Warning: contains spoilers for Black Panther Legends #4!
Marvel's The superhero King of Wakanda presides over the only nation in Africa that has never been invaded or occupied by white European colonizers (or any other enemy), largely thanks to their highly advanced technology and tactics. The story of Hunter, the White Wolf of the comics, points toward a complete refusal of the 'White Savior' narrative - a trope that is sadly still popular in many stories today.
Black Panther was deliberately designed by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a way to refute popular tropes about Africa during the 60s. Wakanda, far from being a stereotypical primitive nation, was a technological marvel with advanced technology not even Reed Richards could understand. T'Challa was not a superstitious king who repressed his people, but a benevolent, scientific genius who spoke multiple languages and could even fight the Fantastic Four to a standstill. There were no white people in Wakanda of any kind - until author Christopher Priest introduced the White Wolf in 1998's Black Panther #4.
When his parents died in a plane crash above Africa, young Hunter was taken in by the Wakandan royal family and raised alongside T'Challa as his brother. As the only foreigner in the country, the man who would become the White Wolf often felt out of place, but he developed a love for his new home and new family even as he knew that he would never ascend to the throne; such a duty was always T'Challa's destiny as the firstborn child of King T'Chaka. The relationship between Hunter and T'Challa is revisited in Black Panther Legends #4, written by Tochi Onyebuchi with art by Enid Balám and Ramón F. Bachs, in which Hunter and T'Challa have a disagreement about opening the borders of the country.
Resentful of T'Challa and his place upon the throne, Hunter was driven to become the most loyal and devoted Wakandan. In a typical 'white savior' story (such stories can be found in The Phantom 30s comic serial and even elements in other DC and Marvel properties), Hunter would perhaps usurp T'Challa and become the King himself. But here, Hunter's noble intentions backfire: he becomes an overzealous leader of the Wakandan secret police, is exiled from the country, and finally defeated by the Black Panther after murdering innocents just to lure out T'Challa.
The White Wolf could have easily become the hero of the entire franchise if Black Panther were written 20 years earlier. But the creative team knew about the 'White Savior' narrative and took precautions to not only avoid the trope, but subvert it with Hunter. Black Panther Legends #4 is available now, in which a new creative team retells the story of Black Panther and White Wolf's contentious relationship.
