Exploring the Legacy Through Eyes of Wakanda

I was floored when Eyes of Wakanda quietly showed up on Disney+ on August 1, 2025 – all four episodes at once – instead of the planned August 27 release. Reports say Marvel just moved the date up with zero hype. It feels more like a Netflix-style binge drop than the usual Disney+ slow rollout. In fact, one entertainment site even joked that this surprise schedule looks ominously like Marvel is giving up on the show before it even starts. After all, Marvel did the same thing with Echo and Ironheart (dropping episodes in big batches) and those series didn’t exactly light up the world. It makes you wonder: did Disney+ do this drop because they want to bury any bad buzz, or are they actually trying a new strategy by treating it like a streaming event?

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Eyes of Wakanda: A Fresh Take on Wakandan Lore

The story itself is pretty cool: it follows Wakanda’s secret War Dogs (the Hatut Zeraze) traveling through history to snag stolen vibranium artifacts. Instead of yet another alternate-reality cartoon, Eyes of Wakanda is actually set in the main MCU timeline. That means everything here is “canon” Wakanda stuff – no multiverse hand-waving. We get to see Wakanda across the ages, like a spy-thriller with secret agents. The show kicks off way back in ancient times (the first episode is around 1260 B.C. Crete!), and each episode is its own time-jumping adventure. It’s the first Marvel animated series tied directly into the main story of the movies.

Visually, it’s striking. The animation is vibrant and bold. The Warriors (or “War Dogs”) have a nice mix of traditional African art styles in their look. In one promo image you can see Noni (center) with her Hatut Zeraze comrades, gears up against villains. These characters – Wakandans far from home, in full traditional armor or sometimes in Western garb – really hammer home the idea of Wakanda always watching over history.

Image: Marvel Studios

New Faces (and Fighters) in the Mix

The cast has some surprises. First off, there’s a new Iron Fist (yeah, the martial arts hero), but she’s not the Danny Rand we know – she’s a woman of Asian heritage named Jorani (actor Jona Xiao voices her). Marvel hasn’t done a proper Iron Fist in the MCU before, so this is a fresh take. It’s wild to think Iron Fist is finally here via a Wakanda show, and that it’s introducing a female Iron Fist. Over on Twitter and Instagram, actress Jona Xiao hinted at it, and now we see Jorani pulling chi punches on screen.

On the Wakanda side, the lead War Dog is Noni (voiced by Winnie Harlow, the model). She starts out as a Dora Milaje member who gets banished, and her journey is nuts. We also meet “The Lion,” a Wakandan antagonist voiced by Cress Williams. He’s a former elite guard turned power-hungry warlord in ancient times. And speaking of time travel, there’s even a glimpse of a future Black Panther – Anika Noni Rose (who voiced T’Challa’s mom in the films) plays a queen from 500 years in Wakanda’s future who travels back in time. In the finale, this future Panther is on a mission: to stop something catastrophic that will happen if Wakanda stays isolated.

So yeah, Eyes of Wakanda is dropping a lot of new characters into the MCU mix. One fully expects more Wakandan legends and surprises along the way. The War Dogs’ leader, Rakim, and Prince Tafari (the king in training) are some other names, but Iron Fist and that future Panther definitely steal the spotlight. It’s like Marvel is using this series to pull in both new heroes and old secrets in one go.

Legacy, Vibranium and Big Moral Questions

When it comes to story, the show ties everything to Wakanda’s greatest resource – vibranium. Each episode has the team hunting down a stolen vibranium artifact (swords, axes, etc.) across time. By the finale, all those MacGuffins come together: they tie into classic movie lore. Spoiler alert: The very axe they find is the same one Killmonger later uses (back in Black Panther 2018). Remember, Killmonger finds a vibranium axe in a London museum and it kicks off his whole plan to invade Wakanda. Here, we learn that Wakanda’s future hangs on whether that axe gets recaptured or not. In the far future we see a world conquered by an alien Horde because Wakanda didn’t warn anyone. The future Panther jumps back to hopefully change that chain of events.

All of that drives home the theme “Wakanda forever.” The showrunner Todd Harris even said in an interview that “Wakanda Forever” isn’t just a catchphrase here – it’s the core idea. Every Wakandan in the story, across all the eras, is completely dedicated to protecting their nation and its ideals, even when no one else remembers them. It shows a kind of fierce loyalty: all these warriors share the same mindset of defending Wakanda’s legacy through the ages.

But it’s not just action – there’s some real moral gray area. Should Wakanda stay isolated or intervene in others’ wars? The show basically puts the classic question in a new light: these heroes are shadow guardians of history, guarding vibranium secrets. One scene has them watching the fall of another civilization because Wakanda hadn’t stepped in. Later, the Lion’s regime (where he’s using Vibranium weapons to subjugate peoples) raises questions about what Wakanda should do about one of their own gone bad. The series doesn’t shy away from asking whether it’s right for Wakanda to manipulate history at all. Some reviewers have pointed out that Eyes of Wakanda does explore heavy ideas like justice and duty: is the mission to save Wakanda’s future worth changing the past? It even earned praise for diving into those themes instead of just being splashy fights.

Image: Marvel Studios

What Comes After Eyes of Wakanda?

If you’re hungry for more, keep your eyes peeled: showrunner Todd Harris has already hinted in interviews that they “definitely have more in the tank.” He mentioned there are always more stories to tell in Wakanda. That doesn’t guarantee a Season 2 (nothing official yet), but it’s a promising clue. Maybe Marvel is testing the waters – if fans jump at this show, we could see a whole second chapter of time-traveling Wakanda spies.

Also, remember this series is listed as part of Phase Six of the MCU. It actually is the first Phase Six TV series to arrive. That means it sits alongside upcoming big projects (like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday) as we head into the next chapter of Marvel’s saga. If vibranium and Wakandan history play into the closing chapters of the MCU, this series might be more important than it first appears. It even links back to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by explaining more about vibranium and the country’s place in the world. It’s like a bridge between the Black Panther movies and whatever comes next.

We don’t yet know if Eyes of Wakanda will be a fan-favorite, a cult classic, or something forgotten, but it sure is an ambitious experiment. It’s Marvel Animation’s first real foray into the core continuity – so all these new Wakandans we meet are part of the official story now.

So… is Eyes of Wakanda a bold new chapter in the Black Panther story, or a footnote destined to be forgotten? What do you think it means for Wakanda to be shadow guardians through time – are they heroes rewriting destiny, or playing with fire? How might learning all this history change how we see Wakanda’s future (and past)?

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Final Thoughts on Eyes of Wakanda

At just four episodes, Eyes of Wakanda doesn’t overstay its welcome. But it leaves a lasting impression. It’s not perfect—some pacing issues and a few flat side characters drag it down—but it dares to ask meaningful questions.

So is Eyes of Wakanda a bold new chapter or a forgotten footnote? That’ll depend on whether Marvel commits to expanding its themes and characters. For now, it’s a fascinating glimpse at how Wakanda has shaped the world from the shadows.

What does it mean for Wakanda to act as shadow guardians through time? Is this form of intervention noble or dangerous? And how might this series reshape our understanding of the Black Panther legacy going forward?

One thing’s clear: Eyes of Wakanda opens our eyes to a side of the MCU we haven’t seen—and hopefully, it’s just the beginning.