Achebe (character)

Did You Know?

• Creator Christopher Priest stated that the character was inspired by the Joker, Hannibal Lecter, and Hans Gruber.
• Achebe appeared in Deadpool Vol. 2, #43-44.
• In an alternate version, Achebe is among the villains recruited by T'Charra to help him kill and usurp his father, an elderly Black Panther.

Fictional character biography

The United States government believes Achebe was once a Ghudazan farmer called "Bob" who helped leftist rebels from Ujanka. Those rebels repaid him by seducing his wife, burning his farm, and stabbing him thirty-two times before leaving him to die. Local stories say he survived by trading his soul to Mephisto, then hunted down everyone who had ever known his wife, killing each with thirty-two stab wounds and destroying their homes. After earning a law degree from Yale, he returned to Ghudazan and helped spark an ethnic war. When Black Panther set up a refugee camp near Wakanda for people fleeing the conflict, Achebe slipped in and stirred up tension between the refugees and Wakandans. He tricked Black Panther into leaving Wakanda by corrupting one of his American charities and having its poster children murdered. With Black Panther away, Achebe started an uprising in the camp and declared himself head of a provisional government that took over Wakanda. He issued bizarre decrees that grew worse after Black Panther outsmarted him and broke his link to Mephisto. Without that demonic backing, his forces weakened, but he kept his prime minister post by agreeing to share power with Black Panther's stepmother, Ramonda, as long as Black Panther stayed in America. Later, Achebe tried to kill Black Panther by having allies in the U.S. plant a bomb on a bystander and put a remote-controlled exoskeleton on Black Panther's ex-fiancée, Monica. Black Panther, aided by the Avengers, disarmed the bomb and freed Monica from the exoskeleton.

Reception

Achebe has been recognized by several critics as a significant Black Panther villain. Matt Wood of CinemaBlend named him to a list of five Marvel villains they would like to see in Black Panther 2. Screen Rant’s Darby Harn included Achebe in their rankings of the 15 most powerful Black Panther villains and the 15 best Black Panther comics characters not in the MCU. De’Angelo Epps of Comic Book Resources placed him fifth on a ranking of Black Panther’s rogues gallery, calling him one of the most iconic villains and “The Joker of the Black Panther.” Peter Eckhardt ranked Achebe 12th on a list of the 10 most iconic Black Panther villains, and Chase Magnett of ComicBook.com ranked him sixth on a list of the eight best Black Panther villains.