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Black Panther (character)

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This article is about a comic book character. For other uses of the term black panther, see black panther (disambiguation).
Black Panther
File:Blackpanther1.jpg
Cover to Black Panther: The Client TPB.
Art by Mark Texeira.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceFantastic Four Vol. 1, #52 (July 1966)
Created byStan Lee & Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoT'Challa
Team affiliationsAvengers, Defenders, Fantastic Force, Illuminati
AbilitiesEnhanced senses, strength, speed, agility; acrobat/gymnast; hunter/tracker; vibranium boots, equipment and retractable claws; genius.

The Black Panther is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe who is comic books' first known Black superhero. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciler-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four Vol. 1, #52 (July 1966). Although there have been numerous men who have used the Black Panther identity during the history of the Marvel Universe, this article refers solely to the modern-day Black Panther, a.k.a. his birth name, T'Challa.

The Black Panther, whose name predates the use of the term by the Black Panther Party, is not the first African starring character in comic books; the first known in mainstream comics is the Dell Comics Western character Lobo). Previous non-caricatured Black supporting characters in comics include Daily Bugle managing editor Joe Robertson in The Amazing Spider-Man, and U.S. Army infantry private Gabriel Jones of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

Kirby's original, unused conception for the character, under the name Coal Tiger, featured a colorful uniform with striped pants and no face mask. For a brief time upon joining the superhero team the Avengers (in The Avengers #52-55, May-Aug. 1968), the Black Panther wore a cowled half-mask, similar to that of Batman.

Publication history

File:Ff52.jpg
Fantastic Four Vol. 1, #52 (July 1966), the Black Panther's debut. Art by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott.

The Black Panther's first starring series was in Jungle Action Vol. 2, #6-24 (Sept. 1973 - Nov. 1976), written by Don McGregor with art by pencilers Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, and Billy Graham. One now-common innovation it pioneered was that of the self-contained, multi-issue story arc. Writer Christopher Priest's 1998 series The Black Panther would utilize Erik Killmonger, Venomm, and other characters introduced in the first arc, "Panther's Rage", which ran through Jungle Action #18 (Nov. 1975). A second arc, "Panther vs. the Klan", was truncated when the series was canceled with issue #24. Jungle Action #5 and #23 reprinted, respectively, The Avengers #62 (March 1969), which featured the Black Panther, and Daredevil #69 (Oct. 1970), in which the Panther guest-starred.

Immediately following the initial series was the much less well-received Black Panther, written and illustrated by Jack Kirby for 12 of its 15 issues (Jan. 1977 - March 1979), with a corresponding shift in tone from McGregor's lyrical naturalism to Kirby's trademark high adventure. A four-issue miniseries, also titled Black Panther, appeared in 1988, written by Peter B. Gillis and penciled by Denys Cowan.

McGregor revisted his Panther saga with Gene Colan in "Panther's Quest", published as 25 eight-page installments within the bi-weekly omnibus series Marvel Comics Presents (issues #13-37, Feb.-Dec. 1989). He later teamed with artist Dwayne Turner in the squarebound miniseries Panther's Prey (Sept. 1990 - March 1991).

Priest and penciler Mark Texeira revamped the character in 1998, playing up the manipulative side seen in the Panther's first appearance but largely abandoned afterward. Their series The Black Panther, which was under the "Marvel Knights" imprint its first year, earned critical plaudits, but sales of the comic were never high. An experiment for the last 13 issues (#50-62) saw the main character replaced by a New York policeman named Kasper Cole, with T'Challa relegated to a background character, but sales continued to be low. This Black Panther, now the White Tiger, was placed in the series The Crew, running concurrently with the final few Black Panther issues, but this was cancelled with issue #7.

In February 2005, Marvel began publishing a new ongoing Black Panther series, written by filmmaker Reginald Hudlin and drawn by artist John Romita, Jr., with the first arc set immediately after the character's first appearance.

Character biography

File:Blackpanther1romita.jpg
The Black Panther by John Romita, Jr.. Promotional art for Black Panther Vol. 5, #1 (April 2005)

The Black Panther is the ceremonial title given to the chief of the Panther Tribe of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. In addition to ruling the country, he is also chief of its various tribes (collectively referred to as the Wakandas). The Panther uniform is a symbol of office and is used even during diplomatic missions.

The Black Panther is entitled to the use of a heart-shaped herb that grants the person who consumes it enhanced strength, agility, and perception. The present-day bearer of the Black Panther mantle is T'Challa, who has had a lengthy career as a superhero, including a longstanding membership in The Avengers. In stories published in the 2000s, it came to light that the Panther originally joined the Avengers with the intention of spying on them. This drove a temporary wedge between T'Challa and his teammates.

T'Challa is the son of T'Chaka, who was the Black Panther before him. 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. Knowing that others would attempt to manipulate and dominate Wakanda for this rare and valuable resource, T'Chaka concealed his country from the outside world. He would sell off minute amounts of the valuable vibranium while surreptitiously sending the country's best scholars to study abroad, consequently turning Wakanda into one of the world's most technologically advanced nations. Eventually, however, the explorer Ulysses Klaw found his way to Wakanda, and with lies and subterfuge covered up his work on a vibranium-powered, sound-based weapon. When exposed, Klaw killed T'Chaka and many other Wakandans, only to see his "sound blaster" turned on him by a grieving T'Challa, who was then barely a teenager. Klaw's right hand was destroyed, and he and his men fled.

