Black Panther (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"Wakanda forever!"

- Black Panther after his victory.

T'Challa A.K.A. Black Panther is a major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, premiering in the film Captain America: Civil War as a supporting character and the titular protagonist of the 2018 film Black Panther and one of the tritagonists of Avengers: Infinity War. T'Challa is the son of King T'Chaka, who is the ruler of the secretive nation of Wakanda. When King T'Chaka is assassinated, T'Challa inherits his crown and the mantle of Black Panther, a title which he uses to pursue vengeance for his father's murder.

He is portrayed by Chadwick Boseman.

Captain America: Civil War
In Captain America: Civil War, Prince T'Challa is first seen visiting a United Nations summit with his father, King T'Chaka. T'Chaka represents the nation of Wakanda, a small country located in central Africa. T'Chaka is assassinated though, initial investigation begins to implicate the Winter Soldier. While the authorities, including the Avengers, struggle to track down the Winter Soldier, T'Challa makes up his mind to kill his father's assassin, by dawning the mantle of "Black Panther" - an originally religious title passed down through Wakanda royalty that vests the bearer with the prowess of their panther god, but currently is largely symbolic in appearance but backed-up with cutting edge technology specifically made for the position.

In Civil War, there is a divide in the Avengers lead between Tony Stark - Iron Man and Steve Rogers - Captain America. U.N. demands state that the Avengers must either conform to U.N. regulation or be dismantled. While Tony Stark feels the Avengers need to be held accountable for their actions by registering with the U.N., Steve Rogers does not trust international authorities with meta-humans and the divide causes strife between the Avengers, as T'Challa is only concerned with avenging his father. Black Panther starts hunting down the Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers' former friend, James "Bucky" Barnes. Bucky has undergone brainwashing and Captain America wants to get him help, while Iron Man aims to capture him for T'Challa and the U.N., thus the capture of Bucky became the central issue of the film. Naturally, T'Challa is on Iron Man's side for the divide, but T'Challa is less concerned with the precedent of the film and more with exacting vengeance for his father's murder. When the involvement of a man named Helmut Zemo becomes known in the affair, T'Challa refocus his efforts from the death of Bucky to investigating the circumstances behind his father's death. By the end of the film, T'Challa returns to Wakanda.

Wakanda
Wakanda has Vibranium, a metal unlike any others on earth due to an ancient meteorite which crashed into Central Africa in a land that would later be titled Wakanda. The stores of the meteor were massive and in addition to the miracle metal extracted, the plant-life around the meteor was mutated and took on specific psycho-tropic properties. Wakanda mined Vibranium, which developed both their technology and economy around it. The Vibranium saw to it Wakanda developed a society a century ahead of the rest of the world.

Ancient Wakanda worshiped the panther as their central god, later due to trade with northern Africa, they would associate this with the Egyptian goddess Bast. Worship of Bast is Wakanda's primary religion. More important than Bast herself, is the honoring of one's ancestors. The kings of Wakanda became supplicants of the panther god and later Bast, the head of the royal family was said to be a servant of the panther and wore a ceremonial panther outfit to battle. Ingesting the psychotropic plants, mutated by the vibranium meteor would induce visions of past family members. When awakening from their vision quest to commune with their ancestors, a king would be gifted with superhuman strength, endurance, speed and senses - this individual is titled the Black Panther. As the Black Panther is a ceremonial title, inheritors of it are intrinsically tied to the fate of Wakanda. When technology advanced enough, Wakanda would fashion a vibranium suit for the Black Panther, the properties of which become more advanced with each generation.

The Black Panther
In T'Challa's solo movie, he undergoes the rites to formally be declared king. As is tradition, T'Challa ingests a modified extract of the plant which gives the Black Panther his abilities, which takes them away and accepts all challenges before the tribal elders. Chief M'Baku, an isolationist tribe chief is the only one who challenges the claim to Black Panther. T'Challa beats M'Baku and spares his life, convincing M'Baku to yield so he need not kill him and rob his tribe of their leader. M'Baku releases his claim and retreats to the mountains, with no further opposition, T'Challa become the Black Panther properly and undergoes the rites to visit his father's spirit.

