BIOGRAPHY - page 5
T'Challa had renewed his relationship with Monica Lynne during his time in New York, and brought Monica with him back to Wakanda for a vacation. The return was anything but relaxing, however. His tribunal council was in uproar as his fiery head of court security W'Kabi clashed with the equally fiery pacifist and tribal traditionalist Zatama, despite the peacekeeping efforts of the sensitive communications advisor Taku. Monica also faced disdain for her role at the king's side, particularly from W'Kabi and the court handmaiden Tanzika. W'Kabi was infuriated by T'Challa's absentee rule, especially under the current crisis. The border tribes were under attack by death 
regiments led by a man named Erik Killmonger, a fearsome and mysterious figure who had developed an almost cult-like following. The Black Panther first encountered Killmonger's men Tayete and Kazibe torturing a village elder for news about T'Challa's return. Another attack soon followed as Killmonger's men razed the entire village of Black Warrior Creek, burning it to the ground. Black Panther, W'Kabi and Taku found only one survivor amidst the fires.
Infuriated, Black Panther pursued the trail of Killmonger to Warrior Falls. He was surprised to discover Erik Killmonger was N'Jadaka, the expatriate he himself had escorted back into Wakanda months earlier. Killmonger blamed T'Challa and the royal family for allowing his 
enslavement in the first place, and had grown hard and bitter overseas under Klaw's "tutelage." Brilliant, strong and above all else driven, Killmonger had augmented himself into a superhuman opponent for Black Panther. He and his white leopard partner Preyy accosted T'Challa at the waterfall and quickly proved to be superior to the king. Black Panther was overwhelmed by his foe, beaten and thrown to his death over Warrior Falls with little effort. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #6]
T'Challa barely survived his fall, washing ashore on the River of Grace and Wisdom where Monica was present to pull him to safety. The Black Panther spent a week recovering from his injuries as his tribunal remained in turmoil. Hearing news of a death regiment on the march, the Black Panther found the hapless Tayete and Kazibe and forced them to point out the rest of the regiment. T'Challa discovered a hidden mine and found Killmonger had tunneled sideways into the Great Vibranium Mound, harvesting the national resources right under the kingdom's nose. He was confronted by Venomm, a snake charmer in Killmonger's employ who tried to defend the mine. Despite a literal cliffhanger, the Black Panther defeated Venomm and took him prisoner for interrogation. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #7]
[Note: Curiously, Black Panther (3rd series) #11 and several subsequent issues referred to Monica pulling T'Challa from the river as their first meeting. It's unknown why their earlier encounters in America with the Sons of the Serpent would have been edited out, and was likely just an error in research for the series, not a genuine retcon. What was a retcon was Rise of the Black Panther #6, which had T'Challa encounter N'Jadaka as the threat Erik Killmonger well before this.]
The Black Panther needed to renew his connection to the heart-shaped herb, undergoing the sacred challenges and ceremonies under the watchful eye of W'Kabi and senior herbalist Mendinao. Monica was ignorant of the ceremony, however, and tried to interrupt when she saw men holding T'Challa down for some unknown purpose. Her "impertinence" only further drove a 
wedge between W'Kabi and Monica, and therefore T'Challa and him as well. Central Wakanda faced the infiltration of Malice, another of Killmonger's agents who tried to rescue Venomm. She nearly killed Zatama and together the villains took Taku hostage as they tried to escape. The Black Panther and W'Kabi arrived in time to drive off Malice and recapture Venomm. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #8]
While patrolling his lands, the Black Panther diverted a charging rhinoceros and saved a young boy named Kantu, son of the farmers M'Jumbak and Karota. When M'Jumbak went missing that night, T'Challa returned to the village at Karota's request and found the zombie hordes of Baron Macabre. Another of Killmonger's agents, Baron Macabre and his partner King Cadaver, used theatrics and the pretense of supernatural might to overwhelm the Panther. T'Challa overcame his foes in the end, but M'Jumbak was still dead. Even worse, a pair of revelations struck the Black Panther. In the secret passageways of King Cadaver's lair, T'Challa found a backdoor into the royal weapons depot, meaning Killmonger's forces had armed themselves with Wakanda's own weaponry. Closer to home, Zatama's body was found in the palace, stabbed through the chest by a spear with Monica Lynne's fingerprints on it. W'Kabi insisted the American be arrested for her crime. [Jungle Actions (2nd series) #9-10]
T'Challa and W'Kabi soon made amends when the king determined the truth behind the murder. W'Kabi helped the Black Panther reveal Tanzika was responsible for killing Zatama after a lovers' rebuke, and she arranged to frame Monica by fashioning the spear out of a kebab skewer Monica handled at dinner. The king and his trusted chief of security used intelligence from Venomm to 
