Black Panther Appreciation 2020

[butterflykyss]

Ah, but rules --- especially rules that do nothing but enforce stagnant status quos --- were meant to be broken.



While I'm sure Marvell2100 was being sarcastic, I do see your point --- Spider-Man and Iron Man have long been treated as the faces of the Marvel Universe, and a shared commonality between them is their considerable coteries of love interests. Why not portray Black Panther as at least equally desirable? And yes, bringing back Monica Lynne with a revamp that makes her less of a "damsel in distress" a la Lois Lane over at DC, or Mary Jane Watson or even Pepper Potts, since Iron Man got brought into this as well, back here at Marvel . . . that'd be an interesting direction for her.

[Marvell2100]

Ah, but rules --- especially rules that do nothing but enforce stagnant status quos --- were meant to be broken.



While I'm sure Marvell2100 was being sarcastic, I do see your point --- Spider-Man and Iron Man have long been treated as the faces of the Marvel Universe, and a shared commonality between them is their considerable coteries of love interests. Why not portray Black Panther as at least equally desirable? And yes, bringing back Monica Lynne with a revamp that makes her less of a "damsel in distress" a la Lois Lane over at DC, or Mary Jane Watson or even Pepper Potts, since Iron Man got brought into this as well, back here at Marvel . . . that'd be an interesting direction for her.

Sorry bro, it's in the Employee Handbook.

Page 72, Chapter XII: Section 8 Paragraph 4.

[Jabare]

wait what si this from? Just the last two images

[butterflykyss]

wait what si this from? Just the last two images

Totally Awesome Hulk 23
The Mighty Captain Marvel 9

[Ezyo1000]

My bad, I forgot the only men in comics allowed to have whole harems are totally relatable losers like Peter Parker or alcoholic playboys like Tony Stark.



I actually like the original Zanda too, but I think everyone can agree Redjack's take on her was the best. Just update the Collectors into being an AIM-like group of smugglers and archaeologists and she's infinitely more compelling than she ever was in the 70s.

Personally, I think Monica needs a revamp the way white women like Mary Jane and Lois Lane do whenever writers want to make them interesting. It'd be great to see her lean into humanitarian causes and using whatever celebrity she has left to run global non-profits.

To make her self-sufficient in combat either retcon her background and make her ex-military and/or give her powers (Nuhuman, vibranium mutate, etc.) That puts her on a really great arc where she toughens up and becomes a woman worthy of T'Challa. I really do think she's one of the biggest missed opportunities in the BP franchise.

I would go a different route, I would say you could make her a character that doesn't fight, but rather, is an exceptional negotiator/ inspiration. Like her whole thing was that she was she wasn't a warrior, but if she used her voice and was very motivational and could inspire people that could be something that T'Challa saw that no one else took into consideration and why despite not being a warrior, he accepted her. Or she could get some sort of boost but given her character, it seems a little more difficult.

The collectors could be secretly funded by her while she does her think on the ruling side, I agree that they could use an update as well as the supremacists group could jump to the modern times. I dunno I guess I was ruined by old Zanda because she was like a joke character on Priest and Hudlins runs

[Ezyo1000]

Btw this is straight fire, props to the person who put this together. I really like it alot

[MindofShadow]

I'm still on the train that Monica Lynne had T'challa's kid and she bounced because she didn't want him part of that life.

Was able to hide it from T'challa thanks to latent inhuman powers of... something lol.

Secret Wars aged his ass up thanks to shennigans.

Monica realized she panicked and F'd up and her heir to the Wakanda throne deserves to be in Wakanda and not... New Orleans or St. Louis or something not NYC lol.

So this kiddo is low teenage age (whatever teenage age is for joining teenage super hero teams... high school?), has grown up in the states instead of Wakanda (maybe some parallels to mcu killmonger to an extent), is an academic and sports powerhouse (its int he genes)... but Wakandan look down on him because he wasn't raised in Wakanda. He is a beast int he states and "meh" in Wakanda.

So he has to deal with being looked down at by snobbish teenage Wakandans, has to deal with the weight of the possible crown... unless he gets his ass beat, has to catch up to Wakandan studies (aka combat), has to catch up on whatever royal studies there are... all while trying ot get to know his dad, the legendary Black Panther and being pissed at his mom.

