Black Panther Appreciation 2019

[Blind Wedjat]

I mean, think about this way:

If Wakanda was a technologically advanced nation but Wakandans were primarily known as science and tech geniuses, T'Challa would mostly be a guy flying around in an Iron Man suit, or be a guy like Mr Fantastic or Blue Marvel.

If Wakanda was a technologically advanced nation but Wakandans were primarily known as mystics, shaman and magicians, T'Challa would be like Doctor Voodoo or a demigod like Thor.

But Wakanda is a warrior nation first and a warrior people first, so I personally think that should take top priority, which is why he is the way he is.

[DigiCom]

I see what you mean, but I think you misunderstood my take. Rather than it being a ghostly spear that he can summon out of nowhere, I was thinking more of it as a specific relic, somewhere between the Ebony Blade and Magik's soulsword. A weapon with physical existence, but that can affect magical beings.

In other words, he can't call upon it because it belonged to Bashenga. Bashenga was simply the first who COULD call on it, possibly because it was a gift of the Panther Spirit.

[XPac]

I mean, think about this way:

If Wakanda was a technologically advanced nation but Wakandans were primarily known as science and tech geniuses, T'Challa would mostly be a guy flying around in an Iron Man suit, or be a guy like Mr Fantastic or Blue Marvel.

If Wakanda was a technologically advanced nation but Wakandans were primarily known as mystics, shaman and magicians, T'Challa would be like Doctor Voodoo or a demigod like Thor.

But Wakanda is a warrior nation first and a warrior people first, so I personally think that should take top priority, which is why he is the way he is.

Basically yeah. It's why I think marvel doesn't tend to put as much emphasis on the tech as some might want. They could easily turn him into an Iron Man if they wanted to, but he's a warrior first and foremost. Which means you don't replace skill with tech. Tech can be there to enhance his fighting but ultimately it should always be more about the man than the gear.

You can play the tech card with Shuri more because she's not necessarily as skilled a fighter as T'Challa. She can be the Wakandan Iron Man if they want one. But with T'Challa, it's more about showing how skilled HE is as a warrior first and foremost. The tech is important, but secondary to that.

[hbky2j]

T'Challa claws are supposed to be Anti-Metal but this is all was seem to be depicted in a very unimaginative/boring ways like a downgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

what would really make the "Anti-Metal" in "Anti-Metal claws" mean something special/unique and differentiate T'Challa claws from all the other character with claws,knives,swords

would be to have it depicted/look like a melting/dissolving effect on metal's when T'Challa use's his claws instead of the cutting/slashing effect we usually always see but keep the cutting/slashing effect for other object/material's that are not metal based

think about how cool would it have been in the Black Panther movie to see something like T'Challa having to get passed something like a metal vault door that's 2 or 4 feet thick to save someone or get something and he pop out his one inch claws and the audience is thinking to themselves sarcastically like "YEAH RIGHT" and then T'Challa start scooping out liquefied metal hand over hand from the vault door as easy as scooping up a handful of snow or sand and in a matter of seconds there's a massive human sized hole in the vault door and the audience is now like " WOW HOLY SH*T" didn't see that happening like that



that what makes the "Anti-Metal claws" melting/dissolving effect so much better then the cutting/slashing effect is that it would not only look unique but it would let T'Challa do stuff he would never be able to do with just the cutting/slashing effect we always get from his claws and it is almost like an upgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

[XPac]

I see what you mean, but I think you misunderstood my take. Rather than it being a ghostly spear that he can summon out of nowhere, I was thinking more of it as a specific relic, somewhere between the Ebony Blade and Magik's soulsword. A weapon with physical existence, but that can affect magical beings.

In other words, he can't call upon it because it belonged to Bashenga. Bashenga was simply the first who COULD call on it, possibly because it was a gift of the Panther Spirit.

Shuri used the spear of Bashenga all the time. It's a shame they never bothered to give it any sort of mystical properites beyond being just a regular spear.

[XPac]

T'Challa claws are supposed to be Anti-Metal but this is all was seem to be depicted in a very unimaginative/boring ways like a downgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

what would really make the "Anti-Metal" in "Anti-Metal claws" mean something special/unique and differentiate T'Challa claws from all the other character with claws,knives,swords

would be to have it depicted/look like a melting/dissolving effect on metal's when T'Challa use's his claws instead of the cutting/slashing effect we usually always see but keep the cutting/slashing effect for other object/material's that are not metal based

think about how cool would it have been in the Black Panther movie to see something like T'Challa having to get passed something like a metal vault door that's 2 or 4 feet thick to save someone or get something and he pop out his one inch claws and the audience is thinking to themselves sarcastically like "YEAH RIGHT" and then T'Challa start scooping out liquefied metal hand over hand from the vault door as easy as scooping up a handful of snow or sand and in a matter of seconds there's a massive human sized hole in the vault door and the audience is now like " WOW HOLY SH*T" didn't see that happening like that



that what makes the "Anti-Metal claws" melting/dissolving effect so much better then the cutting/slashing effect is that it would not only look unique but it would let T'Challa do stuff he would never be able to do with just the cutting/slashing effect we always get from his claws and it is almost like an upgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

Did they establish that his claws in the MCU were anti-metal rather than just vibranium?

[Blind Wedjat]

I see what you mean, but I think you misunderstood my take. Rather than it being a ghostly spear that he can summon out of nowhere, I was thinking more of it as a specific relic, somewhere between the Ebony Blade and Magik's soulsword. A weapon with physical existence, but that can affect magical beings.

