T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2021

[CosmiComic]

Because they’re both the most prominent Black superheroes at Marvel and they said, “hey let’s go with that!”

I still think Monica Rambeau would’ve been the better option. It would’ve been entertaining to see her personality bounce off of T’Challas if they were a couple.

Plus, she's an actual Avenger, a team he's actually on

[Devaishwarya]

Plus, she's an actual Avenger, a team he's actually on

But she's in a relationship with Blue Marvel...and the writers should not mess with that.

[CosmiComic]

But she's in a relationship with Blue Marvel...and the writers should not mess with that.

But isn't he old?

I was really more referring to years ago when she first came on the team. They could've had a Black couple in the Avengers but didn't

[Micabe]

Maybe he should stay single for a while until they actually develop a good idea for a love interest.

Why exactly did they put him with Storm in the first place? Did the writers ever explain that?

Ororo's and T'Challa's sexual attraction began in Marvel Team-Up v1 100.

[chief12d]

Because those franchises control the second person in the "power couple"

Their isn't another popular character in the mythos to fill that "power" role, hence why I said "no mas!"

It isn't so much that they are both powered, I meanted powered as "popular" so to speak.

That’s fair, I’m still team Monica all the way because it wouldn’t take much to revamp her into being a strong Lois Lane type. But I’m not 100% opposed to the idea of a powered love interest it would just have to be under the right writer and frankly I’m not sure if we’ll be getting many of those anytime soon. If T’Challa had to be with a low profile, but capable love interest I’m still partial to Nightshade for reasons I’ve laid out in other posts.

She’s an American anti-hero with ties to the world of espionage, a scientist, and brings a sense of passion and wit to T’Challa that could make him a more fleshed out character. And the biggest benefit is that she’s under the control of the Avengers office and has no major ties to other franchises. She’s a free agent that a writer could easily annex into the BP world.

[CosmiComic]

Ororo's and T'Challa's sexual attraction began in Marvel Team-Up v1 100.

But they weren't really consistent from then until they got married, were they?

[chief12d]

Exactly. It doesn't matter what woman storm is replaced with it will always be seen as a step down if he ever tried to marry again. So unless a capable BlackPanther creator has full control and oversight over both characters then it's never going to work

I do think in terms of marketing it’ll be hard to ever really displace Storm as T’Challa’s one true love unfortunately. Over a decade of comics, gaming, and additional Marvel content has pushed the two as a couple to the point that casuals won’t really accept anyone else. Hell one of the big discussions happening after Disney bought Fox was how Storm was gonna be made T’Challa’s wife, it’ll take many years before T’Challa can get a strong multimedia alternative to Storm in the public consciousness.

Comics are a different matter though. If comic Nakia weren’t such a mess of a character I’d be certain that the comics would’ve started elevating her, but with Coates just killing two versions of the character I don’t know if we’ll be seeing her again. That said, the comics aren’t 100% beholden to what came before or what happens in other mediums so there’s still plenty of space to build a new love interest there. And like Devaishwarya said, I doubt people will be up in arms if he were to move on. I do think T’Challa will probably never get married again, which I’m fine with as long as there’s a consistent love interest that adds something to the story and develops his character.

[Ezyo1000]

It is brutal man.

Last 3 things i've gotten from USPS have disappeared for significant amounts of time. 2 of them eventually showed up but Im losing hope on my trade....

If I could tell ahead of time, I simply wouldn't order a thing that is shipped USPS.

the fact politics got into the postal SERVICE is insane. This country is stupid.

What ? How what is going on with that?

[CosmiComic]

I do think in terms of marketing it’ll be hard to ever really displace Storm as T’Challa’s one true love unfortunately. Over a decade of comics, gaming, and additional Marvel content has pushed the two as a couple to the point that casuals won’t really accept anyone else. Hell one of the big discussions happening after Disney bought Fox was how Storm was gonna be made T’Challa’s wife, it’ll take many years before T’Challa can get a strong multimedia alternative to Storm in the public consciousness.

Comics are a different matter though. If comic Nakia weren’t such a mess of a character I’d be certain that the comics would’ve started elevating her, but with Coates just killing two versions of the character I don’t know if we’ll be seeing her again. That said, the comics aren’t 100% beholden to what came before or what happens in other mediums so there’s still plenty of space to build a new love interest there. And like Devaishwarya said, I doubt people will be up in arms if he were to move on. I do think T’Challa will probably never get married again, which I’m fine with as long as there’s a consistent love interest that adds something to the story and develops his character.

