AFRIKAA

Real Name: Khairi Ngala

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Peace crusader

Group Membership: Agent of  Hani and other unnamed allies

Affiliations: Black Axe, Black Panther (T'Challa), Man-Ape, Moses Magnum, President N'Dingi, Princess Zanda, Queen Ororo

Enemies: Jonathan Cardinal, Cardinal Technologies, Higher Path, Colonel Malcom Ksweyzu, People's Hope, Major Ashur Zutu

Known Relatives: Bobulu Ngala (father, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: the cavern of the Heart of Afrikaa, Mohannda, African (on the northern border of Wakanda)

First Appearance: Black Axe#5 (August, 1993)

 

 

 

Powers/Abilities: Afrikaa draws power from a magma pool known as the Heart of Afrikaa. The magma can heal him and grants him feral abilities, allowing him to transform partially or totally into lion-like form. He appears to have enhanced strength, speed, agility, and presumably senses. It also allows him to teleport.

    When away from the Heart of Afrikaa, he draws from the stored energy of his staff, which he also uses as an offensive weapon.

    Afrikaa is not a highly experienced fighter, and his primary goal is ending conflict, rather than defeating foes.

History:
(Black Axe#6 (fb), [5(fb) - BTS]) - The man who would become Afrikaa was born to Bobulu Ngala, the dictator of  Mohannda, who initiated a relentless modernization program aimed to unseat Wakanda, the pre-eminent modern African state. As a young boy he knew only love and comfort. He was sent abroad to see the world and learn its ways; his father planned that he would succeed him in driving Mohannda into the next century. However, before the boy's twenty-first birthday, Bobulu was assassinated by Colonel Malcom Ksweyzu, one of his own soldiers.
    Bobulu's son rushed home, but was too late to save his father and had only time to flee into the jungle.

(Black Axe#5 (fb) - BTS) - Despite Ksweyzu's goals of ending his people's suffering under Bobulu, the dictator's assassination plunged the nation into civil war. Kseyzu sought to end the war and take control via his group, the Higher Path, but was opposed by a rival faction known as the People's Hope.

(Black Axe#6 (fb)) - The young man burned with the desire to heal his nation of the bloodshed that spread across it. One of his father's aides, Hani, trained the youth in the ways of combat, then brought him into a subterranean cavern containing the Heart of Afrikaa, lava bubbling up from deep within the earth. Risking death, the youth grasped a staff that emerged from the pool, transforming him into Afrikaa.

(Black Axe#5 (fb) - BTS) - The civil war was escalated by Jonathon Cardinal, head of Cardinal Technologies, who supplied arms and munitions to both sides of the conflict, selling the prototype to one group, then using that money to further develop the weapon and sell it to their rivals. Ksweyzu sought peace and had contacted Major Zutu of the People's Hope in order to open peace talkers. Ksweyzu recognized Cardinal's motives and refused to deal with them, and he also correctly realized that Cardinal would try to eliminate him. Ksweyzu hired the foreign mercenary Black Axe to protect him.

(Black Axe#5 (fb) - BTS) - In his new form, Afrikaa actively fought to end the conflict. He correctly began to suspect that a third party was involved in perpetuating the civil war.

(Black Axe#5) - In Mohannda's capital, Afrikaa sought to learn who was perpetuating the war. He encountered Black Axe, who stunned him with an energy blast, only to see Afrikaa's opponents fire on their seemingly helpless foe.

(Black Axe#5 (fb)) - Afrikaa used his staff to deflect the bullets, after which he teleported away.

(Black Axe#5) - Suspecting that Ksweyzu knew who was perpetuating the war and wishing to discuss means towards peace, Afrikaa sought him out in his base, only to see him killed by the armored Cardinal Guard, who then shot Afrikaa as well. Black Axe arrived to find three of the Guard standing over the fallen Afrikaa.
    Meanwhile, Cardinal had his Guard capture the Black Panther after he had refused to deal with Cardinal Technologies.

(Black Axe#6) - Black Axe fought off the Cardinal Guard and escaped with Afrikaa into the jungle, they were found by Hani and her agents who led them into the Heart of Afrikaa, which healed Afrikaa.
    Meanwhile, the Black Panther broke free from Cardinal, but was seemingly killed. Cardinal informed Zutu of the People's Hope that Afrikaa had slain Ksweyzu and the Black Panther, drawing Wakanda into the conflict and framing the Higher Path. As a result, Zutu purchased more weapons from Cardinal.

(Black Axe#7) - The Black Panther survived a seeming fall to the death and was found by Afrikaa, who brought him to the Heart of Afrikaa to heal him. Three days later, Afrikaa joined Black Axe and the Black Panther in opposing the Cardinal Guard and confronting Zutu with information on Cardinal's motives and actions. Cardinal himself escaped, but his actions were recognized and the escalating war began to cool. Afrikaa was long gone by that point, returning to the Heart of Afrikaa to contemplate.

 

(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - Afrikaa was present at the Pan-African Congress on the Treatment of Superhumans.

 

Comments: Created by Simon Jowett, Edmund Perryman, and Rod Ramos.

Given Afrikaa's base of operations and appearance, one might wonder if he gained power from the Lion God. Otherwise, it could be Gaea or perhaps another African God.

His first name was revealed in Black Axe's profile in OHotMU Update 2010#4. Zutu's first name was revealed in the same profile.

His appearance, with he curled up lip, reminds me more of a Gelada monkey (a kind of baboon) than a lion. It helps explain his more human-like hands and more pronounced muzzle. Geladas use the curled up lip to intimidate rivals.
--Grant Woolsey

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

Afrikaa's allies

 

    Hani actually refers to Afrikaa as their servant, so he apparently serves them. Hani was a former aide to Bobulu Ngala; after his death Hani led his son to the Heart of Afrikaa, trained him to fight, and guided him towards peace.

 

--Black Axe#6 (6(fb), 6, 7

 

 

 

 

 

images:
Black Axe#5, p3 (full body, humanoid)
    #6, p8, panel 1 (allies)
    #7, p11 (human face)
        p18 (full transformation)

Appearances:
Black Axe#5-7 (August-September 1993) - Simon Jowett (writer), Edmund Perryman (pencils), Rod Ramos (inks), Michael W. Bennent (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1 (2007)

First Posted: 10/24/2004
Last updated: 08/31/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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