T'Challa earned the title and attributes of the Black Panther by defeating the various champions of the Wakandan tribes. He then studied abroad before returning to his kingship. To prove himself worthy as the defender of his people, T'Challa attacked the Fantastic Four and defeated them in individual combat before revealing his reasons. After making up for the poor first impression with a sumptuous welcome, he persuaded the team to help him battle the returning Klaw. Klaw soon returned as a being made entirely of living sound. T'Challa became romantically involved with the American singer Monica Lynne and began a long association with the Avengers.

File:Avengers52.jpg
The Avengers #52 (May 1968): Debut of the short-lived cowl mask. Cover art by John Buscema.

The role of Black Panther briefly fell into the hands of T'Challa's rival Erik Killmonger when Killmonger defeated T'Challa in ritual combat, only for Killmonger to fall into a coma upon eating the heart-shaped herb — toxic to anyone outside the royal bloodline, who had a hereditary immunity to its toxic effects. Although it would have been far more convenient to allow him to die, and thus be unquestionably entitled to the position of the Black Panther, T'Challa preserved his rival's life, leading to an uneasy accommodation when Killmonger awakened.

T'Challa afterward joined with several African-American heroes to fight vampires in a New Orleans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Marvel Comics announced he will marry X-Men stalwart Storm in 2006.

Powers and abilities

The title "Black Panther" is a rank of office, chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan. As chieftain, the Panther is entitled to eat a special heart-shaped herb that grants him enhanced senses: hearing, smell, taste, agility, speed, balance and night vision. Like Wolverine, he can pick up a prey's scent and memorize tens of thousands of individual ones. Beyond his enhanced senses, the Panther is an above-average athlete and is considered to be in nearly peak physical condition. T'Challa is a rigorously trained gymnast and acrobat, proficient in various african martial arts as well as contemporary ones. He is a skilled hunter, tracker and scientist — he has a Ph.D. in physics from Oxford University.

The Panther's basic arsenal:

  • Energy dagger, with an ornate hilt carved of ivory or some kind of stone, and an energy-generated blade that can be set to stun or kill. The energy blades can be handled like either a physical knife or fired like darts, and regenerated repeatedly
  • Kimoyo card, an extremely powerful and versatile PDA. It functions similarly to the Avengers' communicards, but with many more practical applications. In one instance , the Panther called up a schematic of a jumbo jet's cockpit controls and took command of the plane, landing the plane safely in a river. "Kimoyo" is Bantu for "of the spirit."
  • Energy-dampening boots. Energy regulators create varying fields from the Vibranium in the molded soles of the boots, enabling Panther to survive a fall of several stories and land like a cat. Given enough momentum, the Panther can also scale walls or skim across water. The field can be also used offensively to shatter or weaken objects.
  • Vibranium microweave mesh in his Panther uniform. The microweave robs incoming objects of their momentum; bullets do not ricochet off but simply fall to the ground when they come in contact with the weave). Likewise, the Panther cannot be stabbed; however, the costume (and Panther) can be cut if the attacker slashes along the uniform's grain.
  • Lenses in the mask cut glare and enhance the Panther's natural night vision.
  • Claws in the gloves are made of Antarctic Vibranium-based "Anti-Metal" that can break down most metals at the molecular level.
  • Morphing uniform The cloak can be elongated, shortened or eliminated with a thought, and the entire costume can morph into a black business suit.

Other media

Avengers United They Stand

  • The Black Panther appears 3 time in the comic adaptation of The Avengers: United They Stand.
    • He appears as a member in #1, where he and The Avengers get attacked by an early version of Ultron. He guest stars later in #6-7 along with Captain America, and is bitter at Hank Pym for injuries at the hand of Ultron, refusing to rejoin under Ant-Man's time as leader.

Coal Tiger

As an homage to Kirby's original, unused concept, a parallel universe version of T'Challa as the Coal Tiger appeared in a mid-1990s issue of The Avengers. In the 2000s, the name Coal Tiger was used in the MC2 parallel-universe series A-Next #4 and 12. This Coal Tiger is T'Chaka, son of T'Challa in this possible future. He is an ally of the current Avengers of that era.

Quotes

Dwayne McDuffie on the 1970s "Black Panther" series [1]: "This overlooked and underrated classic is arguably the most tightly written multi-part superhero epic ever. If you can get your hands on it (and where's that trade paperback collection, Marvel?), sit down and read the whole thing. It's damn-near flawless, every issue, every scene, a functional, necessary part of the whole. Okay, now go back and read any individual issue. You'll find seamlessly integrated words and pictures; clearly introduced characters and situations; a concise (sometimes even transparent) recap; beautifully developed character relationships; at least one cool new villain; a stunning action set piece to test our hero's skills and resolve; and a story that is always moving forward towards a definite and satisfying conclusion. That's what we should all be delivering, every single month. Don [McGregor] and company did it in only 17 story pages per issue."

Bibliography

  • Jungle Action Vol. 2, #5-24 (July 1973 - Nov. 1976)
  • The Black Panther #1-15 (Jan. 1977 - May 1979)
  • Marvel Premiere #51-53 (Dec. 1979 - April 1980)
  • Black Panther Vol. 2, #1-4 (miniseries; July-Oct. 1988)
  • "Panther's Quest" Parts 1-25 in Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Feb.-Dec. 1989)
  • Black Panther: Panther's Prey prestige-format miniseries #1-4 (May-Oct. 1991)
  • Black Panther Vol. 3, #1-62 (Nov. 1998 - Sept. 2003)
  • Black Panther Vol. 4, #1- (April 2005- )

Creators

Writers

Pencilers

See also

References

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