#new wakanda

[wakandaiscoming]

https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/the-marvel-zombies-deep-cut-you-might-have-missed-in-what-if-episode-5/

The Marvel Zombies Deep Cut You Might Have Missed in What If...? Episode 5

Fans of the Marvel Zombies comic books might have caught a sly reference to the source material [...]

A bit about the comic book storyline that was referenced in today’s “What If...?” Spoilers!

In Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman (who wrote that zombie comic that had a show Danai Gurira was in!), which I have not read, T’Challa is kept in a lab and slowly eaten by Hank Pym. In the TV show, it’s someone else.

In the comics, he escapes with the Zombie Head of the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne, who had battled Pym). Though he lost both arms and part of a leg, T’Challa is one of the few living survivors of that first run. He gets prosthetic limbs made by the mutant Forge, who I had a crush on as a teen girl, and ultimately rules over the human survivors in “New Wakanda” which is located in New York City. (Until the plot continues, at least.)

Both T’Challa’s missing limbs and the zombie head in a jar are referenced in the episode.

I have learned more about Marvel Zombies than I care to know in the course of writing this post. It freaks me out that they talk in the comics. I have read a ton of The Walking Dead, it’s not like I can’t read zombie comics. Maybe it’s an uncanny valley issue. Them being too human with talking, thinking and having powers, but being dead. Shudder.

[malcortez]

New Wakanda, and a closeup of the throneroom. The old man is T'challa/Black Panther, the woman is Lisa Hendricks, who he married. She's one of the Acolytes in this universe, but has no known counterpart in 616.

This is a good illustration of what I've said about how New Wakanda is an odd combination of mostly lacking technology altogether, living in straw huts, etc., but what technology they do have is very hi-tech/space-age, leftover from their base on Asteroid M or scavenged from the abandoned labs of Tony Stark and Reed Richards in NYC.

[malcortez]

New Wakanda is in the wilderness outside of NYC (or rather, what used to be NYC) There were a ton of stores in NYC, from cheap to upscale. I mean, I assume Marvel's NYC still has stuff like Fifth Avenue, you know? So probably any of the NW residents who want it can raid these stores (and homes) of the leftover super expensive jewelry and designer clothes. The clothes are probably pretty worn out and dirty by now but the jewelry, aside from tarnishing of the metal, is probably still in pretty good condition. So you've got these people walking around in faded torn clothing but you look close and there's a Gucci label and they've got like eight diamond bracelets on. And Malcolm's generation doesn't even understand the value of that, because in their world there isn't any.

[malcortez]

I've mentioned I don't think women are shaving in New Wakanda, but I just realized, the men must be? Not a single character we see sports a beard.

Disposable razors taken from the city probably long ago ran out (remember, it's been 40 years since the colony was founded) so my guess is they're doing what people did before razors existed: Using sharpened pieces of flint or shells.

As for why, there are reasons to shave your beard that aren't just aesthetic, like legs are. They're not reasons that the modern man has to worry about, but they definitely would apply for a guy in New Wakanda. In winter, if your beard gets wet, that's uncomfy, and it's worse if it freezes. I imagine that a heavy beard is not fun in summer either. And New Wakanda is built by the remains of New York, doesn't New York have really cold winters and really hot summers? Plus, hygiene. These people aren't taking regular showers, and they probably don't bathe at all in the winter. And beards...well, they're next to your mouth, it's easy for food to get in there, and little bugs and stuff will be attracted to that. Having bugs living next to your face is probably not a fun time for you or anyone around you.

Which, all things considered, makes it make more sense that EVERY dude is choosing to shave in New Wakanda, and not just some of them. Because it's not an aesthetic choice, it's a "common sense" choice.

[malcortez]

thinking about how much Malcolm would or wouldn’t know about Christmas New Wakanda still has living members of the founding generation from BEFORE the world was eaten by zombies, so it’s not like the culture of the pre-zombie world is something totally lost in the past, they’ve got living people right here to tell them about it, it was only 45 years ago, I’m pretty sure they would tell their kids and grandkids about Christmas (or whatever else they celebrated) Fabian certainly would. But just because they know about it, would the celebrate it? I feel like the older generation would want to, but it might not seem to have much of a point to the younger ones. They don’t have the same cultural entrenchment in This Is A Thing You Do, it’s just something their parents and grandparents did in a world that has nothing to do with how the world is now. But then again, variations of ‘Christmas’ have been celebrated for thousands of years in winter BEFORE Christianity even existed. Because winter is dark and cold and really hard to get through (both in that it’s depressing and that it could actually physically kill people due to cold or hunger) so it just made sense that in pretty much every culture in a place that HAD a winter, some kind of mid-winter celebration would crop up as a way to keep everybody going. And New Wakanda is on the outskirts of NYC, so they’re going through New York winters. They’ll sure as hell need something like that.

