NAKIA
Nakia, also known as Malice, is one of the Black Panther’s deadliest foes—and was once one of his most valued allies. Formerly one of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje, or “Adored Ones”—a group of deadly women that act as the king’s fiercest bodyguards—Nakia was a trusted confidant of T’Challa’s. Eventually, however, her infatuation with him poisoned her mind until she became the most dangerous kind of enemy: one who was once a close friend.
Fallen Dora
Nakia was born in a Wakandan fishing village in the Q’Noma Valley, where she was groomed to be one of the Dora Milaje, a concomitant of Wakanda’s monarch. The order of the Dora Milaje was established to promote harmony between Wakanda's many rival tribal factions. They also perform the role of the king's deadliest bodyguards and most faithful, most trusted servants. Nakia spent her post-adolescence studying under and protecting King T’Challa, developing a closeness that, for her, grew into an all-consuming infatuation. She couldn’t accept that her role was merely ceremonial and that T’Challa had no romantic intentions toward her.
Nakia’s jealousy changed her, leading to her attempting to kill the King’s former lover, a deceptive betrayal that caused T’Challa to banish Nakia back to her home village in disgrace. But when she fled, she was tortured and left to die by Black Panther’s foe Achebe, before being resurrected and empowered by Erik Killmonger as Malice.