Marvel Just Made One of the Best Phase 3 Villains More Important Than Ever

The Marvel Cinematic Universe not only finds clever ways to form connective threads between its characters and properties, but it also finds little alleyways of retroactive continuity fixes and alignments, so that events that have already occurred in the franchise suddenly have new weight or meaning, thanks to new perspectives. Sometimes those retcons are small, fun, little bits of trivia (like a young Peter Parker showing up in Iron Man 2); sometimes, they’re major game-changing reveals (like finding out, post-Avengers, that Hydra has secretly infiltrated the government and SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier).

While the MCU’s Multiverse Saga hasn’t been as successful as the Infinity Saga before it, there have been several impressive retcons that the franchise has pulled off, post-Endgame. Eternals was built on the reveal that a race of near-immortals has guided events on Earth since ancient times; Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings fixed the broken mythology of the MCU’s “Mandarin,” and most recently, Captain America: Brave New World attempted to retcon-wrangle many dangling threads of MCU storytelling (to middling success). However, few fans expected the new animated anthology series Eyes of Wakanda to offer as many thrilling retcons to both Black Panther’s mythos and the larger MCU as it has.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

The Destiny of the Vibranium Ax

The fourth segment of the series, “The Last Panther”, chronicles the story of Prince Tafari (Zeke Alton) and Kuda (Steve Toussaint), two War Dogs of the 19th century who get sent on assignment into the battlefields of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The mission is to retrieve a Vibranium Ax from a pirate who has stolen it and stashed it inside a clock, but when it looks too dangerous to proceed, Tafari nontheless defies Kuda’s advice and infiltrates the war zone on his own to retrieve the ax. The pair are headed back to Wakanda victorious when they get a surprise visit from the Black Panther of a future timeline (the 24th century).

That future Panther – the last Black Panther (Anika Noni Rose) – warns of a dark fate where a species known as the Horde invades and conquers Earth in her century. In her timeline, Erik Killmonger never stole that same Vibranium Ax from a British museum in the 21st century, setting into motion the events of the first Black Panther movie – including the twist of King T’Challa finally ending Wakanda’s isolationist policy and opening its border to the world. Without that shift in politics, Wakanda would’ve never shared its technology with the world, and the Earth wouldn’t have the assets needed to fend off the Horde when the time came.

Tafari is left facing a major sci-fi quandary: complete his mission and show loyalty to his kingdom, or disobey his immediate orders and secure the future of not only Wakanda, but the entire world. In the end, the prince has to think like a future king would, and secure his kingdom’s legacy, even beyond his own rule.

Eyes of Wakanda Just Made Killmonger More Crucial Than Ever

Erik Killmonger remains one of the most beloved MCU antagonists of all time, with good reason. Michael B. Jordan dug deep to play a black man who had his extremist views were forged by trauma, violence, and exploitation by a nation and government that didn’t truly value him. It was an unnerving portrait of socio-political rebellion precisely because it was so easy to sympathize with Killmonger’s perspective and frustration, and forget that his means of achieving “emancipation” for his people would come at too bloody a cost. It was a thought-provoking entanglement of noble intentions vs. evil deeds that fans are still debating to this day.

Now, Eyes of Wakanda has gone further, reframing Killmonger as a pivotal figure in Wakanda’s destiny, without whom, the kingdom and world would’ve been doomed. Between Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, Eyes of Wakanda, and even the chapters of What If…? he appeared in, Erik Killmonger has been firmly established as the other side of a cause-and-effect coin that helps T’Challa move Wakanda in a bold new direction; helps Shuri step up and embrace her destiny as the next Black Panther (even after he’s dead), and ultimately helped Earth avoid extinction. It’s all the more reason that Marvel fans never stop keeping a flame of hope alive that the MCU will find some kind of way to bring Jordan back as Killmonger, before (or immediately after) the Multiverse Saga ends.

As far as MCU retcons go, Eyes of Wakanda ends on a nice full-circle alignment with the beginning of Black Panther, wonderfully echoing the franchise’s overarching theme of legacy. You can stream the series on Disney+.

Wakanda Just Got a Jaw-Dropping Upgrade on Both Black Panther Movies