T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2024

[Ezyo1000]

Nice to see the galactic empire is canon in this world!

Yeah it's kinda cool, even though I gotta say, for some reason, T'Challa telling Tony that Shuri keeps asking him to ask Tony when he will let him buy his company bugs me. It's slowly but surely solidify that Shuri is the tech genius and T'Challa is being phased out, same with Strange saying he appreciates T'Challa keeping the spiritual side alive, slowly but surely replacing his genius with mystics instead

[XJlock]

https://aiptcomics.com/2024/05/17/ma...-blood-hunt-2/

Things are now set for the tie-in. Hopefully, a good story will be told.

[Frontier]

Yeah it's kinda cool, even though I gotta say, for some reason, T'Challa telling Tony that Shuri keeps asking him to ask Tony when he will let him buy his company bugs me. It's slowly but surely solidify that Shuri is the tech genius and T'Challa is being phased out, same with Strange saying he appreciates T'Challa keeping the spiritual side alive, slowly but surely replacing his genius with mystics instead

Or maybe Shuri is just being a bratty little sister.

[Ezyo1000]

Or maybe Shuri is just being a bratty little sister.

Sure, but given how the 616, and everywhere else has been pushing Shuri as one of the smartest characters in Marvel, I have my doubts. Literally every piece of Media has promoted her genius, oftentimes at the cost of T'Challas. Hell the ONLY place that T'Challas genius is being highlighted currently is in the Avengers. Otherwise he is replaced by Shuri

[KingNomarch]

Sure, but given how the 616, and everywhere else has been pushing Shuri as one of the smartest characters in Marvel, I have my doubts. Literally every piece of Media has promoted her genius, oftentimes at the cost of T'Challas. Hell the ONLY place that T'Challas genius is being highlighted currently is in the Avengers. Otherwise he is replaced by Shuri

With the comics and other media hellbent on portraying her as the genius because of the MCU, his genius will always be taking a backseat in anything involving them both. Making them both geniuses was a mistake. I only expects in books like Avengers to see his genius. I do applaud Sheree Thomas (author of Panther’s Rage) for being the only one I think to not do it.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

In light of T'Challa's omission in X-Men '97, I wrote a piece on it:

https://subatomicviewer.wordpress.co...eed-an-answer/

The popularity and iconography of Marvel’s Black Panther superhero is at an all-time high. Since the success of the 2018 film of the same name, both the character and property as a whole have become more recognizable with mainstream audiences.

Unfortunately, a somewhat concerning pattern has also risen from Disney and Marvel as a company ever since the passing of Chadwick Boseman. If left unchecked or unanswered, the current trend can have potential negative consequences or implications – and ultimately regress some of the progress in diversity and representation that the 2018 film worked hard to build.


A BRIEF HISTORY OF T’CHALLA IN THE MCU

The late Chadwick Boseman first made his debut as the Black Panther/T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War (2016). Two years later, Boseman starred in a Black Panther solo film that went on to have massive cultural impact. Since then, Boseman returned as the character in two more of Marvel’s historically biggest films: Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

On August 28th 2020, Boseman tragically passed away after a four-year long battle with stage III colon cancer. In the aftermath of his death, Marvel announced they will not be recasting the role of T’Challa out of respect for the actor. The sequel to 2018’s Black Panther titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever released in 2022, and functioned as both a tribute to the late actor and passing of the torch to T’Challa’s sister Shuri (played by Letitia Wright).

The decision to not recast the role of T’Challa has gotten a wide array of mixed responses from comic book fans, black audiences and other audiences alike. Some, including actor Anthony Mackie who co-starred with Boseman in several MCU films, felt it was the appropriate call on how to handle the character of T’Challa going forward:

No. You can’t recast it. I mean, he did that role in a way that’ll never be done again, and I would hate for an actor to have to pick up the baton that he left behind, because, you know, there was no question he was a dynamic figure and amazing actor. And just looking at the reaction to Black Panther, there’s nobody that could bring the grace to that role that he did, so I wouldn’t want to see, you know, ‘Anthony Mackie as Black Panther’; that would be awful." -Anthony Mackie (2021)

Others criticized the decision as coming off regressive in the context of a culture where white iconic characters getting recast is the norm. Four-time New York Times bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi said the following in regards to Marvel’s decision:

"Superheroes do not really die, even when they die. In comic books, they die and somehow manage to come back… Superheroes don’t die, even if the actor who plays them is incapacitated, or passes away. They’re recast, for whatever reasons studios find. Their stories aren’t tied to the lives of the actors who first step into those roles. Bruce Wayne (Batman). Clark Kent (Superman). Peter Parker (Spiderman). Captain America (Steve Rogers). We’ve seen them portrayed by countless actors. There have been like 3 Captain Americas, 7 Batmans, 9 Supermans. There will be more. The Joker has been recast twice since the late Heath Ledger’s incredible performance in “The Dark Knight.”

