Eyes of Wakanda is finally here on Disney+ after years in development. The four-episode series is a spinoff and prequel to Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and as such takes place in the MCU proper – not some alternate part of the multiverse, like other animated series What If..?, X-Men ‘97, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. This is real and it matters, folks – and as such, the ending of the season sets up some important events in the MCU’s past, and teases one big dark one for the MCU’s future. All that, and Iron Fist arrives, for real (sorry, Finn Jones).
With that in mind, over the scant four episodes, there’s plenty to dig into. And while the ending itself is pretty clear in the final episode, “The Last Panther,” let’s break down the big moments that happen and talk about what they might mean for the MCU’s past, present, and future.
Spoilers for Eyes of Wakanda past this point.
Eyes of Wakanda Teases A Dark MCU Future
The concept of Eyes of Wakanda is set up pretty straightforwardly in the series premiere, “Into The Lion’s Den.” In it, we learn of a rogue War Dog named The Lion (Cress Williams) who has been using stolen Wakandan technology to amass an army and make himself king. The purpose of the War Dogs, as established in Black Panther and Wakanda Forever, is to head to the outside world and stealthily protect Wakandan interests. In The Lion’s case, he became enamored of what the world outside Wakanda offered, and abandoned his home country for power.
The Dora Milaje sends Noni (Winnie Harlow), a disgraced member of the group, to bring The Lion and his stolen tech back to Wakanda. Noni ends up mortally wounding The Lion, but he goes all Predator and blows up his ship with his dying breath, scattering his Wakandan relics all over the world. In the subsequent episodes – “Legends And Lies,” “Lost And Found,” and “The Last Panther” – we get to see the fallout from this as ranging from 1260 BC (when the first episode takes place) to 1896 (when the final episodes takes place), as War Dogs throughout history bring those lost relics back to Wakanda.
There’s a twist in the last episode, though. The ambitious Prince Tafari (Zeke Alton) grabs a vibranium ax against the wishes of his protector, Kuda (Steve Toussaint). But as they’re about to bring it back to Wakanda, they’re stopped by a mysterious person in a Black Panther suit. This is, indeed, Black Panther (Anika Noni Rose), but not one we’ve met before in the MCU. She’s from 500 years in the future, aka around 2396, where a mysterious alien threat called The Horde has wrecked the entire planet. The Horde is an insectoid race of always hungry aliens who were first introduced in 2007’s Eternals #7 by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr., and are basically the same in the comics as how they appear on screen: no motivation other than to destroy. They’re an infection, a disease, and that’s it.
But what about that twist? Turns out the reason Earth lost to The Horde is that Wakanda was an isolationist nation. Earth was consumed, and The Horde turned to destroy Wakanda, which now stood alone. That doesn’t sound right, does it? Didn’t Wakanda reveal itself to the world in Black Panther? It sure did, but before we get to that, to jump ahead a bit: though Black Panther, Prince Tafari, and Kuda are able to change the course of history, some time in the late 2300s of the MCU… The Horde is coming, no matter what. Whether we’ll ever see that battle depicted on screen in live action – or animation, beyond what we see in Eyes of Wakanda – is TBD.
How Eyes of Wakanda Sets Up Black Panther
So to get back to that whole isolationist thing, through time travel shenanigans it turns out that Black Panther and her Dora Milaje have figured out the one turning point in the past that can send Wakanda on the path to opening up to the rest of the world – aka the thing that will help them turn the tide against The Horde before it’s too late. That one thing? Tafari needs to put the ax back.
…And he does, though Tafari and Kuda will never know if it worked or not. We do, though, because in the final moments of the episode, we discover what happened to that ax. Or rather, we discovered what happened to that vibranium ax in 2018’s Black Panther: it was the thing that drew Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) out into the open, and into direct conflict with T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) in the movie. If the ax isn’t in the British Museum for Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) to steal in the film, the former doesn’t take over Wakanda, and T’Challa ultimately isn’t inspired to open up the doors – at least a little bit – to the rest of the world.
Instead, we get a direct reproduction of Killmonger’s introduction from the 2018 movie, seen from the back, as he looks at the vibranium ax in the museum. Tafari and Kuda don’t find out what happened. And our future Black Panther – under Avengers: Endgame rules – is likely still around, but joining the fight against The Horde, none the wiser. But we know that their joint actions may have given the MCU a fighting chance by putting the ax in Killmonger’s crosshairs. They had to lose in order to win.
Where Does Eyes of Wakanda’s Iron Fist Fit Into The Timeline? And Is Jorani From Marvel Comics?
In Episode 3, “Lost And Found,” we meet Jorani (Jona Xiao), the Iron Fist from 1400 AD in China. She’s struck up a relationship with the dilettante War Dog Basha (Jacques Coleman), but both of them are playing the other. She eventually tracks him back to Wakanda, they figure out a way to move forward – Basha gets the vibranium he was after, Jorani gets the statue it was attached to – and that’s pretty much all there is to it. But it’s definitely the Iron Fist of 1400; she got her power from Shou-lao the dragon, and that’s pretty neat.
Jorani is not, however, from Marvel Comics – she’s an entirely original creation for Eyes of Wakanda, and therefore the MCU. She’s also the first real introduction of an Iron Fist on the sacred timeline, at least until either Danny Rand (Jones) or Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) are grandfathered into the franchise… Which, yes, they have technically already been since Daredevil: Born Again is a direct continuation of the Marvel Netflix shows. But until either of them gets a mention or pops up in Born Again Season 2: pix or it didn’t happen.
[Note: What If…? Introduced the character of Kwai Jun-Fan, an Iron Fist from Marvel Comics, but did not yet make him Iron Fist… Just a really good fighter. Also, that takes in other parts of the multiverse, so whatever, man.]
Anyway, despite not appearing in Marvel Comics, we have a pretty extensive timeline of Iron Fists throughout history. Bei Ming-Tian is the Iron Fist that pre-dates Jorani, introduced in 2006’s Immortal Iron Fist #1 by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja. He’s from 1227 AD, so it’s entirely possible there was another one after him (though he did kill Genghis Khan, so maybe he lived for a while).
There are two after Jorani: Fongji Wu; and Wu Ao-Shi. Fonji Wu is from the 15th or 16th century (exact date unknown), and was introduced in New Avengers #26 by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, and Will Conrad. She has a whole complicated thing where she was both the Iron Fist and the Phoenix (the celestial force most associated with the X-Men’s Jean Grey). As for Wu Ao-Shi, she was introduced in Immortal Iron Fist #2, was active around 1545 A.D., and was also known as The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
As for whether we’ll see Jorani, any of these Iron Fists, or any Iron Fist again? Well, that’s TBA. But the Iron Fist is finally, officially here in the MCU, all thanks to Eyes of Wakanda.
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