Publisher: Marvel comics
Created by: Christopher Priest, Sal Velluto
1st appearance: Black Panther Vol 3 #13 (December, 1999)
Nationality: Wakandan
Team Affiliations: Hydra, White Gorilla Cult, Jabari Tribe, Dora Milaje
Legal Status: Wakandan
Height: 5’2 Weight: 96 lbs
Eye color: Brown Hair color: Brown
Relatives: Damola (father, deceased); Unnamed mother (deceased); Toyosi (foster parent); M’Baku (cousin); Mandla (cousin, deceased
Skills and abilities: While she’s received some training in Wakandan combat techniques, Chanté hasn’t completed the Dora Milaje training, but her natural athletic aptitude helps.
Powers: None.
Equipment: Her boots have vibranium soles, enabling her to:
- Jump and survive falls easier than she should.
- Walk on walls and ceilings.
- Travel silently.
- Deliver an electric shock.
She also carries a pair of pistols which fire gel-filled slugs
Biography
Early Life
Ce’Athauna Asira Davin was born in Wakanda, princess to the White Gorilla-worshiping Jabari Tribe. After her parents were killed in a tribal dispute with the reigning Black Panther cult, she was taken to America and raised in secret by one of King T’Challa’s warriors, posing as her grandmother. Christened Chante Giovanni Brown, she grew up ignorant of her true heritage, and as a teenager, Chante became an amateur activist in her Chicago neighborhood, calling herself Queen Divine Justice. When an opening occurred in the order of the Dora Milaje, ceremonial “wives-in-training,” the Black Panther came to Chicago and informed Queen of her Wakandan heritage.
Dora Milaje
Queen enjoyed learning more about her heritage but was not quick to adapt to the technically servile relationship the Dora Milaje had with the King. Dora Milaje were meant to speak only in the Hausa dialect, and then only to the king or each other, rules Queen frequently ignored. Her casual demeanor led the Wakandan exile N’Kano to become interested in her without realizing she was Dora Milaje and technically promised to the king.
Although Queen was informed she was Wakandan when recruited, the details of her Jabari heritage were kept from her even then. Only after an encounter with M’Baku did she learn the death of her parents could be traced to the King’s agents. As she continued to flaunt the traditions of Wakanda and bonded with her ancestral people, Queen inadvertently brought the Wakandas and Jabari to the brink of war. She wished to talk peace with the king, but his relationship with M’Baku and increasing instability due to an aneurysm led to Queen being struck down in a conflict. Only when she weakly begged both her people to stop fighting did the struggle end.
Brainwashed
Queen and N’Kano remained in exile from Wakanda after this, and she began using her birth name of Asira. Asira was later kidnapped by Hydra while jogging in Manhattan’s Riverside Park. She was experimented on by Doctor Faustus, who twisted Asira’s hidden dark thoughts to turn her to their side. She infiltrated Birnin Benhazin, Wakanda under the identity of a villager calling themselves Asefa, who prophetized the deity Sefako and became known as Ras the Exhorter. With help from Sefako, Ras the Exhorted aided the village during the numerous attacks that plagued Wakanda, which helped discredit Wakanda’s own gods, the Orisha. During a confrontation in Nyanza, Zawavari unmasked Ras, revealing her true identity as Asira. She was subsequently taken to the Dark Room Labs and treated. Her persona of Ras the Exhorter was chained inside her mind, and Asira returned to her normal self.