T’Challa should be recast, and this is not to reduce the iconic portrayal of Chadwick. This is to speak of the importance of the character. He made T’Challa into an icon and he will forever be credited with that. That icon, cannot be deleted. T’Challa, even beyond his physical capabilities when he dons the Black Panther suit, means so much to so many people. He means so much to Black people. We didn’t all turn out on February 2018 to the theaters in our finest garbs just because of a comic book movie we were excited about. We were pushed by the cultural significance and the representation of us leading a blockbuster comic canon film, and represented as a god amongst men. White kids have had Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America and whatever other caped legging-ed flying invincible flying men to look to for decades on a big scale. Black kids first got Spawn (remember him?) but Black Panther was THE ONE for them. And now he’s gone. For me, that’s a heartbreaking loss. They get COUNTLESS and we get ONE. And that ONE is gone…

Black boys need to see the King of Wakanda. A superhero in their image, who commands respect, who rules a land that lacks for nothing and is threatened by nothing. A bridge builder who has immense physical power but leads heart first. Black girls need T’Challa. A Black man who is proudly led, loved and protected by an army of strong Black women, while he, in turn, respects, reveres and cherishes them. For their brawn, beauty and overall badassery. To tell them he is dead is a different type of hurt... Everyone else gets to have their superheroes, over and over again. Black kids got one. But superheroes aren’t supposed to die. They are supposed to be larger than life, invincible, untouchable. But theirs might be done. Comic books are simply violent fairy tales (although fairy tales are also violent but that’s another piece for another day). Happily ever after means you never have to worry about them being really gone. They will always come back somehow, and the journey is about the HOW. But they’ve been told theirs left for good…

To let [T’Challa] die is to say even in fantasy, we can’t have fantasy. We can’t have happily ever after even in our own fairy tales. But everyone else can. I struggle with that. Are the Black kids who sleep with their Black Panther action figure or begged to be him for Halloween getting the message that they can’t ever rest in joy, even in made up worlds? Cuz if their favorite mythical figure can die as if he’s just another human, then what can they hold on to? What does it mean that even in fabricated stories, they still must face irredeemable loss? Do we always lose even when we win? What happens to your spirit and your ability to have imagination when a character who is supposed to be somewhat immortal ACTUALLY PASSES ON? Why believe in the impossible? There will never be another Chadwick Boseman, and his portrayal of the King of Wakanda was archetypal. However, it cannot end with him. Let King T’Challa live as we mourn Chadwick’s death and celebrate his life. We’ve already lost one king. We shouldn’t lose the other. And the point of LEGACY is to ensure that the work you start doesn’t just die with you. Let T’Challa live, Marvel. Recast T’Challa. It is time." -Luvvie Ajayi Jones (2022)

Needless to say, the debate over whether or not Marvel proceeded in the best way with the Black Panther IP (and with honoring Boseman) continues to this day.


JUST HOW UNUSUAL WAS NOT RECASTING MCU T’CHALLA?


While critics such as Ajayi Jones undoubtedly make important points and raise important questions regarding a potential double standard, it is also important to note that the MCU’s decision was not that usual in the grand scheme of things:

1. Feeling that no one could fill the voids left by Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans in their respective roles, Marvel chose to not recast Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Instead, Marvel killed off the former and aged the latter out. Both of their mantles have been passed on to Riri Williams and Sam Wilson, respectively, in a way that mirrors the MCU passing the Black Panther mantle from T’Challa to Shuri.

2. Following Heath Ledger’s tragic passing in 2008, Christopher Nolan chose to not recast his continuity’s version of The Joker (or even reference him) for his third and final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises (2012). According to Nolan, the decision was made out of respect for Ledger.

3. Since the integration of Spider-Man and the X-Men in the MCU, Marvel has so-far had more role reprisals than recasts of previous Sony/Fox-owned characters. Actors that have reprised their roles include Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, Jamie Foxx as Electro, Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, Kelsey Grammar as Beast, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. For at least some of those recasts, the rationale for it according to Kevin Feige was that Marvel thought no one else could effectively step in their respective roles (the same rationale given for not recasting T’Challa).

