After his parents' death in a plane crash in Wakanda, Hunter was adopted by King T'Chaka. Being a white foreigner, Hunter was viewed with suspicion and even contempt by the cautious Wakandans. Despite this, he developed a true love for Wakanda as one of his adopted homeland's staunchest patriots. Hunter knew he would never ascend to the throne with T'Challa as the true heir and, feeling cheated, developed a deep jealousy for T'Challa. He drove himself to be the best Wakandan possible in an attempt to upstage his adopted brother. It was this fervor that led to the previous Black Panther appointing Hunter as leader of the Hatut Zeraze (the secret police of Wakanda) where he became known as the White Wolf. When the current Black Panther disbanded the Hatut Zeraze due to their brutality, White Wolf and his loyal subordinates left Wakanda to work as mercenaries. Though resentful of this situation, White Wolf still harbored a love for his adopted home country, and thus tempered his resentment of Black Panther to aid their country when needed, serving as an ally of sorts to Kasper Cole, a temporary Black Panther. Hunter became displeased that T'Challa abdicated the throne of Wakanda in order to protect Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan (T'Challa's goal was to test himself after recent losses and Matt Murdock needed time to heal after recent events). In retaliation, he killed some people in order to take the Black Panther mantle from T'Challa. When Black Panther defeated White Wolf, he was told that Wakanda has no place for murderers. During the "Empyre" storyline, White Wolf and the Hatut Zeraze appeared among the Wakandans that fought the Cotati. They were seen to the south of Khartoum, fighting the Cotati archers who attacked that location.