Okoye

A Dora Born

Okoye managed to rise up as the greatest warrior among the ranks of other experienced and extraordinary Wakandan combatants to become the head of the fearsome, all-female bodyguard contingent known as the Dora Milaje. Before serving King T’Challa, she served his father, T’Chaka.

Along the way, she fell in love and married W’Kabi, the head of security for Wakanda’s Border Tribe.

Taking Care of Baldness

Okoye is an especially skilled martial artist and master of staff and spear fighting. As her primary weapon, she carries a specialized vibranium spear, capable of collapsing into a handle for quick concealment. It is powerful enough to pierce through armor and stop moving vehicles if planted into the ground. It can also emit electrical charges and interact with other pieces of Wakandan technology.

Enemies of the State

Any enemy of Wakanda is an enemy of Okoye, who is honor-bound to defend her country and its people. These range from longtime Wakandan foe Ulysses Klaue and his men, to the usurper Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, once it is clear he is not rightfully King and acts against the intentions of T’Challa and Wakanda.

Okoye also stands with T’Challa and her people against Thanos’ invading army, fighting Proxima Midnight in the midst of the battle.

Royal Ties

Okoye is close to the entire Royal Family of Wakanda, including King T’Challa, his mother, Ramonda, and his sister, Shuri, as well as the object of T’Challa’s affections, Nakia. She also shares a close bond with her Dora Milaje sisters, including Ayo. She loves her husband, W’Kabi, but won’t hesitate to do what she believes is right and stand against him when he sides with an outsider who defies her true King.

Tribes and Tribulations

Shortly after the funeral of King T’Chaka, Okoye accompanied his son, T’Challa, on a mission to Nigeria to find family friend Nakia, who was working undercover to undermine a human trafficking group. Though T’Challa told Okoye he wouldn’t need her help, she decided to intervene in his battle, easily taking down a trafficker who had held a woman hostage to fend off T’Challa. After the quick skirmish, Okoye teased T’Challa for freezing during combat when he saw Nakia, for whom he had feelings.

Back in Wakanda, during the official coronation of T’Challa, Okoye watched as the new king was challenged by M’Baku of the Jabari Tribe. Bound by honor and law, Okoye and the rest of the attendees allowed the challenge to take place, as T’Challa triumphed over his would-be usurper.

Okoye presented T’Challa and his family with the news that the long-hunted fugitive, Ulysses Klaue, had surfaced and a plan was hatched to capture him in South Korea. Okoye, T’Challa and Nakia, with some additional tech support from T’Challa’s sister Shuri back home, succeeded in nabbing Klaue. Unfortunately, Klaue was soon rescued by his cohort Erik Stevens, AKA Killmonger. Okoye objected when T’Challa decided to bring wounded CIA agent Everett K. Ross, who was shot protecting Nakia, back to Wakanda to save his life, worrying what he would do with the information he would learn about Wakanda’s amazingly advanced technology.

Okoye then found herself in conflict with her own husband, W’Kabi, after Klaue’s escape caused friction between him and T’Challa, a tension that was only exacerbated with Killmonger’s arrival in Wakanda. When Killmonger arrived with the dead Klaue and revealed he was the king’s long lost cousin, he swayed W’Kabi and filled his head with ideas of Wakanda ruling the world. Once Killmonger challenged, and seemingly killed, T’Challa in ritual combat and became the new king, Okoye had no choice but to obey him, as her duty was to whoever rightfully sat on the throne.

Once T’Challa revealed himself to be alive however, Okoye was relieved to recognize that since T’Challa had never submitted, the royal challenge wasn’t complete—Killmonger was not the true King, even as he refused to give up his rule. With Killmonger sending those loyal to him to attack T’Challa, Okoye and the Dora Milaje fought against Killmonger, her own husband, and his men when they wouldn’t relent. When W’Kabi, riding one of his tamed rhinoceros, charged M’Baku, who had decided to fight for T’Challa, Okoye stood in the way, causing the rhino to come to a halt and affectionately lick her face in recognition. Okoye made it clear she would kill W’Kabi for her country, leading him and his men to surrender, while Killmonger fell in battle with T’Challa.

Soon after, Okoye accompanied T’Challa to Vienna, as he stood before the United Nations and announced that Wakanda would now be opening itself up to the world.

Two years later, Steve Rogers AKA Captain America contacted T’Challa, asking for his aid to remove the Mind Stone from his ally Vision’s forehead, so that Vision wouldn’t have to sacrifice his life to destroy it before Thanos was able to obtain it for deadly purposes. Okoye accompanied T’Challa as they informed Rogers’ friend, Bucky Barnes, who’d been living among them in Wakanda, of the approaching fight, and also greeted Rogers and his allies when they arrived. Knowing that Thanos’ army was fast approaching, Okoye and T’Challa prepared all the tribes, and the Dora Milaje, for battle alongside the Avengers, while Shuri worked to remove the stone from Vision.

In a wild and ferocious fight, the fields outside of Wakanda were flooded by aliens in Thanos’ service, along with the Children of Thanos. When Proxima Midnight attempted to kill the Scarlet Witch, Okoye and Black Widow joined forces to fight Midnight, with a recovered Scarlet Witch stepping in to defeat her.

The battle, while costly and sprawling, couldn’t stop Thanos from getting his hands on the Mind Stone when he arrived, completing his acquisition of all six Infinity Stones. With the stones all placed in his Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos snapped his fingers, wiping out half the life in the universe. As allies all around them vanished from the battlefield, King T’Challa helped lift a fallen Okoye to her feet, only to evaporate into dust before her horrified eyes.