Black Panther (character)

Black Panther is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #52, published in July 1966. Black Panther's birth name is T'Challa, and he is the son of the previous Black Panther, T'Chaka. He is the king and protector of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society drawing from a supply of vibranium, a fictional metal of extraordinary properties. Along with possessing enhanced abilities achieved through ancient Wakandan rituals of drinking the essence of the heart-shaped herb, T'Challa also relies on his proficiency in science, expertise in his nation's traditions, rigorous physical training, hand-to-hand combat skills, and access to wealth and advanced Wakandan technology to combat his enemies. The character became a member of the Avengers in 1968, and has continued that affiliation off and on in subsequent decades.

The storylines of the 1970s written by Don McGregor were critically acclaimed and introduced T'Challa's nemesis Erik Killmonger. These stories also engage with significant social issues of the time, such as the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the U.S. state of Georgia. A subsequent story addressed the issue of apartheid in South Africa. However, Black Panther was a somewhat neglected character of low popularity until his reinvention by Christopher Priest in the late 1990s. Priest re-emphasized the importance of Wakanda as an independent and technologically advanced African nation. Priest also introduced the Dora Milaje, Black Panther's female bodyguards. In subsequent series written by Reginald Hudlin, T'Challa married Storm of the X-Men. Hudlin's stories emphasize Black cultural pride and achieved greater commercial success. In Hudlin's era, the role of Black Panther and leadership of Wakanda was also temporarily given to T'Challa's sister Shuri while he was briefly in a coma. While T'Challa and Storm's marriage was annulled in a subsequent storyline, their relationship has continued in other narratives. The Black Panther comics became particularly commercially successful in 2016, partly as a result of the literary fame of their writer, the journalist and essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates. The first issue of his series was the best-selling comic book of that month. Coates's series call into question the legitimacy of monarchy in Wakanda and articulate a more democratic vision.

Black Panther is the first Black superhero in American mainstream comics. The character is also an early example of the Afrofuturist aesthetic. He has made numerous appearances in various television shows, animated films, and video games. Chadwick Boseman portrayed T'Challa in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's films: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). He also voiced alternate versions of the character in the first season of the animated series What If...? (2021), which was released after his death. The Black Panther film was a notable critical and popular success. Letitia Wright's character Shuri, who had appeared in previous MCU films, took on the Black Panther mantle in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), following Boseman's death in 2020.

Publication history

Creation

The origin of the character has been disputed by both Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, with both claiming the impetus for the idea. However, both of the creators have said they were motivated by general humanistic and inclusive values, rather than any social or political awareness of the civil rights movement.

Kirby claimed sole credit for creating the character in The Comics Journal #134 (February 1990), stating that he realized an absence of Black characters in his comics, and believed that they should be added for "human reasons". In this interview, Kirby declared: "I came up with the Black Panther because I realized I had no blacks in my strip. I'd never drawn a black. I needed a black. I suddenly discovered that I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else."

Lee, in contrast, claimed he created the character because, in the mid-1960s, he wanted to include more African and African American characters in Marvel Comics. Lee later recollected: "I suddenly realized that there were no black superheroes, and I felt we ought to have one. There were no black heroes that I knew about, and there were certainly no black heroes who were the king of their own country in Africa. [...] He didn't live in a village with thatched huts--although that's what you saw on the surface. Underneath was that fantastic city that he had created, which was completely scientific and had all the latest equipment of every type in it. And we realize that the Black Panther is one of the world's great scientists--[just like] Reed Richards. So, again, I wanted to go against [stereotypes]."

There is no documentation to establish the veracity of either claim to originality. However, Asher Elbein's research indicates that by 1966 Kirby largely plotted Fantastic Four independently, explaining the stories to Lee when the pages arrived in the Marvel offices.

In 1963, Lee and Kirby included a black character, Gabe Jones, in the ensemble cast of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, and Lee encouraged artists to include black characters in crowd scenes. Soon after Black Panther was introduced, Marvel added two more recurring black characters: Jill Jerrold in Modeling with Millie, and Bill Foster in The Avengers.

Co-creator Stan Lee recounted that the name was inspired by a pulp adventure hero who had a black panther as a helper. Jack Kirby's original concept art for Black Panther used the concept name Coal Tiger; this was a swashbuckler. Lee asked for the concept art to be revised.

There was some debate at Marvel, with Lee wondering how far to go with the introduction of a Black superhero, which was commercially risky in that era. In the first version of the cover for Fantastic Four #52, Kirby drew the Black Panther wearing a cowl that exposed his face. In the published version, the cowl became a full facemask. Previews in other comics did not show the cover at all, indicating that Lee was hesitant.

Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four #52, published in July 1966, and the following issue in August of the same year.

Predecessors

The Black Panther is the first Black superhero in American mainstream comic books. Very few Black heroes were created before him, and none with actual superpowers. These included Lothar in the comic strip Mandrake the Magician and the characters in the single-issue All-Negro Comics #1 (1947). Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics also introduced Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who starred in his own feature in the omnibus title Jungle Tales, and the Dell Comics Western character Lobo, the first Black person to star in his own comic book.

Scholars have identified precursors to the character: Harry Wills, a champion boxer of the early 20th century nicknamed the Black Panther, and a predominately African-American armored combat unit in World War II also called the Black Panthers, the 761st Tank Battalion of the US Army. Lee and Kirby also borrow from typical pop cultural tropes of their era inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, but subvert or transform stereotypes common in the "jungle adventure" genre.

The name Black Panther predates the founding of the Black Panther Party in October 1966, though not the black panther logo of the party's predecessor, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO). Scripter Stan Lee denied that the comic, which pre-dates the political usage of the term, was, or could have been, named after any of the political uses of the term "black panther", citing "a strange coincidence".

In a guest appearance in Fantastic Four #119 (February 1972), the Black Panther briefly used the name "Black Leopard" to avoid connotations with the Party, but the new name did not last. The character's name was changed back to Black Panther in The Avengers #105, with T'Challa explaining that renaming himself made as much sense as altering the Scarlet Witch's name because of the negative associations of witchcraft, and that he eschews stereotypes. Avengers writer Roy Thomas said that the Black Panther name "had more resonance," but that the political implications limited the character's prominence.

Early years: 1960s and early 1970s

Subsequent to his first appearance, Black Panther made guest appearances in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) and with Captain America in Tales of Suspense #97–99 and Captain America 100 (January – April 1968). The Black Panther journeyed from the fictional African nation of Wakanda to New York City to join the titular American superhero team in The Avengers #52 (May 1968). He appeared in that comic for the next few years. During his time with the Avengers, he also made solo guest-appearances in three issues of Daredevil, and fought Doctor Doom in Astonishing Tales #6–7 (June & August 1971), in that supervillain's starring feature.