That is an easy 24 issues no one will read and then you throw him on super hero teenage teams from time to time that no one will read and T'challa gets his heir! woot woot. Genius lol

[chief12d]

I would go a different route, I would say you could make her a character that doesn't fight, but rather, is an exceptional negotiator/ inspiration. Like her whole thing was that she was she wasn't a warrior, but if she used her voice and was very motivational and could inspire people that could be something that T'Challa saw that no one else took into consideration and why despite not being a warrior, he accepted her. Or she could get some sort of boost but given her character, it seems a little more difficult.

The collectors could be secretly funded by her while she does her think on the ruling side, I agree that they could use an update as well as the supremacists group could jump to the modern times. I dunno I guess I was ruined by old Zanda because she was like a joke character on Priest and Hudlins runs

I could see that too, but I really prefer a love interest that can hold her own. Wakanda is a xenophobic nation of warriors, I expect any potential queen to be able to at the very least defend themselves even if they can't help lead the charge the way Mera or Medusa would.

Stressing that her main quality is her voice is a really powerful idea and ties into the idea of her being a humanitarian or activist. She may not have been the next Beyonce, but maybe since T'Challa left her she's gone to school or gotten some worldly knowledge. She can easily fit into T'Challa's globetrotting lifestyle that way, the Nuhuman and/or vibranium powers would just be a way to prevent her from becoming a damsel in distress kind of woman.

And like I said, it puts her on an arc where she toughens up. She's not a mutant goddess, former Dora, or underworld princess, so she has something to prove if she'll ever truly be worthy of T'Challa imo. Yea I see the Collectors as a great way to develop underlings and influence for Zanda, especially if she's also queen of Narobia or some kind of princess in exile fighting for her throne.

Zanda of the 90's and 00's sucked but the original Zanda of the 70's was great. Redjack can obviously speak to this better than I can, but I feel like he was channeling that Zanda more than the Priest-Hudlin era version.

[VantaBlack]

I'm still on the train that Monica Lynne had T'challa's kid and she bounced because she didn't want him part of that life.

Was able to hide it from T'challa thanks to latent inhuman powers of... something lol.

Secret Wars aged his ass up thanks to shennigans.

Monica realized she panicked and F'd up and her heir to the Wakanda throne deserves to be in Wakanda and not... New Orleans or St. Louis or something not NYC lol.

So this kiddo is low teenage age (whatever teenage age is for joining teenage super hero teams... high school?), has grown up in the states instead of Wakanda (maybe some parallels to mcu killmonger to an extent), is an academic and sports powerhouse (its int he genes)... but Wakandan look down on him because he wasn't raised in Wakanda. He is a beast int he states and "meh" in Wakanda.

So he has to deal with being looked down at by snobbish teenage Wakandans, has to deal with the weight of the possible crown... unless he gets his ass beat, has to catch up to Wakandan studies (aka combat), has to catch up on whatever royal studies there are... all while trying ot get to know his dad, the legendary Black Panther and being pissed at his mom.

That is an easy 24 issues no one will read and then you throw him on super hero teenage teams from time to time that no one will read and T'challa gets his heir! woot woot. Genius lol

Lol! I'm sold. Now let me start petitioning Marvel this instant. This greatness can't be denied!

[XPac]

I could see that too, but I really prefer a love interest that can hold her own. Wakanda is a xenophobic nation of warriors, I expect any potential queen to be able to at the very least defend themselves even if they can't help lead the charge the way Mera or Medusa would.

Stressing that her main quality is her voice is a really powerful idea and ties into the idea of her being a humanitarian or activist. She may not have been the next Beyonce, but maybe since T'Challa left her she's gone to school or gotten some worldly knowledge. She can easily fit into T'Challa's globetrotting lifestyle that way, the Nuhuman and/or vibranium powers would just be a way to prevent her from becoming a damsel in distress kind of woman.

And like I said, it puts her on an arc where she toughens up. She's not a mutant goddess, former Dora, or underworld princess, so she has something to prove if she'll ever truly be worthy of T'Challa imo. Yea I see the Collectors as a great way to develop underlings and influence for Zanda, especially if she's also queen of Narobia or some kind of princess in exile fighting for her throne.