Ulysses Klaw, a smuggler has been illegally exporting vibranium from Wakanda and selling it around the world. While the U.S. government has been the one largely to hunt down and round up the vibranium, T'Challa aims to stop the problem at it's source by finding Klaw himself and bringing him in for his crimes, or killing him if need be. Klaw's partner, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens proves to be an exiled Wakandan American. Killmonger turns out to be T'Challa's cousin, with his father, N'Jobu, having been killed by the late King T'Chaka for exporting vibranium for weapon use. N'Jobu intentionally sold vibranium while undercover in the U.S. an witnessing a still marginalized African population. N'Jobu was willing to undermine Wakanda's control of the vibranium supply in order to arm revolutionaries. Upon becoming aware of the details surrounding N'Jobu's death, T'Challa visits his father's spirit to confront him, however Killmonger is not interested in empathy, only justice. After Klaw is dealt with, dealing with Killmonger becomes a priority, since, as the son of a Wakandan prince, Killmonger has right to challenge T'Challa for the throne.

Personality
T'Challa is showed to have high respect towards other people, especially towards his father, T'Chaka. He honors the tradition and principles of Wakanda and is willing to take action whenever it is necessary. When his father died, he was willing and ready to take on his rightful place as king of Wakanda. While he does not seem to favor a fight, he was very quick trying to avenge his father's death. An honorable fighter, T'Challa respects his opponents and is willing to spare his enemies' lives.

According to his father, T'Challa tends to disapprove of diplomacy but was nevertheless supportive of the Sokovia Accords.

However, when he finally had the chance to avenge his father, he ultimately chose not to, knowing that doing so would make him fall as low as Zemo, and would go against what the Black Panther stands for. As he stood by Zemo, the latter explained to him about how he had also lost his loved ones too, and that he and T'Challa were not different, as they both are in pursuit of revenge. It was at this moment that T'Challa realized that revenge has completely consumed Zemo, and he realized that this is not what his father would have wanted for him. In the end, he was willing to help Captain America and Winter Soldier, by granting them asylum in Wakanda since they were international criminals now. He also displays a strong resolve, as when Captain America warned him the world might declare war on his country for housing Winter Soldier, he confidently stated to let them come.

Powers
Upon ingesting the Heart-Shaped Herb of Wakanda, T'Challa has gained a tremendous increase in his physical abilities. He possesses enhanced strength, mobility, stamina, endurance, and instincts. He is strong enough to fight on par with a super soldier, run at speeds in excess of 40 mph, and engage in physical activity for extended periods of time without tiring. All of T'Challa's senses are also increased upon awakening as the Black Panther, traditionally used to track foes through even minor traces left behind such as hair, sweat, or blood. As custom, T'Challa is a highly accomplished warrior extensively trained in various forms of combat, making him one of the greatest fighters on the planet and the greatest warrior of Wakanda. He is most comfortable at fighting unarmed but is formally trained in swordsmanship and shield use. In addition to being a skilled combatant and athlete, T'Challa is also a gifted tactician who takes a cerebral approach to fighting.

Equipment
As Wakandan technology was built around Vibranium, it is much more advanced than the rest of the world and that technology is built into the Panther Habit. The Habit itself is Vibranium, but his sister, Shuri, who is an accomplished engineer, has recently modified the suit to conduct and retain kinetic force. The kinetic force built up in the suit reduces trauma to the wearer and can be expelled back out, reflecting the force back out. The suit can only redirect so much kinetic force, however, and when it reaches it's peak, it explodes out regardless of whether or not the wearer wishes to do so, damaging the wearer in the process due to being at the center of the explosion. The suit is also equipped with retractable claws, and being Vibranium, they can cut through nearly anything. As the King of Wakanda, T'Challa has access to numerous other bits of high-end technology including tracking devices and a personal jet.