WARNING: The following contains spoilers for recent issues of Avengers #44, by Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón, David Curiel and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.
The arrival of the Phoenix Force on Earth has galvanized the entire superhero community (along with some notable supervillains) as the cosmic entity searches for a new host to wield its fiery abilities. And as the search for the best candidate for a potential host narrows down to six possibilities, to be determined in no-holds-barred trials by combat, Black Panther succinctly lays out why he believes he's destined to become the Marvel Universe's next Phoenix.
Eloquent as ever, T'Challa's well-thought-out rationale stretches all way back to the start of writer Jason Aaron's run on Avengers and reflects subsequent changes to Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the interim.
Black Panther's final duel for the Phoenix Force pits him against Captain America, with the two men sparring at the top of Avengers Mountain at the North Pole. As the two men make their case for why the Avengers should even consider allowing the cosmic force to bond with one of them, T'Challa recounts that while investigating a prehistoric cave that revealed the existence of the Avengers 1,000,000 B.C. and their own Phoenix. Just as the prehistoric heroes defended Earth over a million years ago, an ensemble of heroes bearing similar powers have formed a new Avengers team, with T'Challa feeling the parallels signaling things coming full circle. To underscore his point, T'Challa observes that a Black Panther now leads the Avengers while Iron Man recently spent some time in the distant past with the prehistoric team himself.
With a new Starbrand born and the Phoenix Force searching for a host on Earth, Black Panther feels Earth's defenders are needed to have a Phoenix among their ranks if they hope to survive some coming cataclysm hinted at by all the recent upheaval in the Marvel Universe. The moment is an interesting reversal from Black Panther's usual stance regarding the Phoenix Force, with the Wakandan King expressing thinly veiled contempt for the cosmic entity and its role in flooding Wakanda when it was bonded to Namor during the 2012 crossover event Avengers vs. X-Men, kicking off a vendetta between the two regents.
Ultimately, Black Panther's hopes that a worthy hero bonds to the Phoenix Force comes true though T'Challa himself does not become the host in question. Instead, Maya Lopez -- who has held the superhero monikers of Echo and Ronin -- rises from the oceans where Namor presumably defeated her to claim the Phoenix Force for herself. Drawing the portions of the Phoenix out of the other candidates, resulting in a hard-hitting rematch against Namor, Echo assumes her cosmic destiny and heads out on her own as she acclimates to her fiery, new status quo.
Black Panther is right in that big changes are coming to the Marvel Universe, with Earth's Mightiest Heroes at the center, with the upcoming crossover event Heroes Reborn spinning out of the events of Aaron's run on Avengers. In the meantime, the Marvel Universe has gained a new Phoenix, even if it isn't Black Panther but a different, usually solitary hero. Ever the futurist, who effectively made Wakanda an interstellar empire, Black Panther foresees something even more cataclysmic is just around the corner. And with a new Phoenix, hopefully Echo can help the Avengers protect the world from the coming change.
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