Many years ago, Ulysses Klaw led a treacherous attack on Wakanda and its royal family. Klaw even managed to kill the king, T'Chaka, before being stopped by T'Chaka's young son, T'Challa. Klaw was repelled and left Wakanda, but not before he took back a number of Wakandans to serve as his slaves. One of these was a boy whose parents Klaw had killed, a boy named N'jadaka. Little is known of N'jadaka's time as a slave to his parents' killer, but we do know that N'jadaka harbored an intense hatred for T'Chaka, his former king. He believed that weakness on T'Chaka's part was a key factor in allowing his parents to be killed. N'jadaka became educated in the United States, adopting the name Erik Killmonger, earning a PhD in Engineering and an MBA. It is said that he even taught for a time at M.I.T.
When T'Chaka's son, T'Challa adopted the mantle of the Black Panther and joined the Avengers in New York City, Killmonger recognized the son of his hated former king. He came to New York and introduced himself, explaining the story of his abduction by Klaw and his wish to return to his native country, but concealing his hatred of T'Challa and his family. Killmonger was repatriated to Wakanda where he began to gather the resources and make the contacts that would help him overthrow T'Challa as King of the Wakandas.