Today's Fact
A king with no kingdom, no powers and no vibranium once took the night shift in somebody else's neighbourhood.
After the events of Shadowland, Daredevil needed to leave New York and find himself again — and Hell's Kitchen still needed a guardian. The volunteer who stepped forward in Black Panther: The Man Without Fear Vol. 1 #513 (2011) was T'Challa, a man who had recently woken from a coma to find his sister Shuri wearing the Panther mantle and ruling Wakanda in his place.
T'Challa arrived with almost nothing a king usually commands. He had rendered Wakanda's vibranium supply inert to keep it away from Doctor Doom, his enhanced abilities were gone, and the throne was no longer his to sit on. What remained was training, nerve, and a point he felt he had to prove to himself before he could ever go home.
So the former king went undercover as Mr. Okonkwo, an immigrant from the Congo, took an apartment in the Kitchen, and ran a small diner called Devil's Kitchen while he patrolled the streets at night. Foggy Nelson quietly set up the false identity, papers and all — a felony's worth of paperwork spent on a king who was slinging hash by day and breaking up gang wars by dark.
Why It's Obscure
Other heroes have worn the horns; T'Challa simply took the job, the rent and the lunch rush that came with it.
Gallery
The Man Without Fear era on the covers — the Panther over Hell's Kitchen rooftops, and the man whose streets he borrowed.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.
Bullpen Bulletins
- ‘Man Without Fear’: Who Else Has Guarded Hell's Kitchen? — Marvel.comMarvel's own rundown of Daredevil's stand-ins: T'Challa, powerless and newly throneless, became Guardian of Hell's Kitchen on Murdock's behalf.
- Black Panther: How T'Challa Replaced Daredevil as Marvel's Man Without Fear — CBRCBR's account of the handover: the coma, Shuri's ascension, the inert vibranium, the Mr. Okonkwo identity and the diner.
- Black Panther: The Man Without Fear Vol 1 513 — Marvel DatabaseThe issue entry: David Liss and Francesco Francavilla open the run, with Foggy Nelson arranging the identity, job and apartment.