T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2024

[Frontier]

Hunter isn’t going to be a truly sellable character as long as he’s white tbh. His race has kept him from being a much bigger player in BP lore than his narrative and uniqueness would merit because black writers generally don’t want to center him or his feelings of alienation in a story about BP. And there’s a loud enough subset of black fans that would complain about a white dude taking up space in Marvel’s biggest and blackest franchise.

And with trolls and online racists increasingly latching onto the character as part of the anti-race swapping debate I see him being continually ignored in BP media. Because you know the second he appears in a major BP comic or the video game there’s gonna be hella fan art and disproportionate discussion about him being Black Panther.

If/when Marvel puts together another big budget BP project (be it rebooted movies, games, etc.) Marvel is gonna need to make him an African albino instead of European to sidestep the issue. It keeps the white motif he’s known for and preserves his alienation narrative because he’s still not ethnically Wakandan. It also sheds light on the very real issues Africans with albinism and vitiligo face on the continent, albeit not as a direct commentary. Hunter’s a character with massive potential as the Red Hood of the BP franchise but as long as he’s T’Challa’s white older brother he’s always gonna be an awkward fit as a major supporting character. Redjack handled him about as well as he could be handled though while keeping it kid-friendly.

I feel like it misses the point of Hunter for him to not be white even if I see where you're coming from. But I don't expect them to ever go the African albino route.

[Ekie]

Hunter isn’t going to be a truly sellable character as long as he’s white tbh. His race has kept him from being a much bigger player in BP lore than his narrative and uniqueness would merit because black writers generally don’t want to center him or his feelings of alienation in a story about BP. And there’s a loud enough subset of black fans that would complain about a white dude taking up space in Marvel’s biggest and blackest franchise.

And with trolls and online racists increasingly latching onto the character as part of the anti-race swapping debate I see him being continually ignored in BP media. Because you know the second he appears in a major BP comic or the video game there’s gonna be hella fan art and disproportionate discussion about him being Black Panther.

If/when Marvel puts together another big budget BP project (be it rebooted movies, games, etc.) Marvel is gonna need to make him an African albino instead of European to sidestep the issue. It keeps the white motif he’s known for and preserves his alienation narrative because he’s still not ethnically Wakandan. It also sheds light on the very real issues Africans with albinism and vitiligo face on the continent, albeit not as a direct commentary. Hunter’s a character with massive potential as the Red Hood of the BP franchise but as long as he’s T’Challa’s white older brother he’s always gonna be an awkward fit as a major supporting character. Redjack handled him about as well as he could be handled though while keeping it kid-friendly.

Ive always said make him hispanic.
Like you said it keeps all the nartative while discarding the takes you reference.
And yea RedJack pulled it off well in a saturday morning cartoon so it can be done.

[chief12d]

I feel like it misses the point of Hunter for him to not be white even if I see where you're coming from.

Him being white is a probably a big part of why he doesn’t get used in modern comics and is ignored in BP media. I don’t see it as fundamental because he wouldn’t be treated very differently even if he were a black African. Wakandans aren’t anti-white, they’re anti-not Wakandan.

The only thing him being white provides is an easy explanation for how he was able to be in spaces your average Wakandan agent wouldn’t imo. That’s also easy to sidestep by focusing more on the death squad aspect of the Hatut Zeraze than the infiltrator element.

But I definitely get that it would spark some level of controversy either way and that something is lost by changing his race. Still, I don’t think that with the modern push in some corners for a white BP (the Ryan Gosling meme, the white BP fan art) that Hunter becomes a major player. This is what I was talking about earlier in reference to Marvel letting old BP story elements fall into obscurity in favor of newer stuff.

[skyvolt2000]

Hunter isn’t going to be a truly sellable character as long as he’s white tbh. His race has kept him from being a much bigger player in BP lore than his narrative and uniqueness would merit because black writers generally don’t want to center him or his feelings of alienation in a story about BP. And there’s a loud enough subset of black fans that would complain about a white dude taking up space in Marvel’s biggest and blackest franchise.

And with trolls and online racists increasingly latching onto the character as part of the anti-race swapping debate I see him being continually ignored in BP media. Because you know the second he appears in a major BP comic or the video game there’s gonna be hella fan art and disproportionate discussion about him being Black Panther.

White Africans do exist.

And to be honest who cares about that segment of black fans who would complain. Where have they been the LAST 8 years of bad Black Panther books?

Hunter didn't create rape camps and told women to be happy to be raped.

We have had enough trash eating up pages of Black Panther.

And for the trolls-that issue falls on the segment of folks who keep screaming "it's a mantle" and the real star of the franchise is Wakanda. So using that logic-Hunter as BP shouldn't be an issue.
Marvel allowed that mess to happen not Black Panther fans nor his creators.

