Centuries ago, five African tribes warred over a meteorite of the alien metal vibranium. A warrior ingested a "heart-shaped herb", that was affected by the metal, and gained superhuman abilities. He became the first "Black Panther", and united the tribes to form the nation of Wakanda, though the Jabari Tribe chose not to follow the Black Panther's rule. Over time, the Wakandans used the vibranium to develop highly-advanced technology and chose to isolate themselves from the rest of the world by posing as a Third World country. In 1992, while on an undercover assignment in Oakland, California, Prince N'Jobu became convinced that Wakanda's isolationist policies had done more harm than good, and vowed to share its technology with people of African descent around the world in order to help them conquer their oppressors. N'Jobu enlisted black market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue to infiltrate Wakanda and steal a cache of vibranium. His brother King T'Chaka learned of this from another undercover agent, Zuri, and confronted N'Jobu. When N'Jobu attacked Zuri, T'Chaka reluctantly killed him, and ordered Zuri to lie that N'Jobu had disappeared. They left behind his American son, Erik, in order to maintain the lie.