History ComicBook / BlackPanther

[[folder:Black Panther comics series]]
[[index]]
* ''ComicBook/JungleAction1972''
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther1977''
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther1988''
* ''Black Panther: Panther's Quest'' (1989) [[/index]](series within the anthology comic ''ComicBook/MarvelComicsPresents'') [[index]]
* ''Black Panther'' (1998)
* ''Black Panther'' (2005)
* ''Black Panther'' (2009)
* ''Black Panther: The Man Without Fear'' (2010)
* ''Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers'' (2010)
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther2016''
* ''Black Panther: World of Wakanda'' (2017)
* ''Black Panther and the Crew'' (2017)
* ''Black Panther: Long Live the King'' (2017)
* ''ComicBook/BlackPantherTheIntergalacticEmpireOfWakanda'' (2018)
* ''ComicBook/WakandaForever'' (mini-series focusing on General Okoye and the Dora Milage)
* ''Black Panther vs. Deadpool'' (2018)
* ''Rise of the Black Panther'' (2018)
* ''Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda'' (2019)
* ''Black Panther Legends'' (2021)
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther2021''
* ''ComicBook/{{Wakanda|2022}}'' (anthology series about other Wakanda heroes)
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther2023''
* ''ComicBook/UltimateBlackPanther'' (2024)
[[/folder]]
[[/index]]

** Black Panther once went up against a mind-controlled Comicbook/IronFist and took multiple Iron Fist attacks. Kind of a subversion, as [[spoiler:the attacks did cause a fatal brain aneurysm that would have eventually killed Panther]] had Priest stayed on the book. Hudlin never addressed it in his run, and it appears forgotten.

* SuperSoldier: Despite what you'd expect, averted. The heart-shaped herb used within the Ascension ritual for all Black Panthers is only compatible with certain individuals, namely T'Challa's genetic relatives. For anyone else, attempting to consume the herb brings death. [[DependingOnTheWriter Or not;]] T'Challa gave a bit to Comicbook/SpiderMan when Spidey was dying during "The Other" storyline, and the warrior woman Zawadi of the Monster Hunters was said to have gotten her abilities from it (though whether she might be of royal blood is never specifed).

T'Challa made major headlines with his marriage to popular ''ComicBook/XMen'' character ComicBook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}}, along with his sister ComicBook/{{Shuri}} taking over the mantle of Black Panther. He also took on the role of protector of the Hell's Kitchen area from ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} a.k.a. Matt Murdock, the original ''Man Without Fear'' and his comic book numbering and subtitle. Until Daredevil got another ongoing series, Black Panther's series was then subtitled ''The World's Most Dangerous Man Alive!'' until it was cancelled. Following the ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW'' relaunch of several Marvel comics, Black Panther appeared in the third volume of ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' as a member of [[ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman the Illuminati]].

* ''Black Panther: Panther's Quest'' (1989) [[/index]](series within the anthology comic ''ComicBook/{{Marvel Comics Presents|1988}}'') [[index]]

* ''Black Panther'' (2016)

* MeaningfulName: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. One might be tempted to assume that the name ''Black Panther'' is an allusion to the Black Panther Party. However the comics actually predate the founding of the Black Panther Party.

* BroughtDownToBadass: The entire point of the take over of ''The Man without Fear'' comic book. T'Challa was stripped of all his resources as king, Vibranium-based technology, even his super-powered wife, leaving him with his own regular skills and super-human abilities, trying to make like any other hero with no safety net. Panther fans [[BrokenBase did not like the new direction]], with many saying Panther had lost his intelligence as well. The direction was abandoned after the book's cancellation.

* GambitPileup: Constantly during Priest's run. At one point, [[MagnificentBastard Panther]], [[ComicBook/IronMan Stark]], [[EvilCounterpart Hunter]], [[MyFutureSelfAndMe another Panther]], and [[FutureMeScaresMe another Stark]] are all trying to [[OutGambitted outwit]] one another.

* LegacyCharacter: The title of Black Panther is usually passed on only to the ruler of Wakanda. Although it should be noted that Kasper Cole, [[spoiler:Eric Killmonger]], and Shuri have gone under the title of Black Panther. As has [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Everett K. Ross]]. Shuri is acting ruler, though. As were (technically) [[spoiler:Killmonger]], and [[RunningGag Everett K. Ross]].

[[foldercontrol]]

[[AC:Black Panther comics series]]

* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther2018''

[[AC:Comics]]

T'Challa made major headlines with his marriage to popular ''ComicBook/XMen'' character ComicBook/{{Storm}}, along with his sister ComicBook/{{Shuri}} taking over the mantle of Black Panther. He also took on the role of protector of the Hell's Kitchen area from ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} a.k.a. Matt Murdock, the original ''Man Without Fear'' and his comic book numbering and subtitle. Until Daredevil got another ongoing series, Black Panther's series was then subtitled ''The World's Most Dangerous Man Alive!'' until it was cancelled. Following the ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW'' relaunch of several Marvel comics, Black Panther appeared in the third volume of ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' as a member of [[ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman the Illuminati]].

