Marvel’s What If…? television series is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most groundbreaking forays into animation yet, centering each episode around an alternate universe where MCU characters took drastically different paths in life than they did in the movies. The newest episode, “What If T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” shows exactly what the title implies, a universe where T’Challa never became the Black Panther and was instead raised by Yondu to become the intergalactic mercenary Star-Lord. But this isn’t the first time that T’Challa has been at the center of a space-faring epic. That honor goes to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 25-issue run on Black Panther and its Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda.
For most of its history, Wakanda’s existence was kept a secret from the rest of the world. It wasn’t until recently in the Marvel Universe when the nation revealed itself to the world. But Wakanda’s secrets went so deep that even most Wakandans on Earth didn’t know about its cosmic exclave. The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, first teased in Marvel Legacy #1 and expanded upon in 2018’s Black Panther, came about when T’Challa sent a group of scientists into space to find the origin of the Mena Ngai, the asteroid where Wakandans get all their vibranium. After entering space, the scientists got stuck in a temporal loop that sent them back 2000 years into the past. Using the advanced technology they had on hand, they built a small home among the stars. Over the next two millennia, this home expanded into a galaxy-spanning empire that had twisted the peaceful Wakandans into greedy conquerors that plunder and pillage other planets.
The Empire’s need to conquer was so vast that they managed to enslave several alien species, including the Regellians and the Klyntar. The Emperor, fearing his soldiers were getting too powerful, sent many of them on a suicide mission to a Klyntar planet. N’Jadaka, the Empire’s strongest warrior, bonded with a symbiote on this mission that gave him access to incredible power. He usurped the Emperor and named himself the rightful ruler of the Empire of Wakanda. Just like his predecessor, N’Jadaka ruled the Empire of Wakanda with an iron fist, relying on tyranny and slaves to fuel its growth.
After the Empire of Wakanda conquered planets, it would turn that planet's people into "the Nameless" by erasing their memories and putting them to work in one of the Empire's mining colonies. When T'Challa went into space to search for the missing scientists, he was captured by N'Jadaka's forces and turned into one of "the Nameless." A group of rebels called the Maroons, run by a mind-erased M'Baku and Nakia, eventually broke T'Challa out of his bondage.
T'Challa joined them in their fight to topple the Empire. The trio and their rebel alliance fought the Empire of Wakanda for years before they finally defeated N'Jadaka and T'Challa took his rightful place on the throne. However, the symbiote that was bonded with N'Jadaka was able to escape and possess Killmonger's dead body. The symbiote Killmonger made his way to the Empire of Wakanda alongside Wakanda's corrupted gods for one final showdown with T'Challa for the throne. T'Challa called on several of Marvel's black superheroes and villains to help him defeat the resurrected Killmonger and his entourage of evil gods.
T'Challa was crowned emperor of the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda in Black Panther #25 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Danny Lore, Daniel Acuña, Brian Steelfreeze and Alitha E. Martinez. Black Panther and Wakanda were capable of rivaling most heroes and nations on Earth before. But after connecting with their interstellar exclave, they have become one of the strongest cosmic powers in the entire universe. Although, given what the Empire of Wakanda had done before T'Challa arrived, they may need to contend with new enemies they had never dreamed of before. While it didn't make him Star-Lord, T'Challa's adventures in space set Wakandans up to become a space-bound people on par with the Shi'ar, Kree or Skrulls.