locate Killmonger's base of operations in N'Jadaka Village, rechristened after Killmonger's given name. After quickly disposing of poor Tayete and Kazibe, the Black Panther and the Wakandan forces confronted Lord Karnaj, Baron Macabre, Malice and other generals of Killmonger. The man himself escaped their grasp, however. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #11]
By this time, Tayete had an almost superstitious fear of the "Panther-Devil" and Black Panther used that to press the henchman into directing him to Killmonger's fallback location. Across the Chasm of the Chilling Mists in the domain of the White Gorilla lay the Resurrection Altar, built around the impact crater of a strange, radioactive meteor that struck Wakanda eons ago. The Altar was the source of Killmonger's enhanced strength and the powers of his generals who bathed in its light. T'Challa tried to defeat Killmonger, but the revolutionary and his priest Sombre beat T'Challa and left him for the wolves and the white gorillas to finish off. But the Black Panther persevered and followed his prey down into Serpent Valley. He ran a gauntlet that included Sombre, Salamander K'Ruel, even a Tyrannosaurus rex and a pterodactyl that were but two "serpents" that called the valley home. The Black Panther only barely managed to crawl his way back to Central Wakanda, with K'Ruel as one more prisoner from among Killmonger's men. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #12-15]
The time came when Killmonger launched his full invasion on Central Wakanda, backed by his death regiments, dinosaur siege beasts, and appropriated advanced technology. The Black Panther defended his kingdom, fighting his way through Killmonger's free and escaping generals as the palace was nearly demolished. T'Challa chased Killmonger back to Warrior Falls, where they first fought for a final battle. This battle went as poorly as the first, and the usurper prepared to hurl Black Panther from atop the falls a second time. In that moment, however, the young boy 
Kantu raced at Killmonger, enraged over the death of his father, M'Jumbak. The little warrior's impact threw Erik Killmonger off-balance, sending him over the falls to his death instead of T'Challa. The Black Panther came as close to utter defeat as he had ever been before. It was poetic justice that Killmonger (who blamed T'Challa and the royalty for the death of his father as a child) would die because of a Wakandan child he himself had orphaned. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #17]
Somewhere around this time, T'Challa took steps to reinstate the order of the Dora Milaje. The "Adored Ones" had largely been abandoned as a tradition by T'Chaka. T'Challa made a small gesture towards restoring the Dora Milaje by recruiting two girls from different tribes to join him at the palace. Around twelve years old, Nakia and Okoye began their training to serve as ceremonial bodyguards to the king and, once they came of age, potential brides. T'Challa was deeply in love with Monica at this time, and this last aspect of the Dora Milaje tradition didn't interest him -- it was intended merely as a gesture of respect towards the tribes of Wakanda that their young women were being considered. [Rise of the Black Panther #1, Black Panther (3rd series) #13]
Monica and T'Challa soon returned to her home in Georgia after learning of the death of her sister Angela. While paying their respects, they met a local reporter named Kevin Trublood, who believed the story of Angela's suicide was actually covering up a murder. T'Challa and Monica were threatened on their return by the still active Ku Klux Klan and the Dragon's Circle, a group who appeared to be a splinter faction of the Klan. The Black Panther went to the local country club to confront Ambrose Ellis, Angela's employer in whose office she was found dead. At the club, he was attacked by a flying opponent named Windeagle and the Dragon Circle, and tied to a water wheel. Black Panther escaped the deathtrap and prepared himself to confront Windeagle again. [Jungle Action (2nd series) #19-24]
And then everything went black.
When the Avengers were publicly beaten by the new villain Graviton, they were believed captured or killed aboard his flying Sky Island. Black Panther returned to New York City to aid his comrades, along with the mighty Thor. T'Challa's arrival in New York marked another extended absence from Wakanda, where his latest regent N'Gassi ruled the nation in his stead. The Black 
Panther helped rescue his fellow Avengers from Graviton, and later battled against the threats of Ultron-8, Count Nefaria and the schemes of the Eternity Man. [Avengers (1st series) #159-169, Black Panther (1st series) #6] Back in New York City for a time, T'Challa decided to renew his identity as Luke Charles. He began teaching students in Harlem again while his travels kept him with the Avengers and in Manhattan on a semi-regular basis. [Marvel Two-In-One #40, Avengers (1st series) #172]