T'Challa is a fictional character portrayed by Chadwick Boseman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise—based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. He is initially depicted as the prince of the fictional African nation of Wakanda who holds the appointed title of Black Panther. He uses an advanced vibranium suit and is imbued with superhuman strength and agility granted to him by the heart-shaped herb, as a blessing bestowed upon him by Wakanda's patron deity Bast, from whom the visage of the Black Panther mantle assumed by the chosen royal members is representative and evocative of.

After the murder of his father T'Chaka, T'Challa becomes king and finds himself in the midst of a conflict between the Avengers. After discovering the culprit was Helmut Zemo, T'Challa subdues him. He comes into conflict with his cousin Erik Stevens who usurps the throne, but eventually wins it back and thwarts Stevens' attempt to use Wakanda's vast technological resources to conquer the world. T'Challa has a son with Nakia and during the conflict against Thanos, leads the Wakandan armies alongside the Avengers, but falls victim to the Blip. After being restored to life by the Avengers, he joins them in a final and victorious battle against Thanos before rejoining his family. T'Challa later succumbs to an undisclosed illness and dies, and his title is passed on to his younger sister, Shuri.

Originally intended to become a central MCU character, T'Challa appeared in just four MCU films before Boseman died of colon cancer in August 2020. Kevin Feige confirmed that the character would not be recast nor would a digital double be used for any future live-action depictions of T'Challa. Boseman's performance as T'Challa was lauded as being one of the first black superheroes in a big-budget film, and he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the character. His titular film became the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Alternate versions of T'Challa from within the MCU multiverse appear in the first season of the animated series, What If...? (2021), with Boseman posthumously reprising the final role. Most notable is a depiction of T'Challa as Star-Lord, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. In October 2021, a spin-off series centered on the Star-Lord T'Challa was revealed to no longer be in active development, due to Boseman's death.

Concept, creation, and characterization Comics origin Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Black Panther due to Lee's desire in the mid-60s to include more African and African-American characters in Marvel Comics. In a 1998 interview, Lee explained his motivation: "I wasn't thinking of civil rights. I had a lot of friends who were black and we had artists who were black. So it occurred to me... why aren't there any black heroes?" The name, Black Panther, was inspired by a pulp adventure hero who has a black panther as a helper. Jack Kirby's original concept art for Black Panther used the concept name Coal Tiger.COAL Tiger , The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe Influences on the character included historical figures such as 14th-century Mali Empire sultan Mansa Musa and 20th-century Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, as well as Biblical figures such as Ham and Canaan.

There was some internal debate at Marvel about how far to go with the commercially risky introduction of a black superhero. In the first version of the cover for Fantastic Four #52, the Black Panther wore a cowl that exposed his face. In the published version, the cowl became a full face-mask. Previews in other comics didn't show the cover at all, indicating that Marvel was unsure how much to reveal. Following his debut in Fantastic Four #52–53 (July–Aug. 1966) and subsequent guest appearance in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) and with Captain America in Tales of Suspense #97–100 (Jan.– April 1968), the Black Panther journeyed from the fictional African nation of Wakanda to New York City to join the titular American superhero team in The Avengers #52 (May 1968), appearing in that comic for the next few years.

Adaptation to film In 2004, David Maisel was hired as chief operating officer of Marvel Studios as he had a plan for the studio to self-finance movies. Marvel entered into a non-recourse debt structure with Merrill Lynch, under which Marvel got $525 million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters, including Black Panther.

Casting and execution

Chadwick Boseman portrayed T'Challa within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in Captain America: Civil War (2016). In the film, he is shown displaying enhanced speed, agility, strength, and durability, which he gains from ingesting the heart-shaped herb, as in the comics. His suit has retractable claws and is made of a vibranium weave, which can deflect heavy machine gun fire and withstand explosive attacks. A newer version of his suit can also absorb kinetic energy (represented as purple highlights) and release it as a light purple shockwave after enough energy has been amassed. It can also fold into a silver necklace. Boseman had a five-picture deal with Marvel.

