Marvel’s animated Eyes of Wakanda didn’t just tell new stories from Wakanda’s long history — it was deliberately designed to tie back into the Black Panther movies in a meaningful way, and creator Todd Harris explained how and why the ending does that.
In the final episode, set in 1896 Ethiopia, Wakandan prince Tafari and his advisor Kuda recover a stolen vibranium artifact, an axe, only to be confronted by a Black Panther from about 500 years in the future, voiced by Anika Noni Rose. That Panther reveals the dire consequences of Wakanda’s long-term isolation in her timeline: because Wakanda never revealed its power or shared its resources, Earth eventually fell to an alien force known as the Horde. Her mission is to prevent that future by influencing key moments in the past.
Harris told Entertainment Weekly that he wanted this culmination to do more than just wrap up the miniseries’ plot — it needed to “mean something” for the larger Black Panther arc. The artifact recovered in the finale is the same axe that shows up centuries later in the events of Black Panther (2018), where it draws Erik Killmonger out into the open and helps set in motion Wakanda’s decision to reveal itself to the world. This decision, T’Challa’s choice to open Wakanda’s borders, is shown in the Black Panther films as a pivotal moment that helps shape Wakanda’s role on the global stage.
Harris said the mantra “Wakanda forever” isn’t just a catchy line — it reflects a consistent mindset shared across Wakandan history, driving its warriors and leaders to protect their nation and secure a future none of them will live to see. By linking the animated series’ final events and that recovered vibranium axe to the causes behind Black Panther’s central conflicts, Eyes of Wakanda deepens the lore and underscores how Wakanda’s choices echo across centuries.
This tie-in helps Eyes of Wakanda feel like more than a standalone anthology: it anchors the stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “sacred timeline,” giving fans new perspectives on how Wakanda’s isolation and eventual global emergence connect across eras, characters, and even different media formats.
