Killmonger is born in Wakanda under the name N'Jadaka. His parents are killed by raiders led by M'Demwe, a traitorous citizen of the Golden Realm who sells out secrets of his home nation to
Ulysses Klaue, and subsequently takes him in. N'Jadaka is a gifted intellectual from an early age. This trait is exploited by M'Demwe, who takes him into the outside world, all while boasting of national superiority as they trek foreign lands. All the while, N'Jadaka fosters resentment towards everyone and everything for all the horrible events that befell him, while his future nemesis T'Challa is crowned king after the death of his
father. Eventually, the youth tires of his life in servitude and his childhood of hardship, and executes M'Demwe before striving to find his own path. That mercenary outfit of mutants takes Killmonger on as a temporary member within their crew of hired guns. Eventually he falls in love with a teammate, Knight, and finds temporary solace in her company, while taking odd jobs under the lord of crime in New York. All of that eventually falls apart when their employer sells them out to his top operator
Bullseye. Knight subsequently cuts a deal with
S.H.I.E.L.D. behind the backs of what remains of the team to get an easy out from her life of crime. Killmonger eventually embraces his chosen name, as well as a new goddess named K'liluna, fallen sister of Mother
Bast, when he exacts revenge upon his scorned lover before disappearing into obscurity for a time.
Return Home Killmonger returns to Wakanda after king T'Challa brings their homeland to the attentions of the outside world. The two converse about Wakandan theology while asking about the deity whom Erik is secretly living with, all whilst plotting his revenge against his liege, and the nation he blames for his abandonment to the corruption beyond it. While re-acquainting himself with Wakanda, N'Jadaka discovers plans for a WMD called Project: Koukou, a deadly vibranium shock bomb meant to act as a colonizer deterrent. When Shuri traps him in an invention, instead of being arrested, he jumps from a plane into a lake, where he is believed to have survived. What becomes of Killmonger afterward is a mystery. He eventually settles in a kingdom-based hamlet that later changes its name to N'Jadaka Village in his honor. He becomes a subversive, with dreams of ridding Wakanda of what he terms "
white colonialist" cultural influences, and return it entirely to its ancient ways. He then takes advantage of Black Panther's frequent absences in America with the
Avengers to stage a
coup d'état, along with
Baron Macabre. He is defeated and killed, until the
Mandarin claims his body.
Resurrection Using the
Ten Rings, the Mandarin amplifies the resurrection altar and restores Killmonger to life. Killmonger returns to his lover and ally, Madam Slay, and the two plot to kill Black Panther and restore the ancient ways of Wakanda. While
Tony Stark visits Wakanda, Madam Slay drugs
James Rhodes and takes him prisoner. Killmonger appears to have killed Black Panther, and blames Rhodes and Stark, convincing the Wakandans that he can lead them to vengeance. Black Panther returns, revealing that he faked his death using a
Life Model Decoy, and defeats Killmonger. The Mandarin recalls his ring and Killmonger reverts to an inanimate skeleton. Killmonger's followers resurrect him again and he clashes with T'Challa on several other occasions. During a subsequent duel with T'Challa, Killmonger is killed by
Monica Rambeau, whom he previously captured and imprisoned. Killmonger's young son swears vengeance against Black Panther, much like N'Jadaka did years earlier after the death of his own father.
Post–Secret Wars After Marvel's multiversal reboot in
Secret Wars, Killmonger once again is resurrected by an intergalactic superpower based upon Wakanda's cultural heritage; one that lacks its more pacifistic approach to handling different races and ethnicities. A leading ruler of said empire which conquered five galaxies while taking up his name seeks to supplant the original N'Jadaka's body so as to overtake the Wakanda of now in revenge on the king of the future for killing him. But the symbiote withholding the emperor's soul overshot his attempt at finding a new host, resurrecting the original holder of his name, who then fights with the emperor over control of their shared body. The parasitic entity threatens to cast Killmonger back unto death should he disobey him, while the precursor to the galactic overlord promising to master and supplant it in response. ==Powers and abilities==