‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

The late Chadwick Boseman as the cast takes us deeper into the technologically advanced African nation filled with action, empowerment, and cultural pride.

Black Panther is a fictional superhero that appears in Marvel Comics’ American comic books. Stan Lee, a writer-editor, and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby invented the character. In the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character first appears in Fantastic Four #52 (cover-dated July 1966). T’Challa, the real name of Black Panther, is portrayed as the king and protector of the fictitious African nation of Wakanda.

T’Challa relies on his proficiency in science, rigorous physical training, hand-to-hand combat skills, and access to wealth and advanced Wakandan technology to combat his enemies, in addition to enhanced abilities obtained through ancient Wakandan rituals of drinking the essence of the heart-shaped herb.

Name for the Concept and Creation

The Black Pan­ther name pre­dates the founding of the Black Pan­ther Party in October 1966, but not the party’s pre­de­ces­sor, the Lown­des County Free­dom Or­ga­ni­za­tion (LCFO), nor the seg­re­gated World War II 761st “Black Pan­thers’ ‘Tank Battalion. Scripter Stan Lee de­nied that the comic, which pre-dates the po­lit­i­cal usage of the phrase, was, or might have been, named after any of the po­lit­i­cal uses of the term “black pan­ther”, in­clud­ing the LCFO, cit­ing “a odd coincidence”.He is the first black su­per­hero in American main­stream comic books; there were very few black he­roes before him, and none with ac­tual su­per­pow­ers.

Background and Early Life

The Black Panther is the ceremonial title granted to the chief of the Panther Tribe of Wakanda, an advanced African nation. In addition to ruling the country, he is also the para­mount chief of the country’s several tribes (together known as the Wakan­das). The panther habit is a symbol of office (head of state) and is also used during diplo­matic mis­sions. The Panther is a hereditary title, but it must be earned.

Capabilities and Abilities

The title “Black Pan­ther” refers to the chief of the Wakan­dan Pan­ther Clan. As chief­tain, the Pan­ther is en­ti­tled to con­sume a spe­cial heart-shaped herb which, in ad­di­tion to his mys­ti­cal, shaman­is­tic con­nec­tion with the Wakan­dan Pan­ther God­dess Bast, grants him su­per­hu­manly acute senses, en­hanced strength, speed, agility, sta­mina, dura­bil­ity, heal­ing, and reflexes.

Suit 

The sacred vibranium cos­tume of the Wakan­dan Pan­ther Cult serves as T’Challa’s at­tire. In Black Panther vol. 3, writer Christo­pher Priest ex­panded the Pan­ther’s day-to-day ar­se­nal to in­clude equip­ment like as a “en­ergy dag­ger”, a vi­bra­nium-weave suit, and a portable su­per­com­puter, the “Ki­moyo card”. In Black Panther vol. 4, writer Regi­nald Hudlin introduced “thrice-blessed armor” and “light armor” for spe­cific jobs, as well as out­fitting him with the Ebony Blade of the Black Knight for a short time. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze introduced a new suit for T’Challa in Black Panther vol. 6 that allows him to absorb ki­netic en­ergy and re­dis­trib­ute it as en­ergy bursts.

Other Black Panthers

The mantle of the Black Panther is passed down from generation to generation among Wakandan kings, but it must still be earned through a rigorous selection process involving the nation’s strongest soldiers.

Mosi

Mosi is the 1,000,000 BC Black Panther who originally appeared in Mar­vel Legacy #1 (November 2017). Mosi is an Avengers member, along with Ag­amotto, Lady Phoenix, Odin, and pre-history versions of Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, and Star Brand. The Stone Age Avengers defeated the Fallen and trapped them underground in South Africa.

Bashenga Olumo

Olumo Bashenga originally appeared in Jack Kirby’s Black Panther #7 (January 1978) (scripts and drawings). According to leg­ends, wise war­rior at the head of the Pan­ther Tribe, dur­ing the tu­mult where the vi­bra­nium me­te­orite fell on the soil of the vil­lage, then com­posed of var­i­ous war­ring clans, he gath­ered all the afore­men­tioned under his guide to de­feat­ing the in­hab­it

Nehanda

During the 11th century, Ne­handa was one of the he­roes who be­came a mem­ber of the A.D. 1000 ver­sion of the Avengers. T’Challa summoned Ne­handa as consul among the ghosts.

Chanda

Chanda originally appeared in Fan­tas­tic Four Unlimited #1 (March 1993), written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Herb Trimpe. Chanda, the Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda dur­ing the Second World War, is the hus­band of Nanali and the father of T’Chaka and S’Yan; marked by an ex­tremely good and com­pas­sion­ate nature, he welcomed Nazi colonel Fritz Klaue after he crashed into his realm due to an aircraft crash.

T’Chaka

T’Challa had a second son, Jakarra, from a connection with a lady from another tribe before remarrying Ramonda, with whom he has his only daughter, Shuri. Ramonda later vanishes into nothingness, prompting him to assume he has been abandoned, and he raises his children alone.T’Chaka maintained a policy of strict isolationism to preserve the kingdom, but throughout his life he frequently collaborated with US government agents.

S’Yan 

S’Yan the Fast was created by Regi­nald Hudlin and John Romita Jr. and debuted in Black Panther vol. 4 #2 (May 2005). S’Yan, the second son of King Az­zuri and Queen Nanali, is T’Chaka’s younger and most valued adviser. Despite his lack of desire to reign, he decides to take the throne after his brother’s death until his nephew T’Challa becomes an adult and becomes one of Wakanda’s most popular monarchs. When T’Challa returns home and receives the title of Black Panther, he cheerfully returns to his position as a royal adviser. He dies while fighting alongside Latve­ria to protect Ramonda from Doc­tor Doom’s soldiers.