New Black Panther UMBRA Is Revealed

Sixty years after T'Challa's debut, Marvel just introduced the Black Panther's dark opposite. This major new lore addition introduces one of the most dangerous antiheroes yet to Marvel lore.

Black Panther's Dark Opposite UMBRA Enters Marvel Lore

In Dungeons of Doom #1 - from Benjamin Percy, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Carlos Magno, Robert Gill, Justin Mason, Georges Jeanty, Karl Story, Guru-eFX and Travis Lanham - fans are introduced to Umbra. A secret agent hailing from Wakanda, Umbra is on a mission to burgle Doctor Doom's castle following the tyrant's death.

However, Umbra isn't working for Wakanda. Instead, he answers to a gigantic bat called Nagiku - likely a rival god to Wakanda's patron god Bast. Umbra (Latin for 'shadow') wears an advanced stealth suit including glider wings, and Marvel has confirmed that he's about to gain immense power.

That's thanks to the Skull-Shaped Herb - a powerful treasure locked away by Doom, and the dark equivalent of the Heart-Shaped Herb that gave T'Challa his powers as the Black Panther.

What Does the Skull-Shaped Herb Do?

So far, little is known about the Skull-Shaped Herb, other than that it's locked away along with an ultra-powerful mutant, a dark version of Thor's hammer, and an artifact related to Moon Knight's Khonshu. However, Leinil Francis Yu and Romulo Fajardo Jr.'s cover for issue three shows the herb in the background, and the issue's summary confirms it will empower Umbra:

DOOM'S SECRETS EXPOSED! The doors of Doom's Dungeon have been thrown open, and his darkest secrets are unleashed! As Red Hulk's surviving soldiers are infected by the mutant horror known as WHISPER, will Red Hulk be forced to KILL THEM before they condemn the entire planet? Meanwhile, the Hammer of Treachery and the Eye of Khonshu empower and punish all who try to wield them! What will happen when an Asgardian-cursed Hydra agent faces Wakandan agent UMBRA, empowered with the mysterious SKULL-SHAPED HERB? Many will die in this shocking conclusion... and the few who survive will not be the same!

It's likely that Umbra will gain some version of Black Panther's powers - an enhanced physique, superhuman senses and the ability to commune with the spirits of all those previously empowered by the herb. Of course, there'll be some kind of twist, and it will likely make Umbra even deadlier than T'Challa - the life-giving heart versus the symbol of death skull.

Dungeons of Doom is expanding the canon of multiple franchises, with powerful new artifacts from Thor, Moon Knight, X-Men and Black Panther lore. Umbra is set to be empowered by one of these new additions, introducing a reverse-Black Panther to the Marvel Universe.

Dungeons of Doom #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.​​​​​​​

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