You have to hand it to Ryan Coolgler. Not only has he been riding high off the rightful success of Sinners, but 2025 has also been the year he’s executively produced various Marvel properties that’s spun out of his Black Panther movies. Refusing to let the tragic passing of original Panther actor Chadwick Boseman hamstring what was possible with this corner of the MCU, we’ve already seen the sequel, Wakanda Forever mourn his passing and it eventually spawned the Ironheart series earlier this year.
Well now, four-part animated epic Eyes Of Wakanda is here to expand the history of the African nation even further as we delve into the ancient past to uncover untold secrets of the Dora Milaje and the secretive agents known as the War Dogs.
Does the first offering from Eyes Of Wakanda manage to build on the MCUs most famous example of world building, or does the iconic battle cry of Wakanda forever not actually stretch to its animated past?
It is 1260 BC and the forces of would-be world conquerer, The Lion have spread as far as Crete as he absorbs volunteers and slaves into his growing army. He ironically hopes to create a world where everybody is free and will enslave whomever it takes to accomplish this goal. Obviously, having a constantly swelling army at his command helps, but his claims of being a living God have been aided further by various items of Vibranium his has on his person that allow him to have a devastating effect on his enemies.
The proof that Vibranium weaponry is out in the world is something that makes Wakanda increasingly nervous and on an act of desperation, Akeya the head of the Dora Milaje, calls in disgraced former member, Noni in to undergo a secret mission to bring the Lion in and reclaim his deadly toys. With the mission comes the revelation that the Lion is actually a former Wakandan general who has revolted against the “oppression” of his nation’s secretive nature has is hoping to amass an opposing army to ultimately conquer his former home.
Before you know it, Noni is on a stealth mission to infiltrate the Lion’s sizable armada, but the fact that her defiant nature was the exact thing that got he kicked out of the Dora Milaje in the first place, she’s unable to ignore the violence and subjugation that she witness and soon instigates a massive fight. But as she struggles to evade the Lion’s multiple lieutenants, he greatest battle will unsurprisingly be the Lion himself. But when exposed to how secretive her country can really be, will the willful Noni complete her mission, or consider the offers the Lion makes her?
Judging by the first episode of Eyes Of Wakanda, the epic animated series pretty much does everything you’d expect such a show to do. We get lush production values that fall somewhere between the likes of the recent Predator: Killer Of Killers and, curiously, The Road To El Dorado as we get a stylised look of period settings that are both colourful and impressive. The action is nimble and expansive, calling to mind everything from Anime to Kung-Fu movies as the balletic fights are captured in long, fluid shots, and the plot itself carries familiar echoes of events that will occur many generations later as the levels of Wakanda’s separation from the rest of the world is called into account. However, while it furfils all the visual and racial things you’d expect such a show to brace, I have to say that while Into The Lion’s Den fills it’s brief nicely, it doesn’t end up surpassing it very much and ultimately feels more like a hodge podge of other, more familiar stories.
There’s no big surprise that Eyes Of Wakanda borrows heavily from history and legend, but the tale of the Lion feels heavily influenced by the story of the self-proclaimed God-man Xerxes seen most famously in the movie 300. Also, watching Noni creep, leap and sneak around the Lion’s fleet only to sporadically engage in feats of acrobatic brawling with a pair of blade feels like the showrunners had been playing way too much Assasin’s Creed when they were trying to break the story and while this isn’t a complaint persay, it’s weird that the show is wearing its influences on its Vibranium sleeve a bit too much to feel like it can stand on its own.
It’s a shame, because it’s concept is certainly more than strong enough to justify its existence and maybe the average viewer wouldn’t know where a lot of the inspiration for the show seems to be coming from (is it me, or is the varied members of the Lion’s multi-national lieutenants feel like the assorted, varied henchmen from Anime classic Ninja Scroll?), but as the episode progressed, all I could see were the influences standing out like sore thumbs. Still, thankfully the basics are so strong, there’s plenty of room for the show to get more of its own identity, but considering that it’s also something of an anthology, I guess there’s also a chance that every episode might end up make the same mistake.
But still, while I’m over here grumbling about a show riffing off other things that are over a decade old, I would be remiss in my duties if it didn’t highlight some notable strengths. For a start, those visuals are crisp and catchy and those fight scenes are energetic and visually eye catching. As moment where Noni and the Lion fight while clinging to some drapes that entwine as they both swing around it is easily as beautiful as anything you’d see in the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the story hues closely to what is destined to unfold later in the MCU. The rise of Eric Killmonger occured because his father was one of the undercover War Dogs (Aka. Hatut Zaraze) who saw the injustice that Wakanda’s secretive nature had allowed to ocur and the Lion’s past proves to be remarkably similar as he too is a former spy who rages against the rules of his kingdom that runs parallel to the villianous plot of the first movie. Also, while Noni seems so be cut from the same rebellious cloth as Michaela Coel’s Aneka from the second movie, she’s currently a bit too simplistic to be a fully engrossing character, but with more episodes to come that may give her some complexity, it’s still to early to fairly past judgment.
However, while I might sound pretty negative about Eyes Of Wakanda’s first offering, it’s only because I was hoping for something a bit more expansive that just genuinely stunning world building. But awesome weaponry, kickass armour, gorgeous cities and nifty fighting styles (that are surprisingly violent), the show needs to get a bit more dirt under its claws to really dig its nails in.
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