Warning: SPOILERS for X-Force #1
Marvel’s X-Men relaunch is setting up a major conflict between the mutant race of Krakoa, and the superhero Black Panther. No room for misunderstanding, either: the X-Men are attempting to instigate a regime change in the nation of Wakanda.
Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men relaunch has seen the entire mutant race gather on the living island of Krakoa, with Charles Xavier abandoning his old dream of peaceful coexistence in favor of a more isolationist vision. Xavier proposed that the key to lasting peace between man and mutant lay in drugs provided exclusively by Krakoa. One extends the life of a human by five years, another is an adaptive antibiotic, and the third helps with the treatment of mental illness. The majority of the world’s governments have, at least on paper, approved the establishment of the mutant nation in return for access to these new drugs. There are, however, a handful of exceptions - and the kingdom of Wakanda is one of them.
As revealed in House of X #5, the Wakandans issued a strongly-worded response insisting they “DO NOT NEED MUTANT DRUGS.” Now other nations in the Wakandan Economic Protectorate - Azania, Canaan, and Kenya - have followed their lead. But X-Force #1 reveals the X-Men’s response. Officially, the mutants accept this decision and are undertaking “firm but friendly diplomacy” in order to persuade non-treaty nations to open their borders to Krakoan drugs.
But behind the scenes, the Black King of the Hellfire Trading Company, Sebastian Shaw, is attempting to create black-market channels. And the issue offers the mutants’ own “Unofficial response to Non-Treaty Nations… Mutant operative cells will work to undermine the current administration.” The obvious next step being to influence a regime change to a more mutant-friendly successor. In the case of Wakanda, that policy clearly implies that the X-Men are secretly attempting to overthrow the Black Panther.
It will be fascinating to see how this affects Storm, the former Queen of Wakanda, who has resumed her historic relationship with Black Panther. The establishment of Krakoa appears to have encouraged a shift in Storm’s perspective, and she’s become more of a mutant triumphalist than ever before; in X-Men #1 she used blanket terms to describe the entire human race, in a way she would never have done previously. All this is highly likely to put Storm’s romance with Black Panther under great strain - even worse if Black Panther uncovers the X-Men’s secret attempts to institute regime change, and confronts her about it. It’s surely only a matter of time before Storm is forced to choose between the X-Men and Wakanda.
This strategy is even more unwise given Black Panther’s current position of global prominence. He’s been appointed leader of the latest incarnation of the Avengers, and he has the superhero team working life a finely-tuned machine. What’s more, Black Panther has recruited countless superhumans and adventurers as so-called “Agents of Wakanda,” creating a metahuman espionage unit that incorporates some of the brightest minds and most skilled warriors on the globe. The X-Men will have to tread with care, because they don’t want Black Panther as an enemy.
X-Force #1 is available in your local comic book shop.
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