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For more than 50 years, the Black Panther has stood at the forefront on the Marvel Universe. With T’Challa appearing on the big screen again this year in both Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” take a look back at over five decades worth of comic book adventures for the King of Wakanda!
Having accepted Matt Murdock’s request to become the new protector of Hell’s Kitchen, T’Challa, while searching for Vlad in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #514, ran across Luke Cage, while elsewhere his prey set a trap for him. This led to a rooftop fight between T’Challa and the crime boss in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #515.
The Panther received some unwanted help in the form of Spider-Man in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #516, while a gang war broke out on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Luke Cage picked a fight with T’Challa in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #517, and Vlad sought revenge for the death of his wife, believing the Panther to be responsible, missing the true culprit: a serial killer targeting child abusers. The final battle between Black Panther and the crime lord occurred in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #518.
Spider-Man’s longtime foe, Kraven the Hunter, began a hunt for the Panther in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #519, but T’Challa saw Storm clouds roll in to Manhattan when his queen arrived from Wakanda in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #520.
A revived Hate Monger targeted a New York cop turned bigoted vigilante in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #521 to twist him further. The American Panther clashed with The Black Panther in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #522, but even after T’Challa broke the villain’s control over his opponent in BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #523, his patriotic counterpart still spewed intolerance and anger.
In BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #523.1, the Panther looked into the murders of people he’d helped in the past, and in BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #524, he rescued an eight-year-old girl from a crook who’d kidnapped her from The Kingpin – all part of a plot to attack Wakanda.
In AVENGERS #19, T’Challa heard an invitation from Captain America to rejoin the Avengers. The Panther turned him down, but suggested his queen, the X-Men’s Storm, in his stead.
In BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #525, the Panther tried to protect a Wakandan bank worker from a Hand assassination attempt, and later discovered that The Kingpin stood behind the attack. Kingpin sent Typhoid Mary and Lady Bullseye to knock off T’Challa in BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #526, so the Panther brought Luke Cage and The Falcon in to help in BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #527.
Angered over the Black Panther’s interference, Kingpin sent the Hand on a direct assault on Wakanda in BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #528, while back in America, T’Challa brought about his endgame against the crime boss in BLACK PANTHER: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #529, and later told Daredevil that he’d be returning to his homeland.
Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman traveled to the African nation at the invitation of the Black Panther in FANTASTIC FOUR #607. There, T’Challa enlisted Reed to help him on a quest to restore his powers through the Panther God in FANTASTIC FOUR #608.
Alongside the Avengers, the Panther learned of the imminent approach of the destructive Phoenix Force in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1. Heading to the X-Men’s compound on the island of Utopia in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #2, T’Challa entered into combat with the mutants when they refused to release Hope Summers, the young girl targeted by the Phoenix, into Avengers custody. Hope disappeared on her own in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #3, prompting the Panther to return to Wakanda in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #4 to try and figure out where she might be hiding.
Storm approached her husband in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN: VERSUS #5, but the meeting devolved into a battle between the two. When the Phoenix inhabited five of the mutants and they in turn started to remake the world in their image in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #6, the Panther headed to Utopia again to stop them, but failed. When Red Hulk left the Avengers to assassinate Cyclops in AVENGERS #28, Emma Frost blasted him back to Wakanda.
The Panther and Iron Man worked together to discover a way to halt the Phoenix Five’s progress in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #7, but Namor brought a massive tidal wave to destroy Wakanda out of rage for previous slights. T’Challa and the Avengers decided a telepath might help them in AVENGERS #29, but their attentions swung to fighting the Sub-Mariner in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #8. In AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #9, the Panther informed Storm that their marriage was over while he prepared to head off on an Avengers mission to rescue their comrades trapped in a volcano by the Phoenix Five.
Ultimately, after failing to stall Cyclops in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #11, the Black Panther and the Avengers helped drive the Phoenix Force away in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #12, but not before T’Challa, Iron Man, and Beast fought their opposite scientific numbers among the X-Men in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN: VERSUS #6.
The Avengers/X-Men war — and, sadly, his marriage — now behind him, T’challa attended a party to welcome Janet Van Dyne back from her exile in the Microverse in AVENGERS #34.
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