T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2024

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Part 3 (final):

Nice article.

Your piece pretty much sums up what we've been saying here, erasing T'Challa goes beyond honoring Boseman and into marginalization of a black superhero.

It's a problem because there aren't that many black superheroes at Marvel or DC that are consistently represented across different mediums. Removing T'Challa to honor the actors death is ill thought out and is creating an unnecessary controversy.

[Klaue's Mixtape]

I can't speak to most of that (except to say I basically agree) but I'm extremely close to key players on EYES OF WAKANDA and it's not going to be what folks seem to think. Extremely close.

Its 4 30 minute episodes of War Dogs telling the stories of Wakandan lore. Should be interesting.

[KingNomarch]

That is the Crux of the problem. It's far easier (and less threatening to some) to make Shuri the super genius and downplay T'Challas, even if it makes no sense what so ever, as this is something being driven not by lore or continuity, but by the movies which generally only aesthetics get taken from them, not entire character traits (something that would NEVER happen to white heroes) being swapped and given to side characters so they can be relevant

Yeah it would be like if the Iron Man movies made Rhodey the genius and had him build Tony suits d had Pepper the one that made him go after his former weapons.

Since they’re likely sticking with Shuri for at least the next decade in the MCU 616 I don’t see any change happening unless the universe that the F4 movie is supposed to be set in introduces their own T’Challa and we see him and Reed do science/tech stuff like Bruce and Tony. And since supposedly the F4 has been active years in that universe, they could have already met their T’Challa or a sequel could partially adapt his debut. Maybe then we might see books and other projects titled Black Panther remember he’s a genius and at minimum do what Redjack instead of throwing a single line out there about how smart he is and never following up on it.

[Ezyo1000]

Yeah it would be like if the Iron Man movies made Rhodey the genius and had him build Tony suits d had Pepper the one that made him go after his former weapons.

Since they’re likely sticking with Shuri for at least the next decade in the MCU 616 I don’t see any change happening unless the universe that the F4 movie is supposed to be set in introduces their own T’Challa and we see him and Reed do science/tech stuff like Bruce and Tony. And since supposedly the F4 has been active years in that universe, they could have already met their T’Challa or a sequel could partially adapt his debut. Maybe then we might see books and other projects titled Black Panther remember he’s a genius and at minimum do what Redjack instead of throwing a single line out there about how smart he is and never following up on it.

Exactly, in fact, the ONLY time in recent memory can I think of a hero having his traits given to another character for relevance was Nolan's Batman trilogy with Lucius , and EVEN THEN they confirmed Bruce's intelligence by having him be the one to figure out how to fix the autopilot in the Bat jet, a thing Lucius couldn't figure out. It literally would've taken ZERO effort to give T'Challa hos genius. A line in the lab scene when he is looking at the habit and talking nano tech with Shuri, or him commenting that she has been busy since he gifted the lab to her and appointment her head of the Wakandan design group, reminiscing about how he used to spend countless hours tinkering In the lab before he became BP.

In reality , the scene that should've confirmed his genius as it makes the most sense as to what happens in the 3rd act and because IT'S T'CHALLAS FRAKKING FEAT, when Shuri is talking to Ross and he is asking about the mines, Shuri should've credited T'Challa for figuring out how to Make VB inert. As not only does I make little sense for Shuri to have figured it out given her age, but this is an undisputed feat in the comics for how T'Challa came up with Shadow physics, and defeated Doom.

Given how many tech feats Shuri takes from T'Challa throughout the movie having that be credited to him takes nothing from Shuri AND when he tells Shuri to turn on the trains it tracks even more that he comes to that conclusion. Because Coogler straight up allowed Shuri to claim a confirmed T'Challa feat as her own, it's made people be bolder in stealing feats like that Tochi guy trying to retell T'Challas origin and trying to make it Shuri who invited the FF to Wakanda abd Ben saying Reed finally met his match in Shuri, not T'Challa. It's utter bullisht as they would NEVER do that to a white hero, hell they wouldn't do it to a Black female hero because the isht they would catch for being sexist and taking away a woman's agency in favor of a man, but if itd black man who loses agency and it's called out? Well it's sexist to Black women and clearly people are just threatened to see Strong Black women

[BlackClaw]

Yeah it would be like if the Iron Man movies made Rhodey the genius and had him build Tony suits d had Pepper the one that made him go after his former weapons.

Since they’re likely sticking with Shuri for at least the next decade in the MCU 616 I don’t see any change happening unless the universe that the F4 movie is supposed to be set in introduces their own T’Challa and we see him and Reed do science/tech stuff like Bruce and Tony. And since supposedly the F4 has been active years in that universe, they could have already met their T’Challa or a sequel could partially adapt his debut. Maybe then we might see books and other projects titled Black Panther remember he’s a genius and at minimum do what Redjack instead of throwing a single line out there about how smart he is and never following up on it.

Assuming the sequel doesn't come after wars and all the different universes will inevitably be merged into one single reality.

[Dariel81]

Its 4 30 minute episodes of War Dogs telling the stories of Wakandan lore. Should be interesting.

Tchalla has to be part of that lore

[Ezyo1000]

Tchalla has to be part of that lore

Bot according to Marvel, remember, it's all about the mantle. T'Challa doesn't matter

[Redjack]

Tchalla has to be part of that lore

He wasn't born until the 20th-21st century. what if the whole show is set in 5000 bc?

He only lived in the 20th-21st century. what if the whole show is set in the year 3030?

World eluding is not a bad thing in itself. Nearly nothing is, in itself. It's all in how you execute. When the world building is bigger than the story and characters, you've failed.

Like a movie soundtrack, special effects, stunts, costumes and make-up, world building is part of story enhancement. if you push it to the front, you kill your story.

The stories are ALWAYS the point. There are stacks of stories to be told about SHURI as a solo character. Stacks to be told about OKOYE too or any character who is not T'Challa. Even a random palace guard you never met before could have a compelling story set in Wakanda so long as that book is NOT called THE BLACK PANTHER.

the issue comes only when the book in your hand is supposed not be ABOUT T'CHALLA and it's used solely to diminish that main character in order to invent or prop up new ones or to focus on world-building. And, unless you're really gifted, leave your real world political agenda at the damned door.

There's room for everybody (except that god-awful Galactic Empire of Wakanda. That crap heap needs to die the true death) but the execution has to be there and the STORY has to come first.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

That's a very fair and thorough article. I'll share it around Twitter!

Thank you!

Nice article.

Your piece pretty much sums up what we've been saying here, erasing T'Challa goes beyond honoring Boseman and into marginalization of a black superhero.

It's a problem because there aren't that many black superheroes at Marvel or DC that are consistently represented across different mediums. Removing T'Challa to honor the actors death is ill thought out and is creating an unnecessary controversy.

Pretty much. There is no good justification I can think of for what they're doing.

[KingNomarch]

Assuming the sequel doesn't come after wars and all the different universes will inevitably be merged into one single reality.

This is true. Secret Wars could very well end with the establishment of a ANAD-esque universe with variants staying in esque new 616 like the F4 to make crossovers easier. If a new T’Challa does appear or is mentioned to exist they could plant him in the new universe similar to Miles and Jimmy Hudson and have stay with the F4 to to find a way back home. My optimism isn’t that high tho at best I’m expecting the next two avengers movies to feature at least 1 variant.