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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!
The Panther explained to all assembled in NEW AVENGERS #29 that the final incursion drew nearer and the Illuminati felt stymied to stop it. Just then, Hank Pym appeared and in NEW AVENGERS #30 related his tale of discovering a group of near-omnipotent beings called the Beyonders stood behind the incursions. Together with Black Bolt of the Inhumans, T’Challa confronted Namor in AVENGERS #41 and believed he and his villainous Cabal perished.
The Black Panther and the Illuminati began to construct a lifeboat in AVENGERS #42, a way to save individuals to rebuild after the final incursion. The Galactic Council arrived at Earth in AVENGERS #43, announcing their intention to destroy the planet and halt the incursion. T’Challa met with the President of the United States in AVENGERS #44 to tell him that the Earth would be gone in six hours.
Reed Richards and the Panther piloted the lifeboat with their assembled braintrust aboard in SECRET WARS #1, but when they headed toward the point of collision between universes, a breach occurred that tore the craft in two. The mask of Doctor Doom appeared for a moment before them, but in an explosion of light they lost consciousness.
T’Challa awoke from stasis in SECRET WARS #3 to hear his old friend Doctor Strange explain that he and others slumbered for eight years and that Doom now ruled the world as its god-king. In SECRET WARS #4, Strange took the Panther to a battle between Doom and the Cabal, but when things turned sour, the magician teleported everyone away to save them from the god-king’s wrath.
The Panther and his old rival Namor found themselves in a land called Egyptia in SECRET WARS #5, but in SECRET WARS #6 they traveled to another area of Doom’s world to uncover a cache of powerful artifacts—including an Infinity Gauntlet—hidden from Doom by Doctor Strange.
On Doctor Doom’s artificial Battleworld, The Black Panther organized the legions of the dead in SECRET WARS #7 to go with him to fight the god-king. They arrived together in the middle of the final battle between Doom and his opponents in SECRET WARS #8, and T’Challa used an Infinity Gauntlet to attempt to take the tyrant down. Having distracted the demigod, the Panther stood back while Reed Richards confronted Doom for the last time in SECRET WARS #9.
On the newly recreated Prime Earth, T’Challa joined with a band of heroes in ULTIMATES #1 to address larger cosmic concerns, such as the threat of the world-devourer Galactus and out-of-control time travel. After aiding the world’s champions versus a celestial destructor in CIVIL WAR II #1, the Panther learned of a new Inhuman named Ulysses who possessed the power of future-visions, and the death of Tony Stark’s dearest friend James Rhodes.
The Ultimates tried to stand between the Inhumans and Iron Man in CIVIL WAR II #2 when Tony’s rage over Rhodey’s death brought him to blows with the royal family. T’Challa aided in the tracking of Stark after he kidnapped Ulysses, but when confronting Iron Man, the young Inhuman revealed a terrifying new vision of The Hulk killing all the super heroes. Hawkeye assassinated Bruce Banner shortly thereafter, and the Panther watched the archer’s trial from Ultimates headquarters in CIVIL WAR II #3.
Tony Stark threw himself into identifying the exact nature of Ulysses’ power in CIVIL WAR II #4, while The Black Panther worked with Captain Marvel in arresting a suspect from one of the Inhuman’s visions. Stark confronted the Ultimates and Marvel with his theories, but tempers soared when he and the captain angrily disagreed on the matter. Ultimately, T’Challa stood alongside Captain Marvel, the Inhumans, and the Guardians of the Galaxy in CIVIL WAR II #5 to battle Iron Man, the Avengers, and the X-Men.
Back in Wakanda, unrest among the populace grew in BLACK PANTHER #1, and an anarchist named Tetu fomented insurrection. Furthermore, two of T’Challa’s loyal guard betrayed him and flew off to start their own resistance movement.
The Black Panther traveled to Wakanda’s border with Niganda in BLACK PANTHER #2 to confront Tetu’s associate Zenzi. There, he battled against her power to influence men’s minds, and withdrew when she amplified his guilt over his lost sister Shuri. In BLACK PANTHER #3, T’Challa faced off against Tetu himself, but the rebel leader escaped the monarch’s wrath.
In BLACK PANTHER #4, the Panther’s council announced the troubles as revolution, and after he consulted his mother Ramonda on what to do, a terrorist bombing raid on the capital city nearly killed the woman. Angered, T’Challa called in help from former Avenger Manifold in BLACK PANTHER #5, as well as sought advice from a collection of wily members of the world’s various intelligence leaders. Tetu enlisted Zeke Stane to help him in BLACK PANTHER #6, and together with the Fenris Twins, the villain captured the Panther during a raid on Tetu’s base. In BLACK PANTHER #7, T’Challa’s friends the Crew rescued him and helped him break through his enemy’s troops.
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