If Marvel actually HIRED writers who CARED about the franchise that Hunter issue could be dealt with properly.

Maybe including Hunter will educate a certain segment that African is not just one demographic.

[chief12d]

Ive always said make him hispanic.
Like you said it keeps all the nartative while discarding the takes you reference.
And yea RedJack pulled it off well in a saturday morning cartoon so it can be done.

That could also work, I’ve always thought albino makes the most sense just because it keeps the white motif instead of him just being light skinned as a Hispanic or Asian. Also relates to the kind of social commentary that I think is relatively noncontroversial, especially since many Afro-fantasy and afrofuturist works feature black characters with skin conditions.

But overall, I do wonder how Hunter/the Hatut Zeraze will be used in future projects. Spy force or villains? Some mixture of both? The Hatut Zeraze are interesting but they don’t get much focus as a concept beyond being occasional red shirts for T’Challa to beat up. They need to have a face, the way Okoye is for the Dora Milaje and Zawavari is for the magic side of Wakanda.

[Marvell2100]

Dethklok is the only named character he's fought at the moment. And the actual encounter turned out fairly underwhelming and quickly resolved despite being built up for a couple issues. Despite the crime family setting the book hasn't been taking advantage of that by having the gangsters hiring supervillains or other special hired help to fight BP.

As noted the book is overtly serialized. Compared to the current Moon Knight run which is able to better balance an ongoing storyline while having a specific problem/threat for each issue.

I have a question. What is the gov't doing while all this crime is going on?

Isn't that what Coates criticized T'Challa about?

[chief12d]

White Africans do exist.

And to be honest who cares about that segment of black fans who would complain. Where have they been the LAST 8 years of bad Black Panther books?

Hunter didn't create rape camps and told women to be happy to be raped.

We have had enough trash eating up pages of Black Panther.

And for the trolls-that issue falls on the segment of folks who keep screaming "it's a mantle" and the real star of the franchise is Wakanda. So using that logic-Hunter as BP shouldn't be an issue.
Marvel allowed that mess to happen not Black Panther fans nor his creators.

If Marvel actually HIRED writers who CARED about the franchise that Hunter issue could be dealt with properly.

Maybe including Hunter will educate a certain segment that African is not just one demographic.

As someone who’s half-African I get that. But I’m not gonna pretend that most people do and that large swaths of the audience are emotionally intelligent and media literate enough to handle that kind of subject matter, on both ends of the spectrum.

Hunter’s a character designed to invite those tougher conversations about identity and belonging in ways I generally don’t think Marvel is equipped to handle, hence why I’d rather see the character raceswapped in an adaptation rather than not used at all. Could be me overthinking the topic but I see the character as a lightning rod for controversy and bad faith takes if put on a big enough platform, and I agree a lot of it is a result of the “it’s a mantle” discourse.

But as RJ showed, I think there are ways to use the character effectively as is. Not sure how his work would be received if it reached more people but it’s hard to deny the care that went into the sibling dynamic he crafted between T’Challa, Hunter, and Shuri, which was among the best takes in any medium

[Ekie]

As someone who’s half-African I get that. But I’m not gonna pretend that most people do and that large swaths of the audience are emotionally intelligent and media literate enough to handle that kind of subject matter, on both ends of the spectrum.

Hunter’s a character designed to invite those tougher conversations about identity and belonging in ways I generally don’t think Marvel is equipped to handle, hence why I’d rather see the character raceswapped in an adaptation rather than not used at all. Could be me overthinking the topic but I see the character as a lightning rod for controversy and bad faith takes if put on a big enough platform, and I agree a lot of it is a result of the “it’s a mantle” discourse.

But as RJ showed, I think there are ways to use the character effectively as is. Not sure how his work would be received if it reached more people but it’s hard to deny the care that went into the sibling dynamic he crafted between T’Challa, Hunter, and Shuri, which was among the best takes in any medium

Yes it sucks that we didn't get more of that dynamic and the history behind it due to obvious budget and time constraints

[Ezyo1000]

I liked his Hunter and Shuri too. My favorite versions of all three of those characters. Most sellable version of Hunter for sure.

This is true, all 3 were well presented, although I would say I like RJs KiB version of Shuri better because she had her own lane that was unique to her and allowed for a difference between their genius, with alchemy being more Shuris specialty

Hunter isn’t going to be a truly sellable character as long as he’s white tbh. His race has kept him from being a much bigger player in BP lore than his narrative and uniqueness would merit because black writers generally don’t want to center him or his feelings of alienation in a story about BP. And there’s a loud enough subset of black fans that would complain about a white dude taking up space in Marvel’s biggest and blackest franchise.

