In the distant past, a massive meteorite comprised of the sound-absorbing mineral vibranium crashed in Wakanda, and was unearthed a generation before the events of the present-day. Wakanda has an unusually high rate of mutation due to the dangerously mutagenic properties of the Vibranium Mound.
The country is ruled by The Black Panther, King T'Challa, and his wife Queen Ororo Monroe known to us as Storm.