But how would they celebrate it? A lot of our modern Christmas traditions simply would not be possible for them. So maybe they made up a few ‘traditions’ of their own, and just...made do with what they could for food and gifts to each other. But stuff like electric light decorations and mall Santa and stuff is just gonna be a BIG OLD WTF for Malcolm. Also I realize I’m being very Christian-centric here, but I think the majority of survivors were, if not Christian specifically, at least from Western countries where even if you’re not Christian, Christmas is still a huge part of the culture. But we know that non-Christians are among the survivors too---Forge and Black Panther, specifically. In 616, Forge is a Native American Shaman and Black Panther gets his powers from the Panther God of his people, and that probably applies in this universe too. And, of course, in the verse where @itakemyselfsupercereal‘s Tess is Malcolm’s mom, no way in hell she’s not teaching him about Hanukkah.

[malcortez]

I grew up here. I actually like it here. I don't even want to know what life was like with "civilization". This place is perfect.

Malcolm Cortez, Marvel Zombies II #5

[malcortez]

According to Malcolm, Fabian Cortez and the Black Panther struggled for years over leadership of New Wakanda, which I think may be part of Malcolm's motivation for his attempt at taking over.

And you know, I can see his point. I can see why Fabian would feel that he had a right to New Wakanda. And no, I don't mean entitled power-hungry 616 Fabian, I mean Good Guy Good Leader Marvel Zombies Fabian.

Of the 12 survivors, only two (Forge and Black Panther) were not Acolytes. Fabian was the leader of the Acolytes. Fabian was also the one who saved Black Panther, despite the protests of the very Acolytes who would later follow T'challa in New Wakanda. And then they all spent five years in space together before coming back to Earth, presumably still under Fabian's leadership.

And then suddenly...Black Panther is the boss? And this is "New Wakanda" despite having no Wakandans in it aside from Black Panther himself? I can see why Fabian would feel this is unfair. And, since this Fabian was a good leader who cared about others, he might also feel that this was not the best thing for his people. They're all Acolytes save for Forge, and all of them including Forge is a mutant, and Fabian has been taking good care of all of them for years. Black Panther, as a human monarch and Avenger, may well not be someone that Fabian trusts to understand their needs, even if he may not have anything against him personally.

Of course, none of this means that the Acolytes/New Wakandans should have been ruled by anyone they didn't want to be ruled by. And I can see why they would pick Black Panther. While Fabian seems to have been a good leader during the zombie crisis, his leadership was in capacity as a combat leader. While we never see the Acolytes engaged in any villainy, as they're too busy dealing with the zombie threat, the fact that they followed Magneto is evidence they were supervillains (there are certainly differences in the Marvel Zombies world from 616 but Magneto was still a villain, pretty sure) and that means they a group regularly in combat or planning for it. That's a totally different ball game from living in a settlement and trying to rebuild life. The concern is no longer fighting the X-Men, acquiring weapons, infiltrating anti-mutant bases, etc. The concern is now food, shelter, settling inter-group disputes, just daily living. Black Panther, as a ruler of a nation, probably has more experience with that than Fabian does, albeit on a much larger scale. This is not to say Fabian was a bad leader; he was a good leader in a specific situation. Black Panther was the better one in a different situation. Different times, different needs.

Which, to me, is a lot more interesting and realistic than "this guy was a 100% good leader and this one was 100% bad and also a meanie-poo" like usually happens in fiction.

[malcortez]

I've mentioned before my previous headcanon that most of New Wakanda are mutants, since 11 of the 12 founding members would be and thus it follows so would their descendants. But what I never considered till just now (since Malcolm just met a telepathic muse) is the psychics. How do you cover up thoughts about, say, assassinating the village king if there are mind-readers about?

Saying there's just no telepaths seems too easy, so what I'm going with is firstly the telepaths just aren't on the level of the likes of, say, Emma Frost or Jean Grey, secondly I doubt that they would just reach willy-nilly into everyone's heads at random (hell, maybe T'challa had a rule against that, though I'm sure there'd still be those who broke it), and thirdly...having grown up around them, I headcanon a lot of the villagers just grow a somewhat thicker mental 'skin' than most people. Nothing that could keep them out if they REALLY wanted to get in, just a little something that keeps their surface thoughts from leaking out. You want it, you gotta DIG for it. Some are thicker than others, either due to nature or to hard work, and I have no doubt Malcolm worked hard on his...

...but while that might have been just fine for blocking out the untrained, low-level psychics of his village, Malcolm will be entirely unable to stand up against anyone with enough calibre to be, say, an X-Men.