Every Black Panther In Marvel Comics (Other Than T’Challa)

Like any superhero mantle, the Black Panther name gets passed between people on a semi-regular basis, for all kinds of reasons. In Wakanda proper, succession is the most common–it’s traditional for the king to also take up the Panther habit and become the avatar of Bast. But there have been plenty of other reasons, too, from character death to mistaken identities to space-age empires coming to conquer Earth.

Now, the same thing will be happening in the MCU for the first time. The tragic passing of star Chadwick Boseman has left an unexpected vacancy in the Black Panther corner of the world, meaning that a new character will need to step in and continue the legacy. Thus far in the MCU, the only other main superheroes to go through something similar have been Ant-Man and Thor, which saw the mantle “pass” (sort of) from Hank Pym to Scott Lang, and then briefly from Thor himself to Jane Foster. The transition will obviously be a bit more permanent in the case of Black Panther, though–so we should definitely be prepared.

While the mystery of who is wearing the new Black Panther suit in the Wakanda Forever trailers is, really, barely a mystery at all–guessing that it’s Shuri might be the easiest and safest bet in MCU history–there are still lots of possibilities and options as Phase 5 and Phase 6 continue on. Who’s to say there can be multiple Black Panthers running around the MCU–after all, there’s certainly precedent for it in the comics.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at all the characters who have taken up the Black Panther name in the mainline Marvel comics, from space emperors to ancient shamans who roamed the Earth over a million years ago.

In 2018, the Black Panther comics took Wakanda to space as an intergalactic kingdom and with that came a slew of new characters. One of them was Emperor N’Jadaka, who was not Killmonger but a different guy with the same name. He became something of a space warlord and even had a Symbiote working with him. Seriously. He may have been a villain, but he still called himself Black Panther.

A warrior shaman who became the first king of Wakanda, Bashenga is technically the first Black Panther origin story ever published–the Stone Age stuff is a modern invention. The Bashenga origin story actually came about in the ’70s. Bashenga’s story is the one that informs the intro of the first movie about uniting the tribes.

In the comics, T’Chaka’s brother (T’Challa’s uncle) had a much different story. You may remember one of T’Challa’s uncles being killed by T’Chaka during a flashback in the first movie–different guy! That was N’Jobu, father of Killmonger. S’Yan was actually one of T’Chaka’s allies and advisors who only stepped into the Black Panther role when his hand was forced after T’Chaka’s assassination.

This one is certainly no surprise–T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, was Black Panther and king of Wakanda prior to T’Challa assuming the throne. Both in the comics and in the MCU, T’Chaka was assassinated–by Zemo in the latter and by Klaue in the former.

In the comics, T’Chaka’s brother (T’Challa’s uncle) had a much different story. You may remember one of T’Challa’s uncles being killed by T’Chaka during a flashback in the first movie–different guy! That was N’Jobu, father of Killmonger. S’Yan was actually one of T’Chaka’s allies and advisors who only stepped into the Black Panther role when his hand was forced after T’Chaka’s assassination.

T’Challa’s little sister Shuri became the Black Panther in the comics after T’Challa himself was put into a coma by Doctor Doom. She continued to work in that capacity for a while, even after T’Challa was cured, meaning there were actually two Black Panthers at the same time. It’s pretty safe to guess that this is the direction the MCU will be taking in the new movies–though there’s nothing stopping them from putting their own unique spin on the idea.

Kasper Cole (very briefly) assumed the identity of Black Panther by, uh, “borrowing” a costume–not by becoming king of Wakanda or doing any sort of ritual–back in the ’90s. It was extremely short lived and actually helped inspire him to create his own superhero identity, White Tiger. The inspiration is pretty obvious if you ask us.

Of course, there’s Killmonger, who famously took on the mantle in the Black Panther movie. This happened in the comics as well in the early ’00s.

Because this is comics, there’s been a whole series exploring the very literal primordial history of some of the most famous characters. In Marvel Legacy, we met the first ever Black Panther who roamed the earth a million years ago as part of the Panther Tribe.