The following article contains spoilers from Monkey Prince #4, on sale now.
More information on the Monkey Prince’s enemy, the ruler of Flame Planet, has been revealed. In Monkey Prince #4 (by Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang, Chris Sotomayor, and Wes Abbott) Shifu Pigsy elaborated more on their enemies’ designs. He wants to collect the qi of the world’s heroes, imbuing his demon generals with the eight immortal powers.
The fact that they went after Batman for the power of fear and the fact that the issue ended with Marcus heading for Amnesty Bay, the home of Aquaman, suggested that the heroes being targeted are the Justice League. If so, then Monkey Prince is on a cross-country journey to meet and protect some of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe. Given how poorly his time in Gotham City went they may end up thinking he’s the villain.
Now, Monkey Prince didn’t start out with a fair hand. He began his journey in Gotham, home to Batman, one of the most distrusting heroes in the entire world. Debuting a new, bright, superpowered hero in his city is almost a guaranteed way to get him to instantly dislike a person. The fact that he kept running into the Monkey Prince at the worst possible moments when it seemed like the Monkey Prince was the unprovoked aggressor, only furthered his dislike for this new hero.
Monkey Prince also did nothing to try and assuage his fears, being just as abrasive as the Dark Knight. In fact, Monkey Prince did next to nothing to explain the situation to Batman. If he had done that, he might have found a valuable ally in Gotham’s protector. Instead, he harassed and ran from him at every opportunity.
This might come back to haunt him when he visits the other Leaguers. Batman maintains contact with them, and he may have warned them about his existence. This would already make a bad impression on them, creating more distrust between them and the Monkey Prince.
It is equally likely, however, that they might make a bad impression themselves. The Monkey Prince is going to protect heroes who are under attack. Not knowing who he is, they may automatically assume he’s a part of the assault and attack him. Barring that, if Monkey Prince once again does nothing to explain who he is or what he’s doing beyond shouting his name, he could leave the impression that he had some hand in whatever damage was caused.
This lack of communication might even turn the entire superhero community against Monkey Prince. It might be the cause of his dislike of superheroes, deeming them impulsive paranoiacs who attack anyone who is trying to help. However, as much as Marcus is new to his powers, he is even newer to trying to explain himself. His training has been rushed and as a consequence, he has no real way to communicate what he’s doing because he’s already being pulled in another direction by the time he’s done. He needs to find some way to slow down, or he’ll be the most distrusted figure on Earth.
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