakanda out of “love” for the Black Panther. Jhai became a terrorist to cause major strife in Wakanda and reinstate T’Challa as the undisputed King.
By this point the Avengers had lost all faith and trust in T’Challa, whom they viewed as paranoid and irresponsible. This led to a major conflict where Captain Marvel and Thor attacked T’Challa’s allies while Captain America and Black Panther faced off against each other ,with Steve overpowering the former King. In Avengers #1 Carol has been elected as the leader of the newest iteration of the Avengers, and she is shown going around recruiting heroes to join her team, including the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther. T’Challa is confronted by Carol, who after calling him out for his betrayal says, “You know what you did, and you know it was wrong. And you know what it cost you.” She then reminds him that he will always be an Avenger and invites him to join her team.
Some Avengers Are More Ready To Forgive T’Challa Than Others
When Carol goes to recruit Sam Wilson’s Captain America, he is shocked and upset that she would invite T’Challa to join the Avengers once again, especially after Black Panther’s unwarranted assault on him in Captain America: Symbol of Truth. In the team’s first major battle against the power-hungry Terminus, Wilson saves Black Panther, acknowledging that while they have “a lot of beef,” they’re both still Avengers. Even though T’Challa is on the Avengers again, he clearly still has a lot of trust to be gained back from his teammates, particularly ones like Sam Wilson. But it is clear that he is dedicated to being on the Avengers and being a focused hero once again.
As Captain Marvel rightfully says, Black Panther will always be an Avenger, but that doesn’t mean that T’Challa doesn’t still have a lot of trust building to do with his heroic peers before they can fully accept that he will always have their back.
Avengers #1 from Marvel Comics is available now.