Zanda of the 90's and 00's sucked but the original Zanda of the 70's was great. Redjack can obviously speak to this better than I can, but I feel like he was channeling that Zanda more than the Priest-Hudlin era version.

In the Black Panther annuel, when she died of terminal cancer T'Challa did attempt to save her life by giving her the heart shaped herb. Easy way to power her up is show that the herb later does work in bringing her back with BP powers. She just needs to train since she has the powers but not the skill.

[chief12d]

Ah, but rules --- especially rules that do nothing but enforce stagnant status quos --- were meant to be broken.



While I'm sure Marvell2100 was being sarcastic, I do see your point --- Spider-Man and Iron Man have long been treated as the faces of the Marvel Universe, and a shared commonality between them is their considerable coteries of love interests. Why not portray Black Panther as at least equally desirable? And yes, bringing back Monica Lynne with a revamp that makes her less of a "damsel in distress" a la Lois Lane over at DC, or Mary Jane Watson or even Pepper Potts, since Iron Man got brought into this as well, back here at Marvel . . . that'd be an interesting direction for her.

Yea, it's all jokes I'm actually a big fan of Peter and Tony. My thing is if Marvel can find a way for characters with all types of personal shortcomings to get 3+ love interests then it's not wrong to expect their headlining black male hero to get similar treatment.

I mean we're meant to take Spider-Man as this struggling, socially awkward 20-something but he's regularly shown having flings and sexual tension with everything from models to cat burglars. Romance plays into the power fantasy aspect of the comic medium and to not have that element in any degree of regularity limits a character's potential.

It's not healthy for the long term development of the BP IP if his main love interest can be taken by editorial at the drop of a hat. That's why common sense updates/retcons to Monica, Nakia, and Zanda are necessary. 100% control means worthwhile development over an extended period of time, which equals a more compelling T'Challa, which hopefully leads to better sales.

[XPac]

Yea, it's all jokes I'm actually a big fan of Peter and Tony. My thing is if Marvel can find a way for characters with all types of personal shortcomings to get 3+ love interests then it's not wrong to expect their headlining black male hero to get similar treatment.

I mean we're meant to take Spider-Man as this struggling, socially awkward 20-something but he's regularly shown having flings and sexual tension with everything from models to cat burglars. Romance plays into the power fantasy aspect of the comic medium and to not have that element in any degree of regularity limits a character's potential.

It's not healthy for the long term development of the BP IP if his main love interest can be taken by editorial at the drop of a hat. That's why common sense updates/retcons to Monica, Nakia, and Zanda are necessary. 100% control means worthwhile development over an extended period of time, which equals a more compelling T'Challa, which hopefully leads to better sales.

Priest sort of tackled the multiple love interest thing during his run. He had Monica, Storm, and Nakia if you want to count her.

But I don't think Priest ever really intended romance to factor into T'CHalla life too heavily. He basically killed off the relationship with Monica. Nakia was obviouly never a legit love interest as she was just a crazy lovesick teenage girl. And Priest played off Claremonts take on Storm where she was a star crossed love who was never actually meant to be with T'Challa because she was from a different world.

So Priest gave us multiple love interests, but his T'Challa I think was meant to be single. Obviusly Hudlin would have a different take.

[chief12d]

In the Black Panther annuel, when she died of terminal cancer T'Challa did attempt to save her life by giving her the heart shaped herb. Easy way to power her up is show that the herb later does work in bringing her back with BP powers. She just needs to train since she has the powers but not the skill.

I like that idea too. And if not BP powers I could see her getting sonic abilities related to her voice. Monica is definitely someone that should go through a training arc lol.

Priest sort of tackled the multiple love interest thing during his run. He had Monica, Storm, and Nakia if you want to count her.

But I don't think Priest ever really intended romance to factor into T'CHalla life too heavily. He basically killed off the relationship with Monica. Nakia was obviouly never a legit love interest as she was just a crazy lovesick teenage girl. And Priest played off Claremonts take on Storm where she was a star crossed love who was never actually meant to be with T'Challa because she was from a different world.

So Priest gave us multiple love interests, but his T'Challa I think was meant to be single. Obviusly Hudlin would have a different take.

Priest went about it in a weird way though. In his entire run Monica was pretty irrelevant, if not annoying and Storm appeared briefly. The Nakia thing was just strange given the age difference and lack of mutual interest so I don't count it. Now he did show T'Challa as desirable, not just to those women but also villains like Zanda and Nightshade.

