Originally Posted by
chief12d
Nah, I don't need that in my Black Panther comics. To be clear, I don't want an infallible guy who doesn't have moments of self-doubt or weakness. But those moments should be special and carry weight, not define him. Black Panther stories shouldn't be mired in an overindulgence of guilt that casts T'Challa as some sort of perpetually tragic figure. He's supposed to be almost scary in his single-mindedness to integrate Wakanda on the world stage while protecting his kingdom and the global peace.
No one is saying those two things should never conflict. In fact, they absolutely should in order to create compelling conflict. But if it always devolves into him not even wanting the throne or seeing his people as nothing more than a burden then it's a betrayal of the idealized warrior-king he's supposed to be. T'Challa deals with a lot of internal and external turmoil but the way certain writers manifest it is lazy.
Doubly so if it always takes place in the context of Wakanda getting invaded and him having to go through the motions of questioning himself. One 5-issue arc post-Secret Wars was acceptable. Wakanda got dragged through the mud and understandably there's some soul searching to do. But it's 2020 and T'Challa is still complaining about how he doesn't want to be king? How he still hasn't truly accepted the responsibilities it entails?
There's been no sense of movement for his character because writers (Coates and his associates) are committed to a deconstructive take on his character that exclusively focuses on his seemingly irredeemable failures to Wakanda. They haven't presented a T'Challa that's proactive in his heroism and can unashamedly engage with his people and the outside world with confidence. Like I said, this isn't about T'Challa questioning himself. It's about how the only story we've been getting is him being admonished for his past mistakes and constantly questioning if he's worthy.
T'Challa is going to sometimes put the world before Wakanda. Sometimes he'll do the opposite. It's a waste of time for there to be soliloquies about how one or the other is causing him some great crisis of conscious. It doesn't have to be like that every time he makes a choice. Especially if these choices aren't occurring in the Black Panther books proper. He's a comic book character and it shouldn't be that deep.