* AmazonBrigade: The Dora Milaje are a small all-female army of well-trained and dedicated bodyguards.. These gals have fought such highly trained and powerful individuals as ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/{{Storm}} to a standstill.

After appearing in a number of animated series (including his own animated mini-series on Creator/{{BET}}, co-created by Reginald Hudlin), T'Challa made his movie debut in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse feature ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', as a lead-in to ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''. He was played by Creator/ChadwickBoseman until his sudden death in 2020. Out of respect for Boseman, the decision was made to [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim kill T'Challa off]], with Shuri taking up the mantle in his place.

After appearing in a number of animated series (including his own animated mini-series on Creator/{{BET}}, co-created by Reginald Hudlin) Panther made his movie debut in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse feature ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', as a lead-in to ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''. He was played by Creator/ChadwickBoseman. As of January 2022, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the character's future in the setting is uncertain due to Boseman's untimely death in 2020]], although Wakanda-related projects are very much in the cards.

-->-- '''Everett K. Ross''', about '''King T'Challa'''.

After appearing in a number of animated series (including his own animated mini-series on Creator/{{BET}}, co-created by Reginald Hudlin) Panther made his movie debut in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse feature ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', as a lead-in to ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''. He was played by Creator/ChadwickBoseman. As of Jan 2022, the character's future in the setting is uncertain due to Boseman's untimely passing in 2020, although Wakanda-related projects are very much in the cards.

On July 23, 2016, Marvel revealed that Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates were selected to co-write a ''Black Panther'' spin-off comic, ''World of Wakanda''. ''World of Wakanda'' focused on Ayo and Aneka, the Dora Milaje warriors who became the Midnight Angels.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_panther_56_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:280:'''WAKANDA FOREVER!!!''']]

* ''Black Panther'' (1977)

* ''Black Panther'' (1988)

* AffablyEvil: Erik Killmonger and the White Wolf are both polite, intelligent men.

* AgeOfReptiles: The Simbi, a race of snake-like beings with multiple arms, ruled Wkanada in the ages before humans arrived there.

* AntiHeroSubstitute: Kasper Cole briefly took the name Black Panther for some reason or other, and fights crime and junk and stuff. Used guns for awhile.

* ArchEnemy: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Ulysses Klaw]]
** Erik Killmonger could also qualify. And as of ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' and the Incursions Saga in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', Namor is quickly gaining footing as T'Challa's arch-enemy.
** Achebe and White Wolf both have extremely strong cases as well, particularly during Priest's run. They haven't shown up much since, though.

* BodyguardBabes: Again, the Dora Milaje.

* BoisterousBruiser: Zuri. He hits it off with [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] right away.
* BroughtDownToBadass: The entire point of the take over of ''The Man without Fear'' comic book. T'Challa was stripped of all his resources as king, Vibranium-based technology, even his [[LadyOfBlackMagic super-powered wife]], leaving him with his own regular skills and super-human abilities, trying to make like any other hero with no safety net. Panther fans [[BrokenBase did not like the new direction]], with many saying Panther had lost his intelligence as well. The direction was abandoned after the book's cancellation.

* ButtMonkey: Everett Ross, a White House stooge assigned to T'Challa during Priest's run.

* CloseOnTitle: "Seduction of the Innocent" does this at the end of every part.

* TheCowl: Very much so, though his future self is very much TheCape.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Killmonger's plan to take over Wakanda via the economy. [[spoiler:It works, too.]]

** Ross' coping mechanism to all the crazy involved in handling T'Challa.

* DeathByOriginStory: T'challa's father T'Chaka.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu
** The entire sequence begins with T'challa kicking in a door, knocking out Mephisto with one punch, and then tearing out his heart. And ''then'' he tries to interrogate him. Of course, this doesn't perturb Mephisto in the slightest.
** In Creator/DwayneMcDuffie's ''F4'' run, he does this to the Silver Surfer... with an armbar. Though to be fair, he was using tech that Doom used when Doom faced the Surfer.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu
** Black Panther in order to free his people and nation from the influence of Mephisto's servant Achebe, makes a deal with the devil for his soul. Mephisto gets more than he bargained for.
** Panther makes a pretty regular habit of this. Other victims include Nightmare, [[SealedEvilInaCan Black Dragon]], and Apocalypse. He's also scammed "mortals" like Doctor Doom, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], and [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. Malice's actions are treated as very much not OK.

* FirstPersonSmartass: Ross' narration.

* FunPersonified: Future Panther

* GirlFriday: Sofija in the most recent series.