During the events of Civil War, motivated by revenge for his father's death during the UN signing of the Sokovia Accords in the aftermath of Avengers: Age of Ultron, T'Challa joins Tony Stark's faction to oppose Captain America as he is protecting the Winter Soldier who was implicated for the attack. However, T'Challa learns the bombing attack was actually arranged by Helmut Zemo to orchestrate his own revenge on the Avengers for inadvertently creating the Sokovia crisis which killed his family. After hearing Zemo's confession as he succeeded in turning Stark and Rogers against each other, T'Challa renounces his revenge while preventing Zemo's suicide and handing him over to Everett K. Ross. T'Challa grants Rogers and Barnes sanctuary in Wakanda while also aiding in the latter's recovery from his Hydra brainwashing.

T'Challa is a prince of the African nation of Wakanda, who gains enhanced strength by ingesting the Heart-Shaped Herb, allied with Stark. Producer Kevin Feige explained that the character was included "because we needed a third party. We needed fresh eyes who wasn't embedded with the Avengers and who has a very different point of view than either Tony or Steve." T'Challa is in the "beginning phases of taking on" the Black Panther mantle, and appears in more than a cameo, with a full arc and character journey with "his own conflict and his own people that he's looking out for." Boseman did not audition for the role, instead having a "discussion about what [Marvel] wanted to do and how I saw it and what I wanted to do." T'Challa is torn between needing to live up to traditions and the legacy of his father and Wakanda, and how things need to happen in the present. Boseman developed the Wakandan accent himself, and used it during the entire production "whether he was on camera or not", while the Wakandan language was based on the Xhosa language, which Boseman was taught by John Kani (who played T'Challa's father T'Chaka). The Black Panther costume is a combination of a practical costume and visual effects, featuring a vibranium mesh weave similar to chainmail. Costume designer Judianna Makovsky called the Black Panther costume "difficult" since "you needed sort of a feline body, but it's hard and practical at the same time. You needed a feeling of some sort of ethnicity in there, but of a world [Wakanda] we weren't really creating yet, so you didn't want to go too far and say too much about that world." Additionally, Makovsky felt creating T'Challa's royal look was "a bit of a challenge", avoiding African robes after learning actual African royalty are generally "educated in the West [and] get dressed in Savile Row".

Boseman reprised the role in Black Panther (2018). By October 2015, Joe Robert Cole was in final negotiations to write the film's script. In January 2016, it was announced that Ryan Coogler had been hired to direct the film, and was later revealed to be co-writing the script with Cole. Filming began in January 2017 at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The film was released on February 16, 2018. During the film's storyline, after completing the ritual of succession, T'Challa finds himself dealing with opposition to his new position from various fronts.

Boseman appeared as Black Panther again in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Boseman, along with the other Black Panther Wakandan actors, improvised their war chants on set ahead of the battle in Wakanda. Despite both Black Panther and Infinity War filming at the same time, the Russos were not aware of the chants, as they had not yet seen footage from Black Panther, and felt the moment was "incredibly cool".

Death of Chadwick Boseman On August 28, 2020, Boseman died after a four-year battle with colon cancer. As a result, his death was written into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), in which T'Challa dies from an unspecified disease. With the decision of not recasting T'Challa, Marvel would eventually make his younger sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, the lead character of the sequel, as well as the new Black Panther.

Fans were divided over the possibility of casting another actor as T'Challa for the Black Panther sequel and other future MCU media in which the character was scheduled to appear, a decision that Marvel Studios denied they would make. It is currently unknown how much, if any, unreleased material has been created with Boseman portraying the character. In November 2020, Marvel Studios' head of production Victoria Alonso denied that the studio plans to create a digital double of Boseman for Wakanda Forever, and that Marvel would "think about what we're going to do next and how" in order to "honor the franchise." – via On December 10, Kevin Feige confirmed that the role would not be recast, feeling Boseman's portrayal "transcended any previous iteration of the character in Marvel's past." In October 2021, a spin-off series of What If...? centered on the Star-Lord T'Challa variant introduced in the series was revealed to have been in early development prior to Boseman's death, which placed the project in "limbo"; series director Bryan Andrews nonetheless expressed interest in the spin-off being produced "one day" in Boseman's honor, with a different voice actor voicing the character.

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