Eyes of Wakanda
Entry updated 25 August 2025. Tagged: TV.
US animated tv series (2025). Marvel Studios Animation, Proximity Media. Directed by Todd Harris and John Fang. Written by Marc Bernardin and Geoffrey Thorne, based on the setting initially created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee for Marvel Comics; part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Voice cast includes Zeke Alton, Jacques Colimon, Adam Gold, Winnie Harlow, Larry Herron, Anika Noni Rose, Steve Toussaint, Cress Williams and Jona Xiao. Four 27-minute episodes. Colour.
Wakanda is a scientifically advanced African nation that has isolated itself from the rest of the world for thousands of years; its agents, the Hatut Zaraze or War Dogs, keep an eye on other nations to ensure their country is not discovered and to retrieve any of its Technology that has leaked into the outside world (see Afrofuturism). It is home to the Superhero Black Panther.
The first episode "Into the Lion's Den" features Noni (Harlow), a former member of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda's all-female special forces (see Feminism; Women in SF): her personality meant that, for all her talents, she could not work within that organization. During or just before 1260 BCE she is called back from exile to track down Nkati (Williams), a general who has absconded with some of the country's advanced technology: the fear being he could use it to build his own empire and then pose a threat to Wakanda. Noni finds him when his forces arrive in Crete: calling himself "The Lion" he has indeed built an empire, and is engaged in Slave raiding missions to expand it (see Imperialism): he sees himself as a benevolent despot. Noni is one of those captured, but escapes, confronting and defeating Nkati, who commits Suicide – he has an exploding throne – rather than return home. Because of her success Noni is offered – and accepts – a job as one of Wakanda's War Dogs.
The second episode, "Legends and Lies", is set during the Trojan War (1200 BCE); B'Kai (Herron), a member of the War Dogs, has joined the Greek forces of under the name Memnon, to retrieve a Wakandan artefact held by the Trojans. He has formed a close bond with Achilles (Gold) but has to betray and, in the end, kill him. Mournfully he returns to Wakanda, which no longer feels like home; he asks Noni, now a senior figure in the War Dogs, for another mission into the outside world. In the third episode, "Lost and Found", a War Dogs agent, Basha (Colimon), works in 1400 CE China to retrieve an artefact used as the tongue of a dragon statuette; he takes the whole statuette but Jorani (Xiao), the woman he lived with in China, sneaks aboard his craft and – on arriving in Wakanda – seeks to retrieve the statuette. As Jorani is that era's Iron Fist (another Marvel superhero), with martial arts skills and power derived from a dragon (see Supernatural Creatures) she cannot be defeated, but is content to remove the tongue and leave with the rest of the statuette. Basha, who is brash and over-confident, has learnt some humility; he also manages to conceal what has happened, and the Wakanda authorities prove surprisingly credulous.
The final episode, "The Last Panther", is set in 1896 CE: War Dogs Prince Tafari (Alton) and Kuda (Toussaint) have just retrieved another artefact from Ethiopia. As they start their journey home a figure (Rose) appears, insisting they must return the item to where they found it. She is the last Wakandan queen and the last Black Panther, from 500 years in the future when Earth has undergone Invasion by the Alien "Horde". Because Wakanda had maintained its isolationist position and not joined the other nations in fighting the attackers, the Horde defeated the rest of Earth then came for Wakanda: with only the queen and a handful of surviving Dora Milaje still fighting, it is on the brink of defeat. Using her "quantum scanner" (see Time Viewer) the Black Panther realizes the artefact's history is the key to events (effectively, a Jonbar Point): if it is left in Ethiopia, a later Wakandan king will engage with the rest of the world so, eventually, a wholly united Earth will confront the Horde. She could only make this one brief time jump (see Time Travel) to change events: fortunately Kuda and Prince Tafari believe her and the artefact is returned. It ends up in the Museum of Great Britain: the final scene has Erik "Killmonger" Stevens looking at it, planning its theft in Black Panther (2018).
Exciting and well animated, Eyes of Wakanda has some thrilling action scenes, the main cavil perhaps being that their frequency means that characterization is often somewhat off-the-peg (see Clichés): Basha and Prince Tafari are good-hearted but self-absorbed leads who learn better, whilst Noni is another good-hearted sort but vaguely too rebellious to fit in. The exception here is "Legends and Lies", where B'Kai/Memnon's emotional distress carries genuine weight. With elements of History in SF and Mythology, Eyes of Wakanda was a very good series. [SP]
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