* GreenRocks: Vibranium, although it is mostly {{Unobtainium}} for all those outside of Wakanda.

* GuileHero: Priest's interpretation of the character.

* JokerImmunity: Klaw and Killmonger especially. Malice has a little bit of this, too. Klaw and Killmonger are both kind of interesting cases, though, as they do frequently get killed, and it's almost never retconned... they just have a tendency to come back from the dead. Killmonger's racked up three or four resurrections and Klaw's well on his way to double digits; it helps that he's not really human.
* KidSidekick
** Queen Divine Justice
** Technically, all the Dora Milaje qualify. It's just hard to notice because they're generally about six feet tall, and the most famous two (Okoye and Nakia) look like Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, respectively.
* KnightTemplar
** White Wolf and at times T'challa himself.
** W'Kabi and Zuri occasionally flirt with this territory, as well.

* MightyWhitey
** Deconstructed with Hunter, the White Wolf, T'Challa's white foster brother.
** Unfortunately played straight in a lot of the older Avenger stories featuring Panther.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Henry Gyrich. "I'm the government, mister."

* ThePlan
** Constantly during Priest's run. T'Challa still pulls them off occasionally, though they tend to be less complex/convoluted these days.
** During Priest's run, T'Challa was far from the only one doing this. Hunter, Killmonger, [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], Black Dragon, Achebe, Mephisto, Junta, and even Man-Ape all tried their hand at the [[GambitPileup gambitting]]. Some of them were better at it than others. [[OutGambitted Panther]] was still better at it than they were.
* PraetorianGuard: The Dora Milaje, also an AmazonBrigade.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: T'Challa exiled and disband White Wolf and the Hatut Zeraze for their use of torture and secret assassinations in service of the crown. But throughout the earlier sections of Priest's run, he showed NO reservation of using [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique kinetic persuasion]] on gang members. Although Panther's tactics were nowhere near as severe as Hunter's. T'Challa also has no problems holding economic markets and entire villages hostage to end conflicts. In his defense, he usually cleans up after himself in these situations.
** Years and several creative teams later, the Hatut Zeraze are later shown active working under the royal family.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Wakanda has the ''cure for cancer'', and other resources which could change the Franchise/MarvelUniverse drastically in ways the writers don't want. Unfortunately, in having him ''choose not to'' instead of letting it just never come up, ThePowersThatBe make him look [[DesignatedHero less than]] [[{{Jerkass}} heroic]]. Worse than that: T'Challa was ''in the room'' when the original Captain Marvel died. ''OF CANCER.'' To be fair, the Captain Marvel story was written (and took place) over a decade before the story where Hudlin decided that Wakanda had cured cancer.

** As mentioned below, the Dora Milaje didn't exist before Priest's run, and yet are still featured in flashback stories dealing with the previous Black Panthers.

** The biggest being T'challa and Storm's mutual past. It began with a brief short story about the two meeting in their youth in the pages of Marvel Team Up; 20 years later it was expanded upon to use as the basis for the two to get married.

** Covered above, but the sudden existence of Panther's sister Shuri probably qualifies.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: And how! This king actually has political power, but he can be head of state and act as a Reed Richards or Daredevil substitute at the same time.

* SinisterMinister: Achebe. Man-Ape could probably qualify on a technicality, but Achebe's textbook.

* StalkerWithACrush: Nakia[[spoiler:/Malice]], which grows to its natural [[spoiler: [[FaceHeelTurn heavy extreme.]]]]

* TemporarySubstitute: Recently has done this for one or two heroes to varying results
** Kasper Cole is the most famous of several temporary Panthers.
** They attempted the same thing with Shuri years later.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Tayete and Kazibe, constantly beat-up Killmonger henchmen.
* TokenEvilTeammate
** The White Wolf, for the brief time he was a supporting cast member as opposed to a villain.
** The trope was all over Priest's run, and applied at various times to [[StalkerWithaCrush Nakia]], [[EvilCounterpart Erik Killmonger]], [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Henry Gyrich]], and [[FemmeFatale Nightshade]].
** Also during Priest's run, Killmonger was briefly this to the Avengers.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: How T'Challa deals with a giant dragon.

** Even after her FaceHeelTurn, Panther has loads of this with Nakia/Malice. Arguably, he also some with Nightshade and Queen Zanda.

** Kasper and Okoye had a bit of this as well.

* WhatTheHellHero: Geoff Johns' and Christopher Priest's depictions of the character. [[OlderThanTheyThink Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's]] version as well.

* WithholdingTheCure: When Creator/ReginaldHudlin was writing the title, it was revealed that Wakanda has had a cure for cancer for centuries.

** Doctor Doom to Black Panther.

** Triage feels this way about Kasper, but the feeling is very much not mutual.