MARIA HENCKEL

Real Name: Maria Henckel

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Unrevealed, former student

Affiliations: friend of T’Challa and Benjamin Grimm, the Thing

Enemies: Malice (Nakia)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Harlem, New York; Tibet

First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One#40 (June, 1978)

Powers: None

History: (MTIO#40)- Thing returned Eugene "The Kid" Everett to a school in Harlem. There he met with one of the teachers, Luke Charles, whom Thing knew as T’Challa (aka the Black Panther). Before Thing could give away Luke’s identity as the Black Panther, T’Challa stopped him, saying that he should refer to him as Luke Charles in public since he teached there, and didn’t want his enemies to know that the Black Panther is a teacher in Harlem. "Luke" asked the Thing if he could watch the class while he went to the principal with the news that "The Kid" had returned. The class was out of control, with boys teasing Maria, the brightest in the class, but when "Luke" returned the class immediately quieted down.

(Black Panther III#31 (BTS))- Searching for information on friends of his in New York City possibly kidnapped or killed by Malice III, the Panther found one familiar name on a list of tenants whose mail had not been picked up in some time-- the name of T’Challa’s former student, Maria Henckel, and a photograph of her was seen. Later T’Challa went to Maria’s apartment, where there was no sign of a struggle ,but it appeared that the apartment had been abandoned for more than a month. Omoro asked T’Challa if he knew the woman, and T’Challa said "Yes. I loved her very much- She was Luke Charles's best student". He found a picture of her graduation standing next to Luke Charles with a picture of the Thing in her hand. He remembered that he told her about places around the world she coudl go, and suddenly remembered he encouraged her to go mountain climbing in the Himalayas of Tibet.

(Black Panther III#33)- T’Challa sent an "associate" out to look for Maria in Tibet, giving his associate the antidote for Malice’s poison. In Tibet ,T’Challa’s associate found Maria and gives her the antidote; upon waking Maria saw the associate and was reunited with an old friend, since the "associate" is none other than Thing.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Roger Slifer, further developed by Christopher Priest.

Clarifications: Maria Henckel has no relation to Kim "The Beetle" Henckel, author of this review, aside from stealing her last name from him ;-)

Since Kim's being modest, allow me to explain: Priest needed a name for a former student of T'Challa's to use in "Seduction of the Innocent", and Kim provided Maria's name. To honor him, Priest gave her a last name-- Henckel. --Prime Ed-ternal

by The Beetle

Last updated: 08/02/02

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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