The Time When Black Panther Became Marvel’s Most Powerful Superhero

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The comic book Secret Wars #6 and various related issues and revealed some mega twists leading to the end of the crossover events by Marvel.

Let’s revisit these revelations in the wake of Black Panther. In this comic book, he and Namor found the secret location of the late Doctor Strange (in Secret Wars #6 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic). Doctor Strange died after leaving a recorded message for his Illuminate fellows on how to beat Doctor Doom and to end his rule over Batlleworld. To support them, Doctor Strange had given Black Panther a fully built Infinity Gauntlet.

As the whole world knows (literally), the Infinity Gauntlet contains the six Infinity Stones that grant the wielder absolute control of the basic forces of the universe. It might be the only weapon in the Marvel Universe which had enough power to take on Doom and the Beyonder powers stolen by him. Since it was given to a hero who had a reputation of beating enemies far more powerful than him, it became even more interesting.

The issue here was that the Infinity Gauntlet’s power worked only in the universe where it was created. And Battleworld is a planet pieced together by using various alternate worlds. Therefore, the Gauntlet wielded by Black Panther was going to work only in a particular place. However, as disclosed by the message left by Strange, he had managed to convince Doom to build his castle at the exact spot where the Gauntlet would have worked. Therefore, this crossover’s final chapters featured a massive battle between Black Panther and Doctor Doom.

But, the real hero of Secret Wars might have been Wolverine. The Brian Michael Bendis/Andrea Sorrentino created Old Man Logan #5 showed the veteran come across the regular Marvel Universe’s X-Men. Due to a premonition by Emma Frost, readers got to see Old Man Logan leading a charge comprising dozens of heroes against Doom. Emma had even indicated that Logan was crucial to defeating Doom because he was the only uncontrollable hero on Battleworld.

What is interesting is that this might be linked to a revelation seen in Wolverine #20 (created by Charles Soule and Juan Doe). That weekly run ended with the revival of the original Wolverine, who according to Destiny was vital to prevent the events of Secret Wars. But, Mystique had interrupted the resurrection, saying she would rather die than to aid her nemesis. Maybe this is how the universe rectified that error?

Secret Wars #6 had also brought forward another mysterious character known as The Prophet. This character was seen fuelling rebellion in various Battlefield areas and seeding mayhem in the world that was carefully crafted by Doom. According to the way the Prophet appeared and his talent for luring others with his words, he might have been the Inhuman/Cabal called Maximus the Mad.

Ultimately, this comic book disclosed some fascinating trivia according to Fantastic Four’s role in Battleworld. As per Invisible Woman (who was at that point happily married to Doom and didn’t even remember Reed Richards), the Fantastic Four’s original leader was her father before he died in a battle against Apocalypse and Doom saved the others. And then the Human Torch went on to become Battleworld’s Sun; it was also revealed that Doom converted The Thing into a huge shield barrier which guards Battleworld against the Deadlands monsters (just the way The Wall kept the White Walkers out in Game of Thrones). However, after Thanos disclosed Doom’s lies to The Thing, he woke up from his slumber and left a gaping hole in the Shield.

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