Avengers: Black Panther's Quest "Bashenga" Talkback (Spoilers)

[RoyalRubble]

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Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest "Bashenga"
Episode Debut - January 27th, 2019

Black Panther discovers secrets about his ancestor, Bashenga, the founder of Wakanda.

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[Troy Troodon]

I'm just gonna say this right off the bat...

Steve Rogers is Back!

 

[Frontier]

It was cool to see the story of Bashenga, the first Black Panther and the originator of the Panther Clan. I don't think this story was the epic, mythical, founding of Wakanda that some might have expected it to be, but I thought it did a solid job of conveying the story .

It was kind of interesting that, for all the talk of "Bashenga's Spear," it was really the shield that was his true weapon, and that he began the trend for Wakandan kings of focusing on protecting their own and not bothering the outside world in-case they absolutely had to. I guess we finally see where Wakanda as the "Shield of the World" came from .

And Phil LaMarr was an awesome choice to play Bashenga, being both a very prolific African-American VA and also a former Black Panther voice himself .

But I guess this isn't only the story of Bashenga, it's also the story of Bask. It was interesting to see a secret member of the Wakandan Royal Family who was erased from history because she went evil, and while on-paper it seems like she was the Shuri to Bashenga's T'Challa, in actions her warmongering and obsession with gaining power for Wakanda makes her come off more like a female Killmonger. She even wore a golden panther armor like MCU Killmonger .

I thought for a second that rock was the Heart Shaped Herb from the Black Panther's origin, but apparently it was part of the meteor of Vibranium that fell Earth. It also seems sentient enough that it can posses and even communicate with people, which really begs the question of exactly what it is .

So is Bask the true main villain of this series? Or at least Bask possessed by that rock? Whatever it was seems to be what's been driving the Shadow Council for centuries and seems pretty in-line with Killmonger's goals .

T'Challa's trip into the crown reminded me a lot of the mindscape in the movie, complete with visions of T'Chaka showing up to guide T'Challa. Although it also got really trippy too .

And can I just say how awesome it was to hear Keith David as T'Chaka? I mean, beyond being a VA legend, he was also the first voice of T'Challa in animation in the 90's Fantastic Four cartoon, which made him a perfect choice to play the Black Panther's father .

Looking at his costume, from what little we were able to see...it seems his Black Panther suit was like T'Challa's, only without the gloves or full face mask.

I had a feeling Cap wasn't actually dead, so it was nice to get confirmation that he was alive in the crown and then see him come back. Hopefully his return will signal a reconciliation between T'Challa and the Avengers .

Although I guess they also have to deal with the fact that Cap's shield got destroyed .

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest "Bashenga"

I cannot overstate how much I hated that. This is going to be a rough review for me because I have a bad feeling I am going to be the only fan with a problem with it. This is not as bad as the Loki betrayal at the end of the last season being shown to be a "twist" ending. But this episode is the only episode of the five seasons so far that the Loki twist is worse than.

And that's gonna be hard to talk about in this review, because while the Loki twist was basically considered unacceptable by everyone, I don't think anyone else will raise a fuss about ANYTHING here. I am about to go out on a HUGE freaking limb when I call this the second worst episode of the entire series. It is going to be very lonely being a critic of this specific episode.

But the worst thing about the episode is the way it pissed me off. The worst episodes of this show (and there are a lot of bad ones) do something huge and unforgivably badly written or conceived that ruins the entire outing, and quite often the entire season. This is the first episode that did TWO things that horrible in the same 22 minutes. Double the suck with Doublemint Gum.

The first horrible thing appalls me, but I will concede it could be fixed next week. But I have no faith it will be. But I am appalled that Bast is the villain and Bashenga turns out to be right. And it pisses me off they had to add an evil mind control element to make that so. Everything Bast cautions Bashenga about is correct,. Every bad thing she predicts will happen by showing mercy to the Atlanteans happens. Benshenga is a coward and loser. He's a total knob afraid of his own shadow, and doing anything that needs to be done to protect his people. He's a drip who is always wrong, and somehow the strong independent woman who is always right is the bad guy. That pisses me off like no tomorrow. Unless there is going to be a surprise empowerment message next week (unlikely) this feeds into every bad thing about the patriarchy of the Wakanda monarchy you could ever imagine. Bashenda is talking about the need to protect innocent lives. How does getting his village blown up protect the innocent? How is the Wakanda version of 9/11 keeping his people safe? I don't actually agree with Bast for destroying the Atlantean village and potentially killing innocent kids. But it certainly is not what I would consider an unjustified move in a war after THAT specific attack on Wakanda. I wouldn't sanction it personally, but she is not the monster for showing that particular equal form of retribution that the episode says she is. The Atlanteans probably killed Wakandan kids too. I don't have to approve of the counterstrike to accept it as totally lateral.

Do you know what pisses me off most about Bashenga? Two words: "We agreed!". They never agreed to any such thing about the core, and he keeps throwing this bit of revisionist history in her face, to keep her pretty little head in its place. That pisses me off like very few things the show has ever done. He treats his sister like utter crap, and as a hysterical woman, and SHE'S the bad guy for it. Seriously pisses me off.

