The Black Panther has been around for more than 50 years, having debuted all the way back in 1966. Since his debut, the character has gone through more than a few changes, which have influenced the development of his portrayal in the MCU. While he has been a major character in the Marvel Universe for years, many people who don't regularly read the books are getting their introduction to the Black Panther thanks to his portrayal by Chadwick Boseman in Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther leaving much to the pages of Marvel Comics.
Since Disney has purchased Marvel and now controls the MCU, there are some facts about the character (and many others) that will likely remain on the page and off the screen. We dug through 50+ years of comics to find some of the more interesting aspects of the Black Panther that might not make it to screen. We hope that some of these will break through, but given property rights and the difficulty in transferring everything to the screen, most will remain buried. Here are 15 Dark Secrets That Disney Wants To Keep Hidden From MCU Fans but if you know of some more, please sound off in the comments and let us know!
15 HIS ORIGINAL COSTUME KIND OF SUCKED
Back when the good folks at Marvel were hard at work to create a new superhero, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby got to designing the character who would one day become the Black Panther, but he didn't start out the same. Originally, the Black Panther was to be adorned slightly differently than how we know him today. The first obvious difference is the name, but we will get to that shortly because there is nothing similar about the hero's threads.
When Black Panther first debuted in Fantastic Four #52, written by Lee and penciled by Kirby, he wore the black bodysuit we know today, but his original design called for yellow with black stripes, the letters "C" and "T" prominently displayed and a rather large collared cape. It's unlikely he would be the Black Panther we know today had he kept this original concept costume.
14 HE BRIEFLY CHANGED HIS NAME TO BLACK LEOPARD
A lot of people incorrectly associate the character's name with the political group, The Black Panther Party. While the comic book character came into being a few months before the group, the similarities in name did cause some controversy in the 1960s. In an attempt to thwart this association, Marvel decided it would be easiest to simply change the name of their character to Black Leopard.
This occurred in Fantastic Four #119, written by Roy Thomas and penciled by John Buscema, with the explanation in the panel above. The name-change only lasted for year before Marvel decided it was time to return the character to his original published name, but it is certainly interesting to see how a political group caused a comic book publisher to change the name of one of its characters.
13 HIS ORIGINAL NAME WAS COAL TIGER
Looking back at the incredibly silly costume Jack Kirby first conceptualized and you will see the letters "C" and "T" featured prominently. Those are a reference to the character's original name: Coal Tiger. Marvel did publish the original Kirby design (pictured) as an alternate universe version of T'Challa who was a member of the superhero team, The Gatherers, in Avengers #355, written by Bob Harras and penciled by Steven Epting.
If you're thinking that there is a character named Coal Tiger, you aren't mistaken. Years after Black Panther debuted, an alternate future reality version of his son, T'Chaka, took on the name of Coal Tiger. He has the ability to transform into a humanoid werecat who possesses many of the same superhuman abilities of his father. He first appeared in A-Next #4, written by Tom DeFalco and penciled by Ron Frenz in 1999.
12 HE ONCE FOUGHT A T-REX IN HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT
Before he landed a series of his own, Black Panther was featured in a series titled Jungle Action, wherein we got to see him in a number of interesting adventures. In Jungle Action #14, written by Don McGregor and penciled by Billy Graham, we get to see T'Challa find himself in a place many Marvel superheroes have been: in the mouth of a tyrannosaurus rex.
This sort of thing happens from time-to-time in Marvel comics thanks to the Savage Land. In this issue, T'Challa takes on a T-Rex and is nearly killed, but find a way to fight the great prehistoric beast. He creates a makeshift catapult thanks to his genius and a nearby tree. He fires a large boulder smack between the beast's eyes and defeats him making this a story Disney isn't likely to tell anytime soon.
