Black Panther (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"The Black Panther has been a protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle passed from warrior to warrior. Now because your friend murdered my father, I also wear the mantle of king. So I ask you, as both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?"

- Black Panther to Captain America

T'Challa/Black Panther is a major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He first appeared as a major character in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War and the titular protagonist of the Black Panther film. T'Challa the king of the Kingdom of Wakanda, assuming the role of the protector of his tribe, "Black Panther". Due to his father being assassinated in a terrorist attack orchestrated by Colonel Helmut Zemo, T'Challa focused on killing the man he believed to be responsible - Winter Soldier. This led him into the conflict between the Avengers, siding with Iron Man's team. However, when T'Challa learned of Zemo's deception, he assisted Winter Soldier and allowed him to recover from his trauma in Wakanda.

He is portrayed by Chadwick Boseman.

Raised In Wakanda
"I'm happy, Father."''
 * ''"For a man who disapproves of diplomacy, you're getting quite good at it."
 *  ―T'Chaka and T'Challa

T'Challa is the only son of King T'Chaka and his wife Ramonda. He was born in Wakanda, a scientifically advanced yet isolationist country in Africa. Since his father T'Chaka was Wakanda's reigning monarch, T'Challa was trained to become the next Black Panther for most of his life. He soon grew into a man with a highly active mind yet showed a great dislike for politics despite his father's best efforts.

Terrorist Attack

 * "In my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where... you can run forever."

"That sounds very peaceful." "My father thought so. I am not my father." 
 * ―T'Challa and Natasha Romanoff

When the United Nations decided to approve the Sokovia Accords in order to control and monitor the actions of the Avengers in the wake of a devastating battle between the Avengers and the now deceased terrorist Crossbones in which several Wakandan citizens were killed among other innocents, T'Challa and the Wakandan government chose to support the Accords, as they felt that the Avengers could become a true risk to the safety of Wakanda and the rest of the world considering their involvement in Ultron's creation.

T'Challa and his beloved father T'Chaka attended the conference in Vienna, meeting Natasha Romanoff there. T'Challa spent time speaking with Romanoff of they discussed the accords and their shared discomfort of such political meetings. T'Challa commented on the fact that the last time Romanoff was in such company, she had exposed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets during the HYDRA Uprising, claiming her dislike for it made him happy to see her there.

They were then interrupted by T'Chaka who teased his son and greeted Romanoff, noting that Captain America had decided not to attend as he disagreed with the control the accords would put on his and the Avengers' actions. Once Romanoff had taken her seat, T'Chaka expressed his proudness of seeing his son's skill at politics getting much better as they thanked each other for their support during this difficult time for politics in Wakanda.

During the conference, T'Challa's watched as his dear father gave a speech about Wakanda's dark history and unfortunate involvement in the creation of deadly weapons made with Vibranium, using these as his own reasons for signing the accords. Hearing a commotion outside, T'Challa realized danger was incoming but was too late to stop his father being killed in a terrorist attack that was secretly orchestrated by Helmut Zemo under the disguise of the Winter Soldier.

While the fire was being put out, T'Challa mournfully took his late father's ring and took over his rightful role as King of Wakanda. While considering his next actions, T'Challa was greeted by Romanoff who expressed her own grief at T'Chaka's death and promised him that the Joint Counter-Terrorist Centre would find and arrest the Winter Soldier. T'Challa, however, informed Romanoff that he intended to find and kill the Winter Soldier himself out of pure revenge.

Hunting the Winter Soldier
As the news broke that the one who crafted the terrorist attack was the Winter Soldier, T'Challa put on the Panther Habit to avenge his father's death. He managed to track Winter Soldier to Bucharest, where he fiercely attacked him. Despite being momentarily shocked by the arrival of such an unexpected enemy, the Winter Soldier quickly got to his feet and began fighting Black Panther, nearly being killed several times.

Using his incredibly sharp claws on his suit, Black Panther slashed at his enemy and tried to kill him, eventually pinning him to the ground and attempting to stab his target through the throat. However, their battle was only stopped when the Black Panther was shot at by a helicopter, with his Vibranium suit saving him. The Winter Soldier then attempted to escape by running off the side of the building, only for Black Panther to follow, grinding down the building's side.

While the Winter Soldier attempted to escape by running on foot, the Black Panther hunted and chased Barnes down, following him when Barnes jumped from the rooftop to the street below with Panther using his own claws to grind his way down the side of the building to keep close to his prey. They soon chased each other through a long traffic tunnel while also fighting Captain America and Falcon in the hot pursuit to try and protect the Winter Soldier.

When Rogers apprehended a Joint Counter-Terrorist Centre car to try and catch up to Barnes, who was escaping on a motorbike, Black Panther jumped onto the back of the car to gain extra speed as well as jumping on the back of Falcon and flying through the tunnel, trying several times to knock Barnes off the motorcycle he was riding but finding that Barnes' Prosthetic Arm gave him an advantage as the Panther was grabbed by the throat and thrown to the ground.

Eventually, Barnes reached the end of the tunnel and tried to use an explosive to block their way, only for Black Panther to leap through the blast and cut through Barnes' tires, causing his own bike to crash. Although Rogers stopped him from killing Barnes, they were all soon captured when War Machine and an entire police squad arrived and surrounded them, to which he unmasked and revealed himself as the new king of Wakanda to the surprise of everybody.

The police apprehended Barnes, Rogers, and Wilson, who were now fugitives due to the Sokovia Accords. The group was then brought to Berlin in an armored car to await their own punishments for the chaos they caused. Along the way, T'Challa explained to Rogers and Wilson the history of the Black Panther and why he had targeted Barnes, as he desired to avenge T'Chaka and vowed that Rogers would not be able to keep Barnes safe.

The group soon arrived at the Joint Counter-Terrorist Centre Building where they were greeted by Sharon Carter and her boss Everett Ross while Barnes was locked up in a maximum security prison of the German anti-terror police force GSG9. T'Challa was also brought in and watched as Captain America's Shield and the EXO-7 Falcon were taken away, when Rogers questioned what would be happening to Barnes, he was told he would be questioned by Ross' men before being taken away to begin his sentence, which T'Challa seemed to agree with. Ross then explained that T'Challa would be provided with an office rather than a cell while he was there.

Losing the Winter Soldier
While awaiting news on what would happen with the Winter Soldier at the Joint Counter-Terrorist Centre Building, T'Challa was visited by Natasha Romanoff who expressed her surprise at his secret identity, citing that this now placed him under the Accords' jurisdiction. T'Challa noted he wanted to move on so he could take Barnes to Wakanda. As Romanoff claimed this would be unlikely, Everett Ross confirmed T'Challa had been granted Barnes' extradition.

T'Challa sat in his office while the Winter Soldier was questioned by Helmut Zemo posing as psychiatrist Theo Broussard. However, while T'Challa, Ross and the Avengers were watching the questioning unfold, the power throughout the building was suddenly shut off, cutting all of the video and audio feeds in the interrogation room. Sensing that a more sinister plan was unfolding involving the Winter Soldier, who may be attempting to escape, T'Challa then went to investigate the incident himself even further.

Heading downstairs as chaos was erupting throughout the building, T'Challa discovered the Winter Soldier had escaped and was fighting Romanoff, Tony Stark, and Sharon Carter. T'Challa managed to save Romanoff from being strangled by the Winter