I generally agree, although I feel if he's not going to be in a permanent relationship, I wouldn't want the comics to waste time on romance at all. Of course, I feel that way about all comic book heroes.

It bugged me how people were talking about Storm being BP's wife in the MCU, or BP2 introducing Storm, as if that's all either character has done. We just had a bunch of movies with BP doing a lot, yet that's what gets talked about!

[MindofShadow]

But they weren't really consistent from then until they got married, were they?

No

Hudlin took something that was teased in the past and decided to run with it, thinking he could elevate both characters out of D list background purgatory and turn them into something more (aka bigger, aka more money). He basically took the biggest black male and the biggest black female characters and went, "lets rule the world."

Hudlin is bigger than comics in the entertainment world and I bet he was thinking beyond selling floppies at rinky dink comic stores. Unfortunately, it seems like he did not anticipate the rinky dink internal squabbling of comics.

[Ezyo1000]

Exactly. It doesn't matter what woman storm is replaced with it will always be seen as a step down if he ever tried to marry again. So unless a capable BlackPanther creator has full control and oversight over both characters then it's never going to work

LOL my dude, of Marvel had made Okoye T'Challas LI in the movie, given fab reception and such, she would of blown Storm out of the water. Storm is not on some unobtainable pedestal at all. The only people complaining would probably be x fans especially of T'Challa told her off on panel

I'm still in the "magical love interest" camp, because it would expand the kinds of stories told about the couple. The problem with him dating a superhero is that it tends to suggest superhero plots, and frankly I've read too many of those.

But Wakanda & magic don't really get along, despite the existence of the Panther God(dess) and folks like Zawavari. Even the much-vaunted "shadow physics" was really just a fancier kind of science at the end of the day. And the biggest mystical threat T'Challa has defeated was beaten through science. (A cool scene, but really not all that impressive in retrospect).

THe thing is, most of the unattached magic-users at Marvel are either too old or too young.

RJ did a good job mixing magic and science with KiB for Shuri.

But a magic user does open up more stories T'Challa usually isn't involved in so I would be down

[CosmiComic]

No

Hudlin took something that was teased in the past and decided to run with it, thinking he could elevate both characters out of D list background purgatory and turn them into something more (aka bigger, aka more money). He basically took the biggest black male and the biggest black female characters and went, "lets rule the world."

Hudlin is bigger than comics in the entertainment world and I bet he was thinking beyond selling floppies at rinky dink comic stores. Unfortunately, it seems like he did not anticipate the rinky dink internal squabbling of comics.

That's what I thought. Basically they're together because they're Marvel's two biggest Black heroes, and the two biggest African ones. It seems so random otherwise though.

[Ekie]

No

Hudlin took something that was teased in the past and decided to run with it, thinking he could elevate both characters out of D list background purgatory and turn them into something more (aka bigger, aka more money). He basically took the biggest black male and the biggest black female characters and went, "lets rule the world."

Hudlin is bigger than comics in the entertainment world and I bet he was thinking beyond selling floppies at rinky dink comic stores. Unfortunately, it seems like he did not anticipate the rinky dink internal squabbling of comics.

It's funny you say that. He actually liked a tweet of mine that said Black Panther and storm getting married in the MCU would dominate pop culture completely completely completely since there is no seperate X-office to try and sabotage it.

[CosmiComic]

It's funny you say that. He actually liked a tweet of mine that said Black Panther and storm getting married in the MCU would dominate pop culture completely completely completely since there is no seperate X-office to try and sabotage it.

Did anyone here actually want to see them together in the MCU? Just curious

[Ekie]

LOL my dude, of Marvel had made Okoye T'Challas LI in the movie, given fab reception and such, she would of blown Storm out of the water. Storm is not on some unobtainable pedestal at all. The only people complaining would probably be x fans especially of T'Challa told her off on panel



RJ did a good job mixing magic and science with KiB for Shuri.

But a magic user does open up more stories T'Challa usually isn't involved in so I would be down

But okoye and storm are on completely different levels interms of public popularity. Storm is an A-list character treated like a c-list character. Okoye even now isnt even a clister. Ppl think she's Ayo.
The reception would have been nice and heartwarming I'm sure. But it definitely wouldn't have been the biggest thing to happen in pop culture for the casuals who readily recognize Storm