And with trolls and online racists increasingly latching onto the character as part of the anti-race swapping debate I see him being continually ignored in BP media. Because you know the second he appears in a major BP comic or the video game there’s gonna be hella fan art and disproportionate discussion about him being Black Panther.

If/when Marvel puts together another big budget BP project (be it rebooted movies, games, etc.) Marvel is gonna need to make him an African albino instead of European to sidestep the issue. It keeps the white motif he’s known for and preserves his alienation narrative because he’s still not ethnically Wakandan. It also sheds light on the very real issues Africans with albinism and vitiligo face on the continent, albeit not as a direct commentary. Hunter’s a character with massive potential as the Red Hood of the BP franchise but as long as he’s T’Challa’s white older brother he’s always gonna be an awkward fit as a major supporting character. Redjack handled him about as well as he could be handled though while keeping it kid-friendly.

Isn't Hunter supposed to be basically a reverse Tarzan? Would Wakandans ever discriminate against albinos? Maybe it could be done in a way that didn't stigmatize them but it could be interesting for Hunter, though like you said they probably won't have a white character in a super prominent role about an African nation. But I'm also fine with him just being an antagonist that shows up from Time to time

[KingNomarch]

Yeah Hunter was basically created as a subversion of the white savior trope. He doesn’t get to become king, he was never accepted by the people except his parents, and he isn’t the best that’s T’Challa. Always found it interesting that despite their hatred for him, Hunter is their ideal king, xenophobic traditionalist that hates outsiders and is willing to do whatever it takes to protect Wakanda. If a writer decides to reimagine his origins then they should take inspiration from Redjack and Legends by making him closer to T’Challa in age so that there isn’t a 10+ gap and focus his animosity towards T’Challa on his belief that he doesn’t think that T’Challa is worthy because he’s going against tradition and sees him as “soft”. Also I’d give him the artificial HSH to put him on T’Challa’s physical level and improve his skill as wells he should be shown on the same level as characters like T’Challa in h2h with how Priest described him and statements Hunter made, he shouldn’t have gotten beaten by Sam the way he did if that was the case.

Of all of the BP supporting cast Hunter is by far my favorite. Cool suit, personality, leader of the Hatute Zeraze, someone on T’Challa’s intellectual level. It is a shame that he hasn’t been used to his potential. He’s basically T’Challa without the morals and a guy like that running around would be interesting in the wider MU. Writers that have an issue with his race need to get over it especially since Coates’ stuff 10x more problematic. I could care less about people that would complain about Hunter getting more prominence online since they wouldn’t be buying the comics anyway. They already complained about the very first BP teaser “focusing on 2 white men” and to this day complain about Ross’ inclusion in the first movie. The white B.P. memes are never going away and the rumors going around about Ryan Gosling wanting to join the MCU already has them getting ramped up again.

[Frontier]

I wonder if you could've replaced Beisa with Zanda since we already had a "Catwoman" type.

Then again, I guess we needed a more explicit, trans, version of Catwoman .

It really has become clear how current BP writers don't really care much about continuity or the past and just doing their own thing with their own characters. Well, other than Hill.

Him being white is a probably a big part of why he doesn’t get used in modern comics and is ignored in BP media. I don’t see it as fundamental because he wouldn’t be treated very differently even if he were a black African. Wakandans aren’t anti-white, they’re anti-not Wakandan.

The only thing him being white provides is an easy explanation for how he was able to be in spaces your average Wakandan agent wouldn’t imo. That’s also easy to sidestep by focusing more on the death squad aspect of the Hatut Zeraze than the infiltrator element.

But I definitely get that it would spark some level of controversy either way and that something is lost by changing his race. Still, I don’t think that with the modern push in some corners for a white BP (the Ryan Gosling meme, the white BP fan art) that Hunter becomes a major player. This is what I was talking about earlier in reference to Marvel letting old BP story elements fall into obscurity in favor of newer stuff.

I think it's also just the obvious visual aspect and the symbolism behind him being "White Wolf."

[Mantis-Ray]

IIRC Gillis has rights issues with Marvel that’s prevented some of the concepts from his 80s mini series from being used too heavily. Maybe it’s not a thing anymore but I think any original characters he created might have restrictions, including characters like Malaika.

Huh so thats why I can't seem to find the 80's mini in any recent collections. This makes a lot of sense now.

Also yeah I agree that racelifting Hunter could help him get more visibility. As mentioned making him Latino or another ethnicity could give him a representation boost over being a waspy white guy if there are concerns over promoting a white character in a mostly black cast.