11 HE MARRIED AND DIVORCED STORM
Back when all the superheroes of Marvel were getting ready to kill one another in the Civil War event, a moment of tranquil peace broke out thanks to the marriage of T'Challa and Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm of the X-Men. The couple had been romantically involved for years having started out as close friends and the wedding was a prominent event in Marvel Comics.
Sadly, their divorce came after T'Challa was forced to ban all mutants from Wakanda. This came following the attack on his nation by the mutant Namor. Seeing as Storm is a mutant herself, this created a bit of a rift in their relationship. Thanks to property rights ownership and Disney's recent attempts to purchase everything on the planet, we might get to see this one day, but for now, Storm remains a property of Fox Studios.
10 HE STARTED OUT AS AN ANTAGONIST OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR
You may recall that in the very first issue of Spider-Man, the web-head attacked the Fantastic Four in an attempt to prove his abilities and earn a spot on the team. When Black Panther first debuted in Fantastic Four #52, he was an antagonist of theirs. The story begins when Wakanda sends a flying car to the FF as an invitation for them to come to the African nation. Reed Richards is intrigued by the technology and accepts.
When the team arrives in Wakanda, they find themselves in a mechanical forest and are suddenly attacked by the Black Panther. They then face traps, Wakandan warriors and individually battle the Panther. Alone, they are defeated, but after combining their efforts, they win only to find out the whole thing was a test of their powers. T'Challa needed their help so he attacked them in a superhero way of asking politely.
9 HE JOINED THE AVENGERS TO SPY ON THEM
Black Panther fights evil using his powers and the technology of Wakanda. While he doesn't have a problem working alongside people like the Avengers, he is, first and foremost, the sovereign king of Wakanda. This places his goals, and ultimately, his loyalty to his home nation. When he first spread out into the wild world known as the United States and joined up with the Avengers, he didn't do so because of some altruistic need to help people, he did it to spy on them.
Consider his position for a moment: he is responsible for protecting his people and nation who possess the most valuable metal on the planet. Everyone wants vibranium and along come these incredibly powerful superheroes who roam the Earth doing pretty much whatever they feel is best. It was in his best interests to spy on them, but thankfully, he eventually came around to trust them.
8 HE FOUGHT THE KKK
Back in Jungle Action #20-21, Black Panther found himself battling a group of white supremacists who weren't explicitly called the Klu Klux Klan in the comics, but were most definitely the KKK. They dressed in white sheets and hated everyone so, yeah, the KKK. The comic's roots in fighting against discrimination were solidified in stories like this one and it was important, but there is no way Disney is going to put it on screen.
In the first issue, T'Challa finds himself captured by the group who not only crucify him on a large wooden cross, they set the thing on fire. While Disney and Marvel have been willing to put a few disagreeable things on screen over the years, it's unlikely they will stick their toes in the pool of controversy that would arise were they to put a black superhero on a burning crucifix.
7 HE WAS SLOWLY EATEN BY A ZOMBIE GIANT-MAN
While this story takes place in an alternate universe than the Earth-616 Marvel fans have come to know and love, it is one of the best off-shoots Marvel has published over the years. After an infected Sentry crashes into New York City and the most of the population of superheroes become zombies. Super-powered zombies are no joke: they eat the entire population of the planet in very short order, but thanks to his genius, Hank Pym realizes there may be a better way.
Instead of mindlessly eating everyone he sees, Pym captures T'Challa and slowly cuts off pieces of his body so he can enjoy a delicious snack! Eventually, T'Challa escapes with most of his appendages still intact and the head of Janet van Dyne. He returns to Wakanda and establishes a resistance foothold.
6 WESLEY SNIPES WANTED TO PLAY HIM IN 1992
Back in 1992, long before his legal troubles, Wesley Snipes was a the top of his game. Being a prominent black actor in America and having an eye on comics, he set his sights on playing Black Panther. This came years before he was cast and starred in Blade, which scratched his itch of playing a black Marvel superhero, but he fought hard to make Black Panther happen in the early 1990s.
