N’BAZA
Real
Name: N’Baza
Identity/Class: Normal human
(citizen of Wakanda)
Occupation: Regent;
formerly witch-doctor
Group
Membership: None
Affiliations: Black
Panther (T’Challa), B’Tumba,
T’Chaka (Black Panther)
Enemies: Ulysses
Klaw
Known
Relatives: B’Tumba
(son, deceased), S'Yan (brother), T'Chaka (Black Panther, brother, deceased), N'Yami (sister-in-law, deceased), Ramonda (sister-in-law), Ishanta (nephew), Dr. Joshua Itobo (nephew), Jakarra
(nephew), Khanata (nephew), M'Koni (Mary Wheeler, niece), Shuri (Black Panther, niece), T’Challa
(Black Panther, nephew), Zuni (nephew), Hunter (adopted nephew), Azzari the Wise (father, deceased), Bashenga (first Black Panther, ancestor, deceased), many unidentified ancestors (past Black Panthers, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base
of Operations: Wakanda
First
Appearance: (Seen):
Fantastic Four I#53 (August,
1966); (mentioned by name): Avengers I#77 (June, 1970); (seen &
identified): Avengers I#87 (April, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: N’Baza did
not display any
superhuman powers but he was presumably a skilled witch-doctor. It is
possible
that as a witch-doctor, he possessed some minor mystical knowledge but
did not
display any such powers. He was a very skilled leader, acting as Regent
during
the Black Panther’s absence from Wakanda.
History:
(Fantastic
Four I#53 (fb)) – When agents of Ulysses Klaw
shot Wakandan king T’Chaka dead, witch-doctor N’Baza held back
T’Chaka’s young
son T’Challa from impulsively rushing into battle against Klaw’s forces.
(Avengers
I#87 (fb)) – Shortly
after T’Chaka’s death, N’Baza found T’Challa standing in front of
Wakanda’s
Panther Idol, commenting to N’Baza’s son B’Tumba that he was already a
man. N’Baza
told T’Challa that if he was to be a man, then he would need to go to
school so
that he could be a good man.
(Avengers
I#77 (fb) – BTS/Avengers
I#87 (fb) - BTS) – A firm believer in education, N’Baza sent T’Challa
to the
best schools in Europe and America. He also sent B’Tumba as well so
that T’Challa
would not feel lonely. While T’Challa was away, N’Baza assumed the
Wakandan
leadership responsibilities as regent.
(Avengers
I#87 (fb)) – When T’Challa
and B’Tumba returned following their college graduation, N’Baza sent
B’Tumba
away so that he could test T’Challa’s worthiness of the leadership of
Wakanda.
Despite his suspicions that N’Baza had sent him away to gain his own
position
of power within Wakanda, T’Challa agreed to N’Baza’s tests. The first
test
involved T’Challa defeating a half-dozen of Wakanda’s finest warriors.
After T’Challa
succeeded in defeating the warriors, N’Baza revealed there was one more
test he
would need to pass but that T’Challa could worry about it the following day
as he
would need to pass a night of vigil within the Panther Idol. Emerging
from the
Panther Idol garbed in the Black Panther costume, T’Challa was told he
was
ready for the final test by N’Baza. N’Baza revealed that the final test
was to
venture to the reaches of Wakanda’s Great Plateau and consume the
forbidden,
heart-shaped herb to gain the powers of the Black Panther. Succeeding,
the
Black Panther came across a group of AIM agents led by B’Tumba, who
revealed
that it was he who had betrayed Wakanda, not N’Baza, thereby disproving
T’Challa’s
suspicions about N’Baza. Eventually, B’Tumba saw the errors of his ways
and
died protecting T’Challa from AIM. As he died, he asked T’Challa not to
tell N’Baza
about his treachery.
(Avengers
I#87 (fb) – BTS) – When
T’Challa came to live in America as the superheroic Black Panther and
took up
the guise of Luke Charles, a school teacher, N’Baza resumed ruling
Wakanda as
regent in T’Challa’s absence.
(Avengers
I#77) – In his
guise as teacher Luke Charles, the Black Panther borrowed one of
N’Baza’s
tribal masks and outfits in an effort to teach the children at his
school about
their African heritage.
(Avengers
I#87) – Still feeling
like he had wronged N’Baza by suspecting him of betrayal and not
helping his
son until it was too late, T’Challa learned of N’Baza’s death and began
to feel
homesick.
Comments: Created by Stan
Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe
Sinnott.
N’Baza
was probably behind the
scenes in every comic that showed the Black Panther’s origin
flashback...
N’Baza’s
name was not revealed
until Avengers I#77 (June, 1970), where he was not seen, only mentioned
as
being Black Panther’s uncle. It was not until Avengers I#87 (April,
1971) that
the name was revealed to have belonged to the witch-doctor character
seen in
Fantastic Four I#53.
Profile
by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
N’Baza has no known
connections to
- any other "N’Baza" characters
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#53, p7, pan3 (main image)
Avengers I#87, p8, pan6 (headshot)
Other
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#53 (August, 1966) – Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby
(pencils),
Joe Sinnott (inks)
Avengers I#77 (June, 1970) – Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema
(pencils), Tom
Palmer (inks, colors), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers I#87 (April, 1971) – Roy Thomas (writer), Frank Giacola
(pencils), Sal
Buscema (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last
updated:
08/29/13
Any
Additions/Corrections? please
let me know.
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