None of this is to say that critics like Ajayi Jones are “wrong” about the points they make. If anything, looking back they were arguably even more right about Marvel dropping the ball with T’Challa than they originally thought. To understand where and how Marvel dropped the ball, though, we must first understand what an understandable reaction to Boseman’s passing would look like. Given the examples above, maybe the decision to shelve T’Challa in the MCU was just “business as usual” with the recasts of Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker being the real exceptions. However, T’Challa’s shelving seems to have now gone beyond just the MCU.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Part 2 is below.

T’CHALLA IN OTHER RECENT ADAPTATIONS

On May 15th this week, the final episode of the critically acclaimed X-Men ’97 series aired on Disney+. The series was a sequel to the 1992’s X-Men animated series, which took place in a shared animated universe along with Spider-Man (1994), Iron Man (1994), Fantastic Four (1994), The Incredible Hulk (1994) and Silver Surfer (1998). To fans’ surprise, the three-part finale included several cameos of characters previously established in Marvel’s 1990’s animated continuity – namely Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Hulk and Mister Fantastic – as well as cameos of characters that never appeared in any of the mentioned series (Cloak and Dagger, Psylocke and Alpha Flight). A version of the Black Panther cameoed as well – having been previously established in the Fantastic Four episode ‘Prey of the Black Panther’ – but dialogue in the episode revealed that the character cameoing was in fact T’Chaka and not T’Challa.

Previously, fans of the character already began speculating that Marvel might be shelving the character indefinitely in other mediums. Recently, Marvel had announced two video games that will feature Black Panther as a playable character: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra (where the Black Panther of World War II will share screentime with Captain America) and a single-player Black Panther game currently still in the works.[3]

In the case of Marvel 1943, fans were quick to wonder why Marvel would prioritize a game where Captain America teams up with T’Chanda (grandfather of T’Challa) over a game featuring the most iconic Black Panther. In the case of the single-player game still in the works, current rumors are that it will not feature T’Challa as a playable character but a custom character instead. T’Challa himself is rumored to be dead at the start of the game.[4] In addition, some fans have pointed out that EA was quick to confirm Tony Stark as the Iron Man of the upcoming Iron Man game, but has yet to confirm if the Black Panther game will feature T’Challa. Both games were also announced around the same time:

"While we don't have all the details of the BP game, I would just like to point out the difference in the official EA messaging for the Iron man game vs the BP game. They're very quick to mention Tony in the Ironman experience. T'Challa is unacknowledged. We see that lol." -@YuhDunKnoEH

As with all trends, there are exceptions. T’Challa continues to appear in comics (a niche market compared to other mediums), and will reportedly appear in the upcoming Marvel Rivals shooter game.[5] Nonetheless, all of the biggest adaptations – which are also the versions of Black Panther that general audiences are most exposed to – seem to have all gone out of their way to exclude him since Boseman’s passing.

Following his recent exclusion from the X-Men ’97 finale, a fan of the show took to Twitter to inquire regarding T’Challa’s omission. In response, producer of the show Beau DeMayo had this to say:

"I can't speak to this choice" -@BeauDeMayo

DeMayo’s response, along with his liking of another post made by the same fan, have since skyrocketed fans’ beliefs that there is indeed a studio mandate to not include T’Challa in things anymore – even in versions that exist outside of the MCU:

"That’s crazy there’s a legit studio mandate not to put T’Challa in stuff anymore due to Chadwick passing that extends even on a damn animated series
What’s the logic? Why is MCU Black Panther stuff affecting projects that have nothing to do with #XMen97" -@Foreverheroics

Just how often, if at all, does this happen with other iconic characters?


WHY T’CHALLA’S EXCLUSIONS ARE SO UNUSUAL

"With all the discussion about T'challa after Chadwick's tragic passing, this odd shelving of T'challa is what I feared. I hope this is not true because eliminating this character outside of the comics is NOT a tribute. I've never seen this done for anyone else & it bothers me." -@Shockdingo

Even putting aside the endless versions that exist of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker – not just in film but all mediums – the standard that all versions of T’Challa ought to go away due to Boseman’s passing is still unusual and not a standard used on anyone else:

1. The MCU version of Tony Stark was killed off and is no longer a part of the current MCU, but different versions of Tony Stark continue to appear in video games, TV shows, and in other worlds outside of the one created by Feige.

2. Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker was not recast, but The Joker continued to appear in video games and animated works even prior to Warner Bros’ decision to reboot the Batman films. Mark Hamill (voice of The Joker in the 1990’s Batman animated series) was allowed to reprise his role as The Joker in multiple games and animated works even after Ledger’s death. Keith David on the other hand – the voice of T’Challa in the 90’s and an actor similar to Hamill in the sense he does both voice acting and live acting – was not allowed to reprise his role as T’Challa in X-Men ’97.

T’Challa’s exclusion in X-Men ’97 was also particularly unusual for the way it breaks that universe’s continuity. The ’94 Fantastic Four series taking place in the same universe established that T’Challa was that universe’s Black Panther, and that T’Chaka died decades prior when T’Challa was still a kid. T’Chaka suddenly being alive and King of Wakanda in X-Men ’97 thus makes no sense and is technically a plot hole. Given Marvel Studios’ historic emphasis on continuity, T’Challa’s absence in ’97 may be the first time Marvel inflicted a continuity error on itself for the sake of a mandate.

Some might question why fans are fixating so much on a three-second cameo and “blowing things out of proportion”. First, as mentioned already, X-Men ’97 is not the first or only omission of T’Challa. Second, T’Challa not being allowed for a three-second cameo in a continuity he was already established to exist in begs the question of just how far Marvel is willing to go with T’Challa omissions in the future. As several fans on Twitter have pointed out:

"I’d just like to remind everyone that even Chadwick’s own brother said that the man would’ve wanted T’Challa to live on. And meanwhile Marvel is so hellbent on burying the character that they won’t even allow him to have a three second cameo in a non-MCU cartoon." -@JohnSLPaul

"I guarantee that EA Black Panther game is not about T'Challa. At this point I'd put money on it. You think if they wouldn't even allow a 2 second IN CONTINUITY T'Challa cameo in the X-men series that they'll give T'Challa his own game? They higher-ups won't allow it." -@YuhDunKnoEH

Also unusual with these omissions is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a push for a replacement character the way Marvel and DC sometimes pushed in the past. For example, DC in the 2000’s omitted several versions of Wally West and Kyle Rayner to make way for Hal Jordan and Barry Allen again, believing those characters would be more viable and used in more adaptations going forward. While T’Challa seems to have been omitted in a similar way, the omissions occurring out of some belief on Marvel’s part that another character in the Black Panther mantle would be more viable seems unlikely. So far, each of the mentioned recent adaptations features a different character in the role: The MCU’s current Black Panther is Shuri, Marvel 1943‘s will be T’Chanda, X-Men ’97 used T’Chaka and (as mentioned earlier) the upcoming single-player game might not have anyone in particular.

In other words, Marvel’s motto seems to be less about elevating other Black Panthers to the status and iconography of T’Challa, and more about just simply not using T’Challa.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Part 3 (final):

WHY IT MATTERS

Like with everything else in the United States, there is a history of black representation being ignored, downplayed or outright erased when it comes to art. The history of Hollywood and of entertainment studios has never been an exception to this.

In fact, Marvel’s history itself has not been an exception to this. Part of why Marvel did not put out a Black Panther film until 2018 was because Ike Perlmutter (former CEO of Marvel Entertainment) kept blocking the production of the film from happening. Perlmutter is also reported to have made racist remarks during his time at Marvel, particularly that no one would notice Terrence Howard being replaced by Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2 because “all black people look the same”.

Currently, there is also some evidence that at least Warner Bros. Discovery – Disney and Marvel’s main competitor in the superhero market – is continuing the age-old practice of ignoring and shelving minority characters.

Marvel’s omissions with T’Challa may not be happening for the same reason, but on the surface it is starting to look similar to the erasure and shelving of minority characters that the 2018 film deliberately pushed back against. What may have started as respect for Boseman, in practice it arguably now looks no different from yet another black icon getting blacklisted everywhere.

In addition to how it looks, it also potentially sends some problematic messages:

1. By shelving and downplaying T’Challa to this extent, Marvel is sending the message that only T’Challa is not bigger than the actor who played him. It is a message that immediately makes T’Challa feels “smaller” and “lesser” than more-or-less all of his superhero contemporaries. What didn’t necessarily feel as a double standard in an MCU that has become allergic to recasts absolutely does now when one looks at the bigger picture beyond just the MCU.