Thanks to his backing, there were three scripts penned for the project. Ideally, he wanted to create a project that "would appeal to white people, black people (and) Asian people," which the 2018 film certainly has. Unfortunately, the project languished in development hell for years before it was finally dropped. At the time, it was thought the character wouldn't sell to a wide audience. Thankfully, 2018 is nothing like 1992.
5 WAKANDA HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN THE COMICS
For anyone who has watched the MCU Black Panther film, it may seem like the nation of Wakanda is impossible to defeat. Not only is its true nature protected from the rest of the world thanks to its technology, that same tech makes it pretty much the most powerful nation on Earth. Open a few comic books and that turns out not to be the case.
Recently, Wakanda was embroiled in an all-out war with Atlantis after Prince Namor attacked the nation. Wakanda was defeated quite significantly and T'Challa swore to kill Namor as a result. There were attacks made by the Kree and others, but Wakanda held its ground. Those victories came at a large cost of Wakanda lives, which have made the nation more militaristic than it had been in many years.
4 HE TOOK OVER DAREDEVIL'S TURF
Daredevil may be known as the Man Without Fear, but there came a time when the Black Panther had to take up the mantle and protect Hell's Kitchen. He didn't do this in red tights, but instead wore his traditional gear without the aid of his kingdom of Wakanda, vibranium or any high-tech gadgetry -- all he had were his fighting skills and bloody knuckles.
The Black Panther: The Man Without Fear, written by David Liss and penciled by Francesco Francavilla, storyline came in the wake of Shadowland, which resulted in Daredevil sacrificing himself pushed T'Challa to create a new identity to fight crime. He became Mr. Okonkwo, a Congolese immigrant who owned and operated a small diner in the city. He continued in this role for 15 issues before returning to his roots.
3 HE IS ALSO THE KING OF THE DEAD
In Wakanda, there exists a city of the dead, which is appropriately named the Necropolis. The Necropolis is where the remains of all former Black Panthers are buried. While the city of the dead sits within his kingdom, no Black Panther was ever crowned the King of the Dead until T'Challa. The goddess Bast granted T'Challa the title and with it, gave him the strength and knowledge of all previous Black Panthers.
The event took place in Fantastic Four #608, written by Jonathan Hickman and penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli in 2012. Bast is the Egyptian goddess and protector of cats. In the Marvel Universe, she is the Panther Goddess who bestowed the power upon T'Challa saying, "Every Panther that has ever lived, their strength, their knowledge is now yours. Every battle fought... every battle won. Unbeaten. Unbroken. A crown of the unconquered. A king of kings. My champion. My Black Panther."
2 HIS SISTER SHURI BECAME BLACK PANTHER
One of the best performances from 2018's Black Panther film came from Letitia Wright, Disney's newest princess. Wright played T'Challa's sister Shuri beautifully and the world was introduced to an intelligent and humorous character. While she is integral to the story, she is not the Black Panther -- that's the role her brother has. Then, there are the comics where Shuri once took up the mantle of Black Panther and became the Queen of Wakanda.
After T'Challa is severely injured and left incapacitated, Shuri takes on the mantle of Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda. She undergoes the same rites and is bestowed with the superhuman powers that come from the ritual. Her rule followed major events in Wakanda that brought the nation to war, which evolved her character significantly.
1 HE'S A MEMBER OF THE ILLUMINATI
In the Marvel Universe, there exists a secret society of some of the most powerful people on the planet. Included in this group are Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, Charles Xavier and Namor. T'Challa was initially invited to join the group, but refused outright to even participate due to his belief that the group would stray from its original altruistic intention.
Eventually, T'Challa acquiesces and joins the group, which creates a challenge for the ruler of Wakanda. After Namor attacks and nearly destroys his home, T'Challa vows to kill the Atlantean. In secret, he continues to work with Namor for the sake of the world during the Incursion Crisis. This cooperation continued while publicly, Shuri and Namor were embroiled in a Cold War.