In other words, he can't call upon it because it belonged to Bashenga. Bashenga was simply the first who COULD call on it, possibly because it was a gift of the Panther Spirit.

My bad. I get what you mean now. Sorry for the confusion. And I much prefer that to what I was think and it's certainly a cool addition.

Although, wasn't the spear used for hunting in Priest's run?

[Blind Wedjat]

T'Challa claws are supposed to be Anti-Metal but this is all was seem to be depicted in a very unimaginative/boring ways like a downgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

what would really make the "Anti-Metal" in "Anti-Metal claws" mean something special/unique and differentiate T'Challa claws from all the other character with claws,knives,swords

would be to have it depicted/look like a melting/dissolving effect on metal's when T'Challa use's his claws instead of the cutting/slashing effect we usually always see but keep the cutting/slashing effect for other object/material's that are not metal based

think about how cool would it have been in the Black Panther movie to see something like T'Challa having to get passed something like a metal vault door that's 2 or 4 feet thick to save someone or get something and he pop out his one inch claws and the audience is thinking to themselves sarcastically like "YEAH RIGHT" and then T'Challa start scooping out liquefied metal hand over hand from the vault door as easy as scooping up a handful of snow or sand and in a matter of seconds there's a massive human sized hole in the vault door and the audience is now like " WOW HOLY SH*T" didn't see that happening like that



that what makes the "Anti-Metal claws" melting/dissolving effect so much better then the cutting/slashing effect is that it would not only look unique but it would let T'Challa do stuff he would never be able to do with just the cutting/slashing effect we always get from his claws and it is almost like an upgraded tool from wolverine toolbox/power-set

We were talking about T'Challa's gear a few pages back and in my suggestion I wanted to add the Anti-Metal claws as an extra slot of claws in his gloves that he could use while the Vibranium ones were the default claws. I think regular Vibranium does work better as the default for a few reasons.

Firstly, it would work in the scenario you described but other times it might hinder what he's trying to do. In Priest's run T'Challa famously crawls on the underbelly of an airplane, and the scene specifically describes how it is by the use of the Anti-Metal claws (and the energy dampening boots which allow him to stick to things) that he was able to easily do so. But going by how you described the claws working, he shouldn't have been able to do that. The metal body of the plane should have melted and T'Challa wouldn't have been able to crawl. Vibranium doesn't do that and it would allow his fingers to stay in place, so it works.

Secondly I don't think Anti-Metal has always been clearly explained and I always wondered if it would ever melt T'Challa's gloves right off if it affects Vibranium as well.

I agree it's a much cooler visual and would come in handy facing someone like Doom, Iron Man or Wolverine, but it shouldn't be something he used all the time which is why I think it wasn't used in the MCU.

[DigiCom]

My bad. I get what you mean now. Sorry for the confusion. And I much prefer that to what I was think and it's certainly a cool addition.

Although, wasn't the spear used for hunting in Priest's run?

Yeah, but it was simply an old spear, usually carried by Zuri. I just thought that giving it an upgrade (an ability that had been lost to history, perhaps) made more sense than the current "spirit spear" nonsense.

[Ezyo1000]

Seems like T'Challa was never in the cabin. He hard light projected Clint, then hard light projected himself. But he was in the mech suit in the wakandan spaceship the whole time. There's levels to this ish lol

can't see anything, what is it from

[DigiCom]

Secondly I don't think Anti-Metal has always been clearly explained and I always wondered if it would ever melt T'Challa's gloves right off if it affects Vibranium as well.

I agree it's a much cooler visual and would come in handy facing someone like Doom, Iron Man or Wolverine, but it shouldn't be something he used all the time which is why I think it wasn't used in the MCU.

In the Priest run, when the claws were first introduced, they weren't pure Anti-Metal, otherwise the fingers of his gloves would dissolve as soon as the claws were added, and he'd destroy his own suit by crossing his arms. Instead, they were an alloy, which reduced the effect somewhat.

[Blind Wedjat]

Yeah, but it was simply an old spear, usually carried by Zuri. I just thought that giving it an upgrade (an ability that had been lost to history, perhaps) made more sense than the current "spirit spear" nonsense.

I think this works really, especially if we take it as something from Bashenga's time when Wakanda may not have been as technologically advanced so there isn't that overlap.

Though I'm not sure of what ability to give it really.

[Blind Wedjat]

In the Priest run, when the claws were first introduced, they weren't pure Anti-Metal, otherwise the fingers of his gloves would dissolve as soon as the claws were added, and he'd destroy his own suit by crossing his arms. Instead, they were an alloy, which reduced the effect somewhat.

Oh, really? I never knew that. Always just thought it was pure and never really explained.

[DigiCom]

Oh, really? I never knew that. Always just thought it was pure and never really explained.

I'm trying to find where Priest laid it out, and failing miserably. :P But I'm 90% sure that's the case.

[Ezyo1000]

Yeah, but it was simply an old spear, usually carried by Zuri. I just thought that giving it an upgrade (an ability that had been lost to history, perhaps) made more sense than the current "spirit spear" nonsense.

So basically, have it be like his thrice blessed armor, however, the spear of bashenga uses an old powerful forgotten ritual that created it. That could be cool. I'm not very keen on the spirit spear either. It's very lazy. Ironically though, in Coates S3, the spear bashenga actually looks more how I would pictured it. Mystical in nature but a physical spear as well.