The MCU’s latest show, Eyes of Wakanda, has finally hit Disney+ with just four episodes in total, and it’s fair to say that some are better than others. Eyes of Wakanda is Marvel Studios’ fifth animated show, following Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and preceding the TV-MA-rated Marvel Zombies in what is a particularly stacked year for MCU animations.
Unlike other animated shows in the franchise, however, Eyes of Wakanda takes place in the same continuity as the mainline, live-action MCU. The short anthology series can also be viewed in its entirety in the same amount of time it takes to watch the average MCU movie, as each episode clocks around 30 minutes apiece.
Its episodes are largely self-contained stories that share a common throughline, mostly focusing on Wakanda’s War Dogs as they embark on global missions to recover Vibranium artifacts throughout history, with stories stretching back as far as 1260 BC.
The MCU series has been largely well-received as a breath of fresh air for the MCU, with praise being lavished on its animation style, action sequences, and its enrichment of Wakanda’s history in the MCU.
The main criticism leveled at the MCU series, meanwhile, concerns its minimal length, which in turn helps to make the series feel incomplete. Still, Eyes of Wakanda is an overall success for the MCU, with some episodes standing out more than others.
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Episode 3: “Lost and Found”
“Lost and Found” feels the most like a filler episode in Eyes of Wakanda, which already suffers from its brevity. “Lost and Found” has plenty of high points, including its action choreography, the involvement of a sorely underused Marvel hero, and plenty of humorous moments.
Nevertheless, it is also the most disconnected. Despite featuring an artifact that was recovered in the show’s first episode, “Lost and Found” carries a little less narrative heft than the two episodes that preceded it. It also strikes a distinctly more comedic tone that makes it feel out of step with the rest of the series.
While it is interesting to see the Iron Fist mantle in full force, “Lost and Found” did little to re-establish the character and lore for the benefit of audiences that might not have seen the much-maligned live-action Iron Fist series. Still, sequences featuring the Iron Fist, Jorani, focusing her chi and making short work of a room full of soldiers were entertaining.
The Wakandans also felt particularly hapless in this episode. Not only does Jorani successfully infiltrate the Golden City through the complacency of the episode’s protagonist, Basha, but Wakanda’s upper command is too easily hoodwinked into believing Basha’s fabrications.
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Episode 1: “Into the Lion’s Den”
“Into the Lion’s Den” establishes the formula for Eyes of Wakanda in a visually stunning manner as a Dora Milaje member becomes one of the first to retrieve stolen vibranium artifacts from a Wakandan deserter calling himself the Lion. As the Lion embarks on a seemingly misguided conquest, protagonist Noni brings him down single-handedly.
The action sequences in “Into the Lion‘s Den” are beautifully choreographed, if slightly unbelievable, as Noni dispatches the Lion’s elite forces unaided and devoid of vibranium augmentations. Noni feels distinctly shrouded in plot armor at certain points, removing much of the stakes in her final confrontation with the Lion.
Nevertheless, “Into the Lion’s Den” is a solid first episode as it explores the exciting premise of Wakanda in the ancient world. The Lion also throws the typically sacrosanct isolationism of Wakanda into question thousands of years before the heroic T’Challa would act on it, drawing an interesting parallel to the mainline MCU.
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Episode 2: “Legends and Lies”
“Legends and Lies” is a thrilling reconceptualization of an iconic myth that doesn’t shy away from appropriating the Iliad’s most prominent figures. Nevertheless, it seamlessly weaves Wakanda into the fall of Troy, with Achilles and Memnon, whose Wakandan name is B’Kai, assuming starring roles.
Memnon was canonically an Aethiopian King who fought with and was killed by Achilles in the Iliad. “Legends and Lies” reworks the tale by making Memnon a Wakandan War Dog fighting at Achilles side with the Greeks until his primary mission to recover a Wakandan artifact from Helen drives a heart-wrenching rift between the two brothers-in-arms.
“Legends and Lies” is the most emotional episode of Eyes of Wakanda, supplanting much of the action seen in other episodes with a heartbreaking interaction towards the climax. Memnon’s reluctant battle with Achilles is evocative of Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s fight between Bucky and Steve, culminating in Achilles’ tragic death as Memnon’s loyalty to his nation spurs the fatal blow.
Aside from the beauty of the tragedy in “Legends and Lies,” it is also entertaining to see ancient Wakandan tech in action as B’Kai is seen using a remote communication device and vibranium gauntlets. It is a compelling re-telling of an age-old tale that enhances Wakanda’s prestige as an ancient nation.
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Episode 4: “The Last Panther”
While the bulk of “The Last Panther” takes place during Italy’s violent colonization of Ethiopia in 1896, it blends this setting with a version of Wakanda 500 years in the future. This amalgamation makes “The Last Panther” the most ambitious and mind-bending episode of the series, and it succeeds.
The Eyes of Wakanda finale successfully leans into the sci-fi elements of the MCU as a time-travelling future queen of Wakanda and Black Panther attempts to rectify her doomed timeline by halting the repossession of a familiar ax. This ax is the same one that Killmonger reclaims in one of the MCU’s best-rated movies, Black Panther.
“The Last Panther” sanctifies T’Challa’s future decision to relinquish Wakanda’s isolationism beautifully, delivering a philosophical conundrum for the episode’s main characters, Prince Tafari and Kuda, to consider. Namely, whether Wakanda’s distant future safety is worth flouting the stringent laws of the present.
The Wakanda of the late 2400s delivers some surprising sci-fi visuals in a series mostly concerned with historical settings. It is also the episode that most closely ties Eyes of Wakanda to the mainline MCU, making it feel the most congruous with what makes Wakanda so beloved today.
