He's the breakout star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Black Panther is hardly new
to superheroics.
Since making his debut over 50 years ago, he's been a part of countless comics adventures,
and with that much action, there are bound to be a few odd bits that you've missed.
Here's what you don't know about Black Panther.
The first black superhero
Black creators were a part of comics from the very beginning, but on the page, things
were drastically different.
There were a few attempts at making comics directed at an African-American audience,
but with the early days of superheroes, most black characters were sidekicks rooted in
unfortunate racial stereotypes.
In 1966, however, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby took steps to correct that by introducing
a new character in their flagship title.
Fantastic Four #52 introduced the world to T'Challa — better known as Black Panther
— king of the African nation of Wakanda.
When he was asked about it, Kirby pointed to a very simple reason for creating the character:
he realized that there weren't any black people in his comics, and thought that was a problem
to be corrected.
With that, the Panther was introduced in a story where he invited the FF to his secretive,
ultra high-tech homeland, only to take them all out in a massive battle in order to test
them and find them worthy of helping them.
Not a bad debut.
Introducing … The Coal Tiger?
The version of T'Challa that hit the page in his first appearance sported the sleek,
all-black costume that he's worn, with a few modifications, ever since.
Kirby's original designs, however, not only sported a different costume, but a different
name: the Coal Tiger.
As for how he wound up as the Black Panther, a lot of people erroneously attribute it to
a connection with the activist organization of the same name.
That's not the case — Stan Lee was inspired by an old pulp hero — but the accidental
association with the organization led Marvel to briefly change the character's name to
"The Black Leopard" in 1972's Fantastic Four #119.
The "Coal Tiger" name wasn't completely forgotten, though.
In the "MC2" continuity — a version of the Marvel Universe set a generation after the
current stories and mostly focused on Peter Parker's daughter, Spider-Girl — T'Challa's
son T'Chaka used it as his own superheroic codename.
The Panther fights the Klan
While the Panther would remain a fixture in Fantastic Four for the rest of the '60s, and
would join the Avengers in 1968, the early '70s saw him launched into his first solo
adventures.
It happened in the pages of Jungle Action #6, and over the next 18 issues, which would
tell one of Marvel's most lauded stories.
The series reached its heights in #19, the Panther is pitted against the Ku Klux Klan.
Set in Georgia, the story focused on Monica Lynne, a singer who became the Panther's longtime
love interest, and dealt heavily with racism.
It's full of striking imagery, and one issue even ends with the Panther strapped to a burning
cross — before he frees himself, batters his way through the crowd with the wood still
tied to his back, and returns to stomp a mudhole in the entire group.
Good vibranium
Comic books are full of special metals, but none are quite as interesting as Vibranium.
In the Marvel Universe, it's only found in two places: Wakanda, and the dinosaur-filled
Antarctic jungle known as the Savage Land.
Wakanda's variety is known as "True Vibranium," and its rarity is attributed to the fact that
it's not actually native to Earth.
Instead, the mountain from which it's mined is actually a massive meteorite.
It has the ability to store and discharge vibrations, including the kind that come with
a kinetic impact, making it able to withstand and even reflect energy.
In addition to being used as part of Captain America's shield and even a few of Hawkeye's
arrows, you can find it in the Panther's strength-enhancing, bulletproof costume.
The Dora Milaje
When Christopher Priest and J.G. Jones relaunched Black Panther in 1998, they delved into Wakanda
and its culture in a way that hadn't really been done before.
One of the most important additions was the idea of the Dora Milaje.
Translated as "Adored Ones," the Dora Milaje are highly trained, highly effective warrior
women who serve as the Black Panther's bodyguards — and the fact that they're protecting a
bulletproof, super-strong member of the Avengers should give you a good idea of just how tough
they are.
They have a second function, though, hinted at by their names: they're also potential
wives.
Each member of the Dora Milaje comes from a different faction, and as long as the Panther
doesn't favor one over any of the others, peace is maintained.
Which might be why, when he actually did get married, it was to Storm of the X-Men rather
than one of them.
Everett Ross sold his soul for pants
If you've been paying attention to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then you may already be
familiar with Everett K. Ross, the CIA agent assigned to deal with some of the more official
aspects of life in a universe full of superheroes.
In the movies, he's played by Martin Freeman, and made his first appearance in Captain America:
Civil War.
In the comics, however, he had a bit of a rocky start.
As an agent working for the State Department, he was assigned to be a liason to Black Panther
during the hero's visit to America.
Needless to say, the self-proclaimed "king of the useless white boys" was woefully unprepared
to be pulled into the world of superheroics.
After losing his pants in a mud-wrestling match, Ross found himself visited by Mephisto,
the closest thing that the Marvel Universe has to the devil.
Sitting next to each other in an apartment, with Ross on the couch and Mephisto on a flaming
throne of skulls that he conjured up from the depths of Hell, the two characters shared
a moment when Mephisto granted Ross a new pair of jeans, leaving Ross wondering if he
had accidentally sold his soul for pants.
The Black Panther movie that wasn't
Superhero fans are undoubtedly familiar with Wesley Snipes from his role as Blade in the
movie series of the same name.
Hitting screens in 1998, the movie not only gave Marvel its first cinematic hit, it also
showed that second- and third-tier characters could be given a new life in film with the
right idea behind them.
But what even diehard fans might not know is that Blade wasn't Snipes' first attempt
to bring a superhero to life.
Long before Ryan Coogler took the helm with Chadwick Boseman, Snipes was dead set on playing
the lead in a Black Panther movie.
In the mid-'90s, Snipes was in talks for a film that would use the "fantastic, glorious
periods of African empires and African royalty" as the basis to bring an inspirational new
superhero to the screen.
He wanted Wakanda, Vibranium, the force field, and the kind of comics-accurate costume that
would require him to be, and we quote, "just straight bodied up."
Unfortunately, as we all know, there's always someone ice skating uphill.
While Snipes met with director John Singleton and screenwriter Terry Hayes, the project
never came together.
Instead, Snipes went on to take a very successful risk as the Daywalker, and says today that
he supports the new film "1,000 percent."
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