The Dora Milaje are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are a team of women who serve as special forces for the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Prominent members include Nakia and Okoye.
Members of the Dora Milaje appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films ' (2016), Black Panther (2018), ' (2018), ' (2019), and ' (2022), and the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and What If...? (both 2021).
The Dora Milaje first appeared in Black Panther, vol. 3 #1 (November 1998), created by writer Christopher Priest and artist Mark Texeira. Priest, however, claimed that credit for their creation really should go to his Marvel Knights editors Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada, "who thought it would be great if the Panther had female bodyguards." The Dora Milaje share similarities with the Dahomey Amazons (Agoji), the all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey, which was located in West Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin.
The 2017 series "World of Wakanda" written by Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey, tells the story of the couple Ayo and Aneka, two former Dora Milaje.
In the 2018 limited series Wakanda Forever, written by Nnedi Okorafor, the Dora Milaje act in team-ups with Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Avengers.
To keep peace in Wakanda, the Black Panther picked dora milaje ("adored ones") from 18 rival tribes to serve as his personal guard and ceremonial wives-in-training.
The Dora Milaje are trained in various African martial arts such as ngolo, musangwe and Nguni stick-fighting, as well as muay thai, silat, krav maga and others.
The Dora Milaje appear in live-action media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.