1896 CE - Eyes of Wakanda - Season 1, Episode 4: The Last Panther

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Releasing on June 25, 2026 - Subscribe to be notified!

Adwa, Ethiopia, 1896. As Emperor Menelik Il's forces repel an invading Italian army in one of

African history's most consequential battles, two Wakandans are running their own mission

beneath the chaos. Kuda, a seasoned War Dog with hard-won perspective, leads the

operation; his trainee is Prince Tafari, the king's third son, a young man who will never

inherit the throne and is hungry to carve his name into history on his own terms. Their

target: a vibranium axe currently stored in a house at the heart of the fighting. Tafari, driven by ambition and recklessness, ignores orders and grabs it himself. When a figure in a Black Panther suit ambushes them on the road out of Adwa and tries to take it back, the mask comes off to reveal something impossible: a Wakandan woman from five centuries in the future. She is the last Black Panther of her timeline, sent back by a dying Dora Milaje with a Quantum Scanner and one purpose: to undo a Bad Future in which an isolationist Wakanda watches the alien Horde consume the world, then falls itself.

She shows them what she has seen, and then she shows them the math. Return the axe to its

hiding place in Adwa, and history threads a specific needle: the axe reaches a British

museum, Killmonger eventually takes it, T'Challa's response pulls Wakanda out of isolation,

and the world is ready when the Horde arrives. Keep it, and that chain breaks. They turn the

car around. Tafari, who began the mission chasing glory through bold action, finds a

different kind of courage: he gives the axe back, returns to Wakanda empty-handed, and

stands before the Council to take the blame alone, shielding Kuda, swallowing his pride, and

accepting that he will never see the future he helped secure. We close by pulling

forward to the British Museum scene from Black Panther (2018), Killmonger arriving to

claim the axe. The chain holds.

Universe Designation

This story takes place in the main Marvel Continuity: 199999

Note - We at Snark Industries recognize and reject that this universe was named as 616 in Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness

Characters in the Episode

In-Universe Date - 1896

Date: March 1, 1896 CE, Adwa, Ethiopia. Framing-device future scenes set in approximately 2396 CE, Wakanda.

Defense: The year 1896 is stated on screen and is the established setting of the episode. The Battle of Adwa, depicted in the episode's opening sequence, is a real historical event that occurred on March 1, 1896, when Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II decisively defeated invading Italian troops. This is one of the most pivotal battles in modern African history and one of the few decisive defeats of a European colonial army by an African nation. The future scenes are established as five hundred years after 1896 per dialogue, placing them in 2396 CE.

Date Confidence: TIER 1. The year 1896 is on screen and tied to the verifiable real-world Battle of Adwa. The five-hundred-year future displacement is stated explicitly in dialogue. No debate.

Comic Roots

The Horde 

First appeared in Eternals (Vol. 3) #6 (January 2007), created by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. as the central looming threat of Gaiman's seven-issue Eternals miniseries. Described in the comics as "the locusts of the universe," they are insect-like cosmic beings serving the Fulcrum, balancing the universe on the opposite side of the Celestials. They consume planetary life-force energy and have visited Earth multiple times across cosmic history. Charles and Daniel Knauf expanded the Horde storyline in Eternals (Vol. 4, 2008-2009). This episode is the Horde's first MCU appearance.

Eternals comics lore

The Horde are presented as enemies of the Celestials but instruments of the same cosmic system, the Fulcrum. Their first depicted Earth attack is roughly four billion years in the past, when they infected the Celestial Progenitor. This episode's positioning of them as an apocalyptic future threat is consistent with their comics role as a recurring cosmic doom.

Prince Tafari in comics

Tafari, the cousin of T'Challa, briefly held the Black Panther mantle in Doomwar (2010) by Jonathan Maberry. The animated Tafari is a much younger character and serves a different narrative function, but the name carries weight in Wakandan mythology.

Recommended Reading

Eternals (Vol. 3) #1-7 (2006-2007) by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. -- First appearance of The Horde and the foundational modern Eternals story. Gaiman reframes the Celestials, Eternals, Deviants, and Horde as parts of a single cosmic system. Essential context for understanding what the Last Panther's future is fighting against.

Eternals (Vol. 4) #1-9 (2008-2009) by Charles and Daniel Knauf -- Direct continuation of Gaiman's run that expands the Horde threat significantly. Druig, Ikaris, and the awakening of sleeping Eternals all face the Horde's approach. If you want the full comics weight of the Horde, this is the second half of that story.

Black Panther Vol. 3 #1-12 (1998-1999) by Christopher Priest -- The foundational War Dog material in comics. Kuda's professionalism and lifelong service map directly onto Priest's depiction of long-tenured operatives. Foundational reading for the entire Eyes of Wakanda series.

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet (Vol. 6, 2016-2017) by Ta-Nehisi Coates -- Directly engages with the philosophical question at the heart of this episode: what does Wakandan isolationism cost the rest of the world, and what does Wakanda owe? The episode's hinge point is the same argument made flesh.

Doomwar #1-6 (2010) by Jonathan Maberry -- Features the comics version of Tafari taking up the Black Panther mantle during the war between Wakanda and Doctor Doom. Different character beats than the animated Tafari, but useful context for the name's history in Wakandan mythology.

The Snark File - Easter Eggs, Callbacks, and Technical Tidbits

Uatu

Uatu the Watcher makes a silent cameo in the background immediately after the title sequence, observing Tafari and Kuda's escape from Adwa. This is the first confirmed Watcher appearance in animated MCU Sacred Timeline material and quietly foreshadows the alternate-timeline plot. It also lays groundwork for the Watcher's expanded role across the Multiverse Saga.

The Battle of Adwa

Occurring March 1, 1896, is a real historical event. Emperor Menelik II's Ethiopian forces defeated the invading Italian army, securing Ethiopian independence and inflicting one of the most decisive defeats on European colonial expansion in Africa. Setting Tafari and Kuda's mission inside this specific battle is a deliberate choice that frames the Wakandan operation as adjacent to one of African history's great victories.

The Horde

The Horde making their MCU debut here is significant. They are one of the central threats of Neil Gaiman's Eternals run and have been speculated as a future MCU antagonist since the Eternals film teased the Celestials' cosmic conflicts. Their introduction in animated form, in a 1896 prequel, is unusually patient table-setting for what could be a future Eternals or cosmic Avengers event.

The Last Panther

The future Black Panther is the first female Black Panther in MCU primary continuity who is not T'Challa's sister. Shuri took the mantle in Wakanda Forever (2022). This Last Panther is a different Queen, from centuries beyond.

The Causal Loop

The Lion's stolen vibranium relics, scattered at the end of EP01 in 1260 BCE, complete their arc here. The series begins with the vibranium dispersed and ends with the last of it being deliberately left in the wild to set up T'Challa's reign. The entire four-episode arc is a single causal loop.

The Quantum Scanner

Draws from the Quantum Realm technology established across Ant-Man (2015), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Time travel via quantum mechanics is now a multi-era MCU technology, with the future Wakandans of 2396 CE having weaponized it for survival.