2. The idea that T’Challa is just another Black Panther in a sea of Black Panthers, when combined with Marvel’s “anyone but T’Challa” approach that we outlined in the top section, implies that black characters are more interchangeable than other characters – an idea not very far off from Perlmutter’s racist remark that no one would notice the difference between Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle. If Marvel wants to expand the Black Panther mantle beyond just T’Challa the way recent media expanded the Spider-Man mantle beyond just Peter Parker, that is fine. In that case, they ought to keep in mind some important things:

a. The existence of other Spider-Heroes did not erase, shaft or downplay Peter Parker.
b. Characters of the same race are not interchangeable and should not be treated that way. Miles Morales is both black and Hispanic, but is not interchangeable with Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk (another black Spider-Man) or Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (another Hispanic Spider-Man). Peter Parker and the Spider-Woman version of Gwen Stacy are both white Americans, but are not interchangeable characters.

3. By shelving and downplaying T’Challa to this extent, Marvel is alienating other black actors from shining and contributing to the character. Keith David could have reprised his role and made a comeback as T’Challa the same way Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill made a comeback with Batman and The Joker in the Arkham games. Their reprisals reintroduced their talent to a whole new generation of fans, but Keith David was robbed of that same opportunity by having his version of T’Challa erased in Marvel’s new show.

It is possible that these omissions are all coming from a good place on Disney and Marvel’s part. It is possible that the double standard they are enacting between T’Challa and everyone else is completely unintentional. Likewise, they are obviously not obligated to explain their reasoning to fans or to people on the internet.

But given the systemic history of black erasure, the fact it still happens even among superhero films and the potential implications and messages being sent out by their actions… they have no one to blame but themselves if audiences start suspecting the worst.

[Ezyo1000]

With the comics and other media hellbent on portraying her as the genius because of the MCU, his genius will always be taking a backseat in anything involving them both. Making them both geniuses was a mistake. I only expects in books like Avengers to see his genius. I do applaud Sheree Thomas (author of Panther’s Rage) for being the only one I think to not do it.

Thing is, NO ONE DID THAT, comics wise, when Hudlin created Shuri , she was EDUCATED she was studying nuclear physics, but it was clear that while Shuri is intelligent, she wasn't a super genius in the capacity that T'Challa is. When she became BP she formed P.R.I.D.E her Q and people in her ear. This was reinforced by Coates making her a mystic and keeper of Wakandan memory, still lazy as it ripped from KotD, but it was an effort to make her different and KotD was basically dropped.

Coogler is the one who introduced super genius Disney princess Shuri. Then proceeded to completely shaft T'Challas intelligence, to the point of having MCU Shuri straight up steal T'Challas main fear of discovering how to make VB inert, a major point in DW and how he beat Doom. Then they somehow thought, after reinforcing Shuris genius to the point that they don't even reference T'Challas in official books or whatever, they think, after Chad passed, having Shuri make a quick note that T'Challa taught her everything she knows is somehow making up for the sh*t is just insulting

[Redjack]

With the comics and other media hellbent on portraying her as the genius because of the MCU, his genius will always be taking a backseat in anything involving them both. Making them both geniuses was a mistake. I only expects in books like Avengers to see his genius. I do applaud Sheree Thomas (author of Panther’s Rage) for being the only one I think to not do it.

I threaded that needle easily, both in Black Panther's Quest



and in King in Black. And in entirely different ways in each.


It's not a hard lift.



You just need to want to.

[Ezyo1000]

I threaded that needle easily, both in Black Panther's Quest and in King in Black. And in entirely different ways in each.

It's not a hard lift. You just need to want to.

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

[AJpyro]

So I watched the xmen 98 and saw Tchaka there in the suit. He looked failry young so that means Tchalla is young and wont be BP for a good while.

Plus side, Storm may be too old for him.

[Frontier]

So I watched the xmen 98 and saw Tchaka there in the suit. He looked failry young so that means Tchalla is young and wont be BP for a good while.

Plus side, Storm may be too old for him.

Don't overthink it, just studio BS .

[Marvell2100]

So I watched the xmen 98 and saw Tchaka there in the suit. He looked failry young so that means Tchalla is young and wont be BP for a good while.

Plus side, Storm may be too old for him.

I dunno, with the graying temples he looks to be in his late 40s, early 50s so that would likely make T'Challa in his mid 20s.

[Ekie]

In light of T'Challa's omission in X-Men '97, I wrote a piece on it:

https://subatomicviewer.wordpress.co...eed-an-answer/

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