Black Panther Forms Agents of Wakanda to Replace SHIELD

SHIELD may be gone from the Marvel Universe, but Black Panther has assembled a new team to fill the void.

SPOILERS for Avengers #12 by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, and Cory Smith follow.

An evil version of Captain America used SHIELD to take over the United States on behalf of Hydra. Marvel's heroes were able to defeat this Supreme Commander and overthrow Hydra. SHIELD was dissolved thereafter.

Sometime after the real Captain America returned, Loki led a group of Celestials called the Final Host to attack Earth. According to Loki, his true goal was to force a new team of Avengers to assemble. It worked.

Black Panther is now the chairman of the Avengers and the team's leader. Putting a foreign monarch in control of the Avengers has driven a wedge between the Avengers and the United States government. Relocating the team's headquarters in the body of a dead Celestial at the North Pole has done the same.

Without SHIELD's extensive intelligence network or US government backing, the Avengers have been on their own. But with so many threats gathering and crises needing attention, T'Challa decides it is time to put together an Avengers support team.

Some of these support staffers work at Avengers Mountain. Gorilla-Man has been hired as Avengers Mountain's head of security. Broo - a highly-intelligent mutant Brood and student at Xavier's school - has been hired as Avengers Mountain's IT officer. Black Panther has also been receiving counsel from Odin, who led the first team of Avengers back in 1,000,000, BC, though none of the other Avengers are aware of it.

But the Avengers need agents in the field as well. That where the Agents of Wakanda come in. Black Panther has placed Okoye, his most-trusted Dora Milaje, in command of the Agents of Wakanda, though she does not approve of all of the heroes that T'Challa has chosen to recruit.

The Agents of Wakanda are shown in action in Avengers #12. Ka-Zar, the hero of the Savage Land, is sent on a deep sea intelligence-gathering mission to Atlantis. The Wasp infiltrates Transylvania to free the Avengers' newest member, Blade. She gets an assist from the team's agent in space, Man-Wolf.

Other Agents of Wakanda recruits include the Navajo super cop American Eagle, the Nazi-hunting mutant mad scientist Dr. Nemesis, and the Immortal Weapon known as Fat Cobra. The former agent of SHIELD (and Thor's ex-girlfriend) Roz Solomon has also joined the group and jumped right into the deep end. Black Panther was also meeting with Mockingbird, Shang-Chi, and Ant-Man about potentially joining the group, though Valkyrie and Moon Knight dismissed their invitations out of hand.

But it seems likely that only Black Panther and maybe Okoye truly know how vast the Agents of Wakanda network is. With Namor spoiling for a fight with the surface, Phil Coulson turning against superheroes even as he assembles his own squad, a vampire civil war brewing, and the War of the Realms on the horizon, the Avengers are likely going to need all of the support they can get.

What do you think of the Agents of Wakanda? Let us know in the comments!

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