#ComicBytes: Capturing 'Black Panther's Nakia's descent to the dark side
The beloved and badass spy from Blank Panther, Nakia turns towards villainy in the comics. Even though I am beyond happy that Ryan Coogler decided to go with an amicable exes storyline rather than the pathetic (sorry not sorry) obsession arc for the movie, every fan should learn about Nakia's descent to the dark side. Here is how it all went down.
Nakia's induction into Dora Milaje, the king's chosen protectors
Born in the Q'Noma Valley of Wakanda, Nakia was trained to join Dora Milaje, the king's chosen protectors. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) developed an infatuation towards King T'Challa (late Chadwick Boseman) since she spent her post-adolescence protecting and learning from him. T'Challa, however, had no reciprocating romantic feelings for Nakia and was rather parental towards her. Ouch!
One hallucination turned her infatuation into a psychotic obsession
Under the influence of the demon Mephisto's magic, the Black Panther mistook Nakia as his then-girlfriend Monica Lynne, and kissed her. Though T'Challa overcame the influence and stopped immediately, it was enough for Nakia to believe that he loved her back. As she started to openly fantasize about marrying him, things turned ugly when Nakia threw Monica from a plane.
Shunned by her kin, she joined Killmonger's side as Malice
As the truth about Monica surfaced, Nakia was shunned by Dora Milaje, her tribe and Wakanda, and had to flee. Unfortunately, she was captured, tortured and was left to die by Achebe (enemy of T'Challa). But, Killmonger (Black Panther's arch-nemesis) used the Altar of Resurrection to help Nakia rise back. With her enhanced strength, the warrior joined Killmonger's side as Malice.
Killed T'Challa's ally, made M'Baku kidnap T'Challa's stepmother
After getting access to an arsenal of weapons and a toxic herb called Jufeiro, which made men fall in love with her, Malice set out to make the Blank Panther's life a living hell. She killed T'Challa's ally Nikki Adams, freed M'Baku (leader of White Gorilla cult) to kidnap T'Challa's stepmother Ramonda and then poisoned his former student Maria Henckel and his cousin M'Koni.
Malice mysteriously disappears, but her story hasn't ended
From pretending to be under the influence of Jufeiro to sending Okoye to attack Malice, T'Challa finally threatened to destroy Malice's tribal village to get the antidote to save her victims. Finally, Malice gave the antidote but managed to vanish without a trace. Since she has resurfaced a couple of times after that without dying, her story is far from done.