But Priest didn't do much in the way of building a solid relationship(s) for T'Challa, which in hindsight was not a good idea. I think he even said in an interview that T'Challa denies himself a wife and children, which to me is just ridiculous. Though even in his Deathstroke run, romance for the lead was not a priority, so I think it comes down to him not seeing it as important in some the stories he tells.

Hudlin did his own thing and made the logical decision to give T'Challa a long term partner, he just chose the wrong woman lol. A lot of T'Challa's lady issues come from short-sighted decisions by his writers and editorial allowing these decisions to see print.

[Cville]

I'm still on the train that Monica Lynne had T'challa's kid and she bounced because she didn't want him part of that life.

Was able to hide it from T'challa thanks to latent inhuman powers of... something lol.

Secret Wars aged his ass up thanks to shennigans.

Monica realized she panicked and F'd up and her heir to the Wakanda throne deserves to be in Wakanda and not... New Orleans or St. Louis or something not NYC lol.

So this kiddo is low teenage age (whatever teenage age is for joining teenage super hero teams... high school?), has grown up in the states instead of Wakanda (maybe some parallels to mcu killmonger to an extent), is an academic and sports powerhouse (its int he genes)... but Wakandan look down on him because he wasn't raised in Wakanda. He is a beast int he states and "meh" in Wakanda.

So he has to deal with being looked down at by snobbish teenage Wakandans, has to deal with the weight of the possible crown... unless he gets his ass beat, has to catch up to Wakandan studies (aka combat), has to catch up on whatever royal studies there are... all while trying ot get to know his dad, the legendary Black Panther and being pissed at his mom.

That is an easy 24 issues no one will read and then you throw him on super hero teenage teams from time to time that no one will read and T'challa gets his heir! woot woot. Genius lol

Sounds like the second coming of Gentle. Lol

[Ezyo1000]

I could see that too, but I really prefer a love interest that can hold her own. Wakanda is a xenophobic nation of warriors, I expect any potential queen to be able to at the very least defend themselves even if they can't help lead the charge the way Mera or Medusa would.

Stressing that her main quality is her voice is a really powerful idea and ties into the idea of her being a humanitarian or activist. She may not have been the next Beyonce, but maybe since T'Challa left her she's gone to school or gotten some worldly knowledge. She can easily fit into T'Challa's globetrotting lifestyle that way, the Nuhuman and/or vibranium powers would just be a way to prevent her from becoming a damsel in distress kind of woman.

And like I said, it puts her on an arc where she toughens up. She's not a mutant goddess, former Dora, or underworld princess, so she has something to prove if she'll ever truly be worthy of T'Challa imo. Yea I see the Collectors as a great way to develop underlings and influence for Zanda, especially if she's also queen of Narobia or some kind of princess in exile fighting for her throne.

Zanda of the 90's and 00's sucked but the original Zanda of the 70's was great. Redjack can obviously speak to this better than I can, but I feel like he was channeling that Zanda more than the Priest-Hudlin era version.

Yeah I guess it could be a deal that could pick up after Hudlins run. When T'Challa went to see Monica she went on a spiritual journey to find herself. She loves T'Challa abd seeing him marry someone else, despite the fact he does truly love her too and would of gladly married her, she looks to see if she can be about that royal life, as she goes through her journey she sees alot of stuff. She realizes even more how powerful her voice is, and she also learns a hard lesson that she cannot rely on other's to save her and she must save and be able to take care of herself. I dunno how she would get her powers tbh, I wouldn't say she gets tech powers or nuinhunan because tbh I think Zandas Powers should be that. Each li should have diff powers or ;malaika wakandan tech, Zanda inhuman, Monica maybe vibranium rare mutation lie not turning her into a monster, but being in Wakanda for so long and being an outsider, vibranium exposure affects no wakandans as of your born and raised there, your body naturally develops immunity to high exposure. But luckily instead she gains some sort of power.

Zanda did seem better in Kirby era of not somewhat eccentric, but she seemed capable. I think she should be a princess to start then move up to queen after her arc and she starts showing a little more maturity and capability. She should morph into redjacks but a more mature version, like she becomes a little less vain and more driven and T'Challa is forced to team up with her more often