This article contains spoilers for Eyes of Wakanda.Forget Captain America, Marvel has just introduced therealfirst Avengers inEyes of Wakanda. Although the Avengers technically first teamed up during theBattle of New York, it’s long been clear there’s a rich history of heroism in the MCU. Steve Rogers, after all, is literally billed as “The First Avenger.”
There have been superheroes for far longer than that. The line of Black Panthers, for example, runs all the way back to the days of Bashenga - the warrior-shaman who was guided to theHeart-Shaped Herb. The Black Panthers weren’t the only ones; in fact, theEyes of Wakandaminiseries, streaming now on Disney+, even reveals a team of proto-Avengers.
Eyes Of Wakanda Introduces Several Key Avengers Archetypes
Eyes of Wakandaepisode 2, “Legends and Lies,” is set at the end of the Trojan War; that’s something of a shock, because it confirms this to be a historical event in the MCU. It focuses in upon the legendary warrior Achilles and his closest allies, Ferro and Memnon - the latter secretly a Wakandan agent, tasked with retrieving lost vibranium.
Eyes of Wakandamay be telling a new story, but it draws on some very familiar Avengers archetypes.Achilles is a muscle-toned, blonde-haired hero who’s only ever known war, and he’s clearly Captain America coded. Ferro is an original character, not part of the original mythology, and his name makes the archetype clear;“ferrum” is Latin for “iron.”
That turns Memnon himself into a rather intriguing archetype, in that his mere presence causes conflict between Achilles and Ferro. The implication is thatthis Wakandan agent is the Winter Soldier of his day, the one who divides the hero. Tellingly, he wields Wakandan tech on his left arm (mirroring Bucky’s cybernetics), and reports in to an eyepatch-wielding Director Noni.
The Heroes Of The Trojan War Were Proto-Avengers
The smart use of these archetypes establishes the heroes of the Trojan War as proto-Avengers. It’s a tremendous approach, not least because Homer’s Illiad is among one of the earliest pieces of heroic literature in history (The Epic of Gilgameshis far earlier, and that too has been woven into the MCU throughEternals).
This is actually the same approach Marvel has taken in the comics, where we’ve seen several teams of proto-Avengers:
Team
1,000,000BC
The first Avengers, including Odin, a Phoenix host, the Starbrand, and the first Ghost Rider.
8,000BC
The Tribe of the Moon, who include the first Talisman, the Bear Brother, and Willow Dancer.
1047AD
Thor joins a group including A group of Vikings assemble, including Thor, the Sasquatch Sorcerer Supreme, Bodolf the Black, the witch Theodosia Szardos, Nehanda the renegade Panther and the Atlantean Iron Fist, Grizzly Rider, and a Phoenix host
1781 onwards
The first Captain America, a hero of the American Revolution, leads a group of adventurers.
1959
Nick Fury assembles a team of Avengers, including Kraven the Hunter and Sabretooth.
Jason Aaron’sAvengersrun established the various Marvel heroes as archetypes that have been revisited throughout history, literally from 1,000,000BC onwards. It’s therefore so very appropriate for the MCU to follow the same approach, weaving the firstAvengersinto the heroic epic of the Illiad.