The funny thing is Hunter, to use a Devil May Cry reference, is basically T'Challa's Vergil to his Dante. He's got the rival appeal characters like Venom, Owlman, or General Zod have which is always an inherently popular role. He's an antagonistic sibling, got a cool costume and powers that directly counterparts the hero, has a sad backstory that ties into a feeling of inadequacy to his hero sibling, has a motivation that is in a way noble. People eat that **** up, its why Sesshomaru from Inuyasha is so popular.

Hell MCU Killmonger basically composited some of Hunter's elements. Hunter has a lot of stuff that can, should make him really popular, its just his race provides a tricky problem to how to market him.

[4sake Baned]

Hunter isn’t going to be a truly sellable character as long as he’s white tbh. His race has kept him from being a much bigger player in BP lore than his narrative and uniqueness would merit because black writers generally don’t want to center him or his feelings of alienation in a story about BP. And there’s a loud enough subset of black fans that would complain about a white dude taking up space in Marvel’s biggest and blackest franchise.

And with trolls and online racists increasingly latching onto the character as part of the anti-race swapping debate I see him being continually ignored in BP media. Because you know the second he appears in a major BP comic or the video game there’s gonna be hella fan art and disproportionate discussion about him being Black Panther.

If/when Marvel puts together another big budget BP project (be it rebooted movies, games, etc.) Marvel is gonna need to make him an African albino instead of European to sidestep the issue. It keeps the white motif he’s known for and preserves his alienation narrative because he’s still not ethnically Wakandan. It also sheds light on the very real issues Africans with albinism and vitiligo face on the continent, albeit not as a direct commentary. Hunter’s a character with massive potential as the Red Hood of the BP franchise but as long as he’s T’Challa’s white older brother he’s always gonna be an awkward fit as a major supporting character. Redjack handled him about as well as he could be handled though while keeping it kid-friendly.

I feel the same way , for Hunter to be used & used to his best ability to get over with a larger non blk comics audience he’s needs to be Albino or Mixed or Passing ( being able to pass for white but is Blk mixed person).. Same needs to be done with Blue Marvel wife/mother of his kids, Sliver Surfer & few other characters I can think of.. I have yet to be met a adult blk non comic book fan who doesn’t get piss or what is this bs when I tell them about T’Challa & Shuri “white brother” lol.Followed by asking where is Cap, Thor, Tony, Peter & etc Blk brothers lol since BP gotta have one lol.. The next statement is usually how thankful they were he was no where near the movie which I definitely agree with..

[Mantis-Ray]

I feel the same way , for Hunter to be used & used to his best ability to get over with a larger non blk comics audience he’s needs to be Albino or Mixed or Passing ( being able to pass for white but is Blk mixed person).. Same needs to be done with Blue Marvel wife/mother of his kids, Sliver Surfer & few other characters I can think of.. I have yet to be met a adult blk non comic book fan who doesn’t get piss or what is this bs when I tell them about T’Challa & Shuri “white brother” lol.Followed by asking where is Cap, Thor, Tony, Peter & etc Blk brothers lol since BP gotta have one lol.. The next statement is usually how thankful they were he was no where near the movie which I definitely agree with..

The funny thing is those characters do in fact have secret sibling characters.

[skyvolt2000]

I feel the same way , for Hunter to be used & used to his best ability to get over with a larger non blk comics audience he’s needs to be Albino or Mixed or Passing ( being able to pass for white but is Blk mixed person).. Same needs to be done with Blue Marvel wife/mother of his kids, Sliver Surfer & few other characters I can think of.. I have yet to be met a adult blk non comic book fan who doesn’t get piss or what is this bs when I tell them about T’Challa & Shuri “white brother” lol.Followed by asking where is Cap, Thor, Tony, Peter & etc Blk brothers lol since BP gotta have one lol.. The next statement is usually how thankful they were he was no where near the movie which I definitely agree with..

Maybe just MAYBE those folks need to be more concerned why a Black Panther book in the past 8 years had rape camps, black male bashing, T'Challa being talked down to, getting beat up by Cap America and tossed out of his own kingdom by a wannabe Amanda Waller.

Because some of those same folks would have no issue with T'Challa's ex laying in bed or being with CERTAIN WHITE X-MEN.
Or the various black shows that had black women throwing themselves into the arms of white men. While calling black men with white women everything in the BOOK.

Oh maybe you should tell those folks about how much STUFF has been taken away from not just T'Challa given to others including Shuri.

Didn't T'Challa make Falcon's wings unlike the movie?
Didn't T'Challa make a lot of stuff in comics?
Wasn't T'Challa way smarter than his movie and novel versions?

But a white Hunter is the real issue.

I sure there are folks who feel the SAME way about his sister existing.