Marvel Comic Introduces Storm and Black Panther’s Grandchildren

It was the wedding of the century: Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm of the X-Men, and King T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, were married as the king and queen of Wakanda (in 2006’s Black Panther #18).And it was a romance decades in the making. The future royal couple met when T’Challa, then a warrior prince from Wakanda, rescued the mutant Wind Rider from an American poacher after she was orphaned to the streets of Africa. While it would be years before Ororo and T’Challa’s romance would blossom again, their wedding was such a momentous occasion that it was observed by The Watcher.

The marriage was ultimately annulled by T’Challa after husband and wife picked opposing sides when the Avengers went to war with the X-Men, ending one of Marvel’s power couples. But in this week’s Marvel Voices: Legends #1, a special one-shot comic honoring Black History Month, Marvel revealed a glimpse into a bright future for Storm and T’Challa.

Titled “The World Is Not Ready,” the story from writer Sheree Renée Thomas and artist Julian Shaw is set “years from now.” An older T’Challa is baba to five-year-old twins: a girl, Zalika, and a boy, T’Fuma. T’Challa’s super-powered grandchildren prove to be a handful for even the Dora Milaje, with T’Challa remarking that they’re worse than he was with his sister Shuri. As members of the royal family, it’s their duty to respect each other.

T’Challa then tells Zalika and T’Fuma a bedtime story: how a teenage Ororo and T’Challa met, fell in love, married, formed a team with Shuri, Sam Wilson’s Captain America, Misty Knight, and Luke Cage, broke up… and then reunited. “Sometimes we fight the ones we love most, but in the end, when all else fails, all we have are family and friends,” T’Challa tells the children.

Enter Storm, who marvels at her grandbabies. She’s supposed to be training them to use their powers, with T’Challa remarking the couple has work to do. “T’Challa, you have faced countless villains throughout the multiverse, and you can’t handle a couple of five-year-olds?” As Storm and T’Challa embrace, he reminds “Blue” that their grandchildren aren’t regular kids — and “the world is not ready.” The end… for now. 

Marvel’s Voices: Legends #1, an anthology of stories featuring Misty Knight, Captain America, Patriot, Deathlok, and Storm and T’Challa, is on sale now from Marvel Comics.