The following contains major spoilers for Black Panther #6, available now from Marvel.
The past few months have easily been among the worst of T'Challa's life. A shadowy group of assassins began hunting down the secret sleeper agents he had put to work decades prior, and T'Challa has become embroiled in the ensuing chaos. Worst of all, he and his closest allies from Wakanda have all been designated as enemies of the state. Thankfully, the now former Black Panther still has some powerful connections elsewhere, although his former wife Storm has just made it perfectly clear how little good faith there still is between them.
Black Panther #6 (by John Ridley, Stefano Lindini, Matt Milla, and VC's Joe Sabino) finds the titular hero without his mantle and on the run from Wakanda's secret police, the Hatut Zeraze. Led by T'Challa's former ally Akili, the Hatut Zeraze have given up on capturing their king in favor of killing him outright. Luckily, Storm takes it upon herself to step in before any permanent harm can come to her estranged husband, though she doesn't mind inflicting a few minor emotional wounds of her own. After all the lies T'Challa has told, all the secrets he has kept, and all the ways he has hurt her, Storm is no longer holding herself back from him. It isn't just that he ruined their marriage, but that he has done seemingly everything possible to ruin any good will he has with the rest of the world, too.
As Storm explains, T'Challa's annulling their marriage is only the most personal bit of damage he has unwittingly unleashed. No matter how deeply that fact pains her, the idea that her former husband would have harmed mutants through one of their own is a blow that strikes at a deeper level. Nezhno Abidemi, better known as the mutant Gentle, has always had a complicated relationship with Wakanda and with its king. Growing up with dangerously painful powers and being treated as an outsider, it only made sense that Gentle would eventually make the move from Wakanda to the Xavier Institute. Eventually, the X-Men gave Gentle a place alongside Storm on the planet Arakko, formerly Mars. Of course, the revelation that Gentle was among T'Challa's sleeper agents dissolved much of that faith, not just in Gentle, but in both of them.
It is hard to imagine that Storm would have ever approved of what T'Challa was doing even if he had disclosed Gentle's status to her, yet there is no doubt that absolutely nothing could ever make up for his secretive actions. T'Challa seeding his own agents across the globe under the expectation that one day they would carry out political assassinations or worse on his command might make for a good story, but it undercuts every trusting relationship he has ever built. The Avengers, Krakoa, and every other ally T'Challa has made, not to mention all the countries that have become allies to Wakanda as a nation, were put directly in harm's way by his actions. His lack of consideration for his potential victims, especially when one of them so easily could have been Storm, speaks volumes about what T'Challa's priorities truly are.
At the same time, the fact that she had to spell it all out for him says everything there is to say about the Black Panther's inability to put anyone or anything before his own concerns. T'Challa says that his actions have all been for Wakanda, and he may even believe that. And yet, the harsh truth is that he has never really thought about anyone else's needs or perspective when it comes to his decision making. Whether as a hero or king, T'Challa's steadfast belief that he knows what is best for Wakanda has always created more problems than it has solved.
Likewise, his refusal to be transparent in any capacity has led him to exactly where he is now - stripped of his political power, deposed of his mantle, and left as a fugitive on the run from his own nation. If at any point T'Challa had opened up about the issues plaguing him and Wakanda, he might still be the king he once was. Now, if he can't be honest about everything that has happened up to this point, he might never be a hero again.
