Today, learn why Captain America didn’t tell T’Challa about how he met T’Challa’s grandfather (also known as Black Panther) when Cap met T’Challa for the first time.
In Comic Book Questions Answered, I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at [email protected]).
Recently, I did a post about why Captain America’s shield was round and I noted that there was a Captain America/Black Panther miniseries that offered an explanation.
HOW DID CAPTAIN AMERICA MEET BLACK PANTHER’S GRANDFATHER
The miniseries Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers saw Captain America and Nick Fury and the Howling Commandoes go to Wakanda in World War II to keep the Nazis from taking the country over and taking control of its Vibranium supply. Captain America befriended the Black Panther of World War II (T’Challa’s grandfather) and they fought in battle against Red Skull and some super-Nazis, as shown here in Flags of Our Fathers #4 (by Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, Tom Palmer, Sandu Florea and Peter Pantazis)….
Captain America’s original shield is destroyed in battle…
Black Panther gives him a round shield made out of Vibranium and Cap really likes it…
In the end, Black Panther offers Cap the shield, but Cap turns him down, but suggests that it DID give him a good idea for a new shield…
We then learn that, working under Nick Fury’s direction, Captain America stole a piece of Vibranium…
And along with Cap’s suggestion for a round shield, the Vibranium was used to make the special shield…
Evan Narcisse, Paul Renaud and Stephane Paitreau later retconned that retcon in Rise of the Black Panther #1, where it was revealed that Black Panther GAVE Captain America the piece of Vibranium as a gift…
However, here’s the tricky part. Captain America met T’Challa, the modern Black Panther, in Tales of Suspense #97 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Joe Sinnott)…
The two quickly became very close friends (and Captain America even asked Black Panther to take over for him as a member of the Avengers), but as you can see, the two clearly do not know each other…
So reader Samuel P. wrote in to ask why Captain America wouldn’t have mentioned to T’Challa that he knew his grandfather and had actually BEEN to Wakanda before.
Obviously, the “real” answer is that the story about Captain America and T’Challa’s grandfather took place many years later, so obviously the earlier story wasn’t connected to this one (heck, the idea of there even BEING a Black Panther before T’Challa was a retcon, in and of itself). However, amusingly enough, there actually WAS an explanation for why Captain America wouldn’t recall Black Panther’s grandfather (or being in Wakanda before).
WHY WOULDN’T CAPTAIN AMERICA REMEMBER SOMETHING LIKE THAT?
The first hint came in Tales of Suspense #75 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Dick Ayers and John Tartaglione), where we meet Sharon Carter for the first time, who reminds Captain America of his World War II sweetheart, Peggy Carter. Here’s the thing, though, Jack and Stan needed an explanation for why Cap never thought about his girlfriend before this point, so they threw in a sequence where Captain America chills in Avengers Mansion and reflects on the fact that he can’t remember the past that well….
Therefore, if, you know, Jack and Stan were, say, to introduce a character from Cap’s past, it wouldn’t be weird if Cap didn’t remember them until that point. That segues into Cap remembering Peggy two issues later and having a flashback to their last meeting, where Cap believed that she had been killed (she’s not actually named Peggy Carter in the issue, that doesn’t come until we learn the name of her kid sister, Sharon Carter, which takes a while).
In 1986, Marvel debuted Marvel Saga, an ambitious re-telling of the Marvel Age of Comics by historian Peter Sanderson, using actual Marvel Comics to tell the story of the Marvel Universe in chronological order. Sanderson would edit the stories together into a cohesive narrative and he would then throw in little extra bits to make it all fit.
In Marvel Saga #12, we learn the story of how Captain America joined the Avengers and after Sanderson give us the background of Captain America’s World War II adventures, the writer shows us Captain America and Namor fighting and Sanderson uses the aforementioned memory problems to explain why Captain America could not recognize Namor…
For the most part, Marvel Saga just followed the established stories of the Marvel Universe, but every so often, Sanderson would come up with something new to make it all seem more coherent and this was an example of that impulse.
In any event, that would be why Captain America did not mention T’Challa’s grandfather or having visited Wakanda when he first met T’Challa, he simply didn’t remember it as part of his swiss-cheesed memory (a similar approach was used years later on the TV series, Quantum Leap, where Sam Beckett, the star of the show who was leaping through time, only remember bits and pieces from his past so that the show could introduce new pieces of his past whenever it felt like it).
Now, as to why T’Challa’s grandfather never mentioned hanging out with Captain America, I have no idea. I suppose you could suggest that in the world of Wakanda, meeting a star-spangled superhero really isn’t all THAT notable of a story to tell ones grandson. But yes, I will concede that there is no specific explanation for that one like there is for Cap and I’m sure in modern history, T’Challa WAS told about his grandfather meeting Cap and thus, the first meeting of T’Challa and Steve Rogers would likely have to be rewritten if it were ever shown again in a story.
Thanks for the question, Samuel! If anyone else has a comic book question, drop me a line at [email protected]!
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