The second thing that pissed me off was the "surprise" revelation that Steve Rogers was alive. I knew all along, and deep down I think everyone else knew it too (whether they were honest about it or not) and simply pretended differently on the hopes that this was a darker and more meaningful show than it actually is. What pisses me off about the fandom of this specific show (and considering how bad it usually is, it's a pretty justifiably small fanbase) is the amount of unearned trust the few fans left still put into the show, that the show never fails to abuse and stomp on. If I actually still liked this show, after the producers did that b.s. tweet a few weeks ago praising Roger Craig Smith's "last" episode on the show, I would just lose it. I would feel jaded and used and lied to and screwed around. That is a pretty lowdown thing for a producer to do to any fan of any franchise. I get the purpose behind the Jon Snow mislead on Game Of Thrones. The producers of that show pretty much HAD to lie for the cliffhanger to work at all. There is no such excuse here. The producers were treating the fans like a bunch of chumps. The thing that really bothers me is how pissed off I actually am right now. Because I know it would be 10 times that if I were actually a fan, and didn't know this show was full of crap the entire time. My reward for knowing how crappy the show is is that it feels less crappy than it would than had I believed in it. Which is all kinds of wrong.

Question: What is going to be Black Widow's defense now? She was 100% certain that T'Challa murdered Steve, and pretty much upset world stability and the entire Avengers on a false accusation. If it DOES turn out to be Widow and not an impostor, I hope the matter isn't dropped after a bogus apology. She deserves to be kicked out of the Avengers for that. I'm one of those people who thinks white people who falsely call the cops on black people to see them shot for their amusement belong in prison.

Before I give the episode the obligatory (and deserved) zero stars, I wanted to point out the one thing that interested me and that I liked. Klaw seems genuinely concerned about T'Challa's well-being when he wakes up. He even calls him "Mate". In a better show and episode, I could find myself appreciating that specific moment. But because the show is what it is, I'm not actually allowed to.

This show is absolutely terrible, and probably the worst Marvel show after Hulk and the Agents of SMASH. And Hulk is BARELY worse. That's how bad it is. 0.

 

[BlackoutCreature]

So after watching this episode I got curious about what else was happening in the Marvel universe around this time. Were there any other civilizations besides the Wakandans and Atlanteans on Earth 10,000 years ago? The Inhumans were around, but more interesting I discovered that this was also around the time of something called the "Post-Hyborean Cataclysm". Basically some kind of disaster that wiped out all the peoples and civilizations associated with the Conan the Barbarian mythos. I doubt this is the direction the show is going, but I would find it very interesting if they decided to tie Bast into this cataclysm.

Speaking of Conan, it's too bad Marvel probably didn't have the rights to the character back yet when this episode was in planning. T'Chanda got to team with Cap, Yemandi got to team with Thor, Bashenga deserves his team-up.

And I have to say, the animation for T'Challa's "confrontation" with Bast was some of the most impressive and creepy I've ever for American animation. I was not expecting that.

 

[Frontier]

So after watching this episode I got curious about what else was happening in the Marvel universe around this time. Were there any other civilizations besides the Wakandans and Atlanteans on Earth 10,000 years ago? The Inhumans were around, but more interesting I discovered that this was also around the time of something called the "Post-Hyborean Cataclysm". Basically some kind of disaster that wiped out all the peoples and civilizations associated with the Conan the Barbarian mythos. I doubt this is the direction the show is going, but I would find it very interesting if they decided to tie Bast into this cataclysm.

The Asgardians would probably have been around then evne if they didn't become as involved with humanity until the era of the vikings.

Speaking of Conan, it's too bad Marvel probably didn't have the rights to the character back yet when this episode was in planning. T'Chanda got to team with Cap, Yemandi got to team with Thor, Bashenga deserves his team-up.

I guess to close out the Avengers Trinity it should've been a variant of Iron Man, but I don't think they could have made Iron Man B.C. work .

 

[Dudley]

Some of that imagery of Bask got straight-up spooky.
Well, look who’s not dead. I have to say, Steve being stuck inside the crown was a surprise. Glad he’s out. Now we can get the Avengers back together.
I hope Bask will be the endgame villain for the season. It’ll be the first time that role went to a female character.

 

[Loverofcomix]

Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest "Bashenga"

Before I give the episode the obligatory (and deserved) zero stars, I wanted to point out the one thing that interested me and that I liked. Klaw seems genuinely concerned about T'Challa's well-being when he wakes up. He even calls him "Mate". In a better show and episode, I could find myself appreciating that specific moment. But because the show is what it is, I'm not actually allowed to.

As much as I want Klaw to turn good, we all know he will doublecross them again. If you give him back his sonic ray gun thingy, he would immediately turn against T'Challa and Shuri.

So, Bask is like Shuri if she was seduced by the darkside and became a female Sinestro? The glowing red rock reminds me of the yellow rings from DC Comics. T'Challa saving the world from an evil relative...sounds familiar.

It would be funny if T'Challa use the "hi aunty" line Killmonger used in the movie since Bask is his great great great something something aunt.

 

[Rick Jones]

I thought T'Challa was a lot older than Shuri but after seeing them as kids, it only seemed like a couple of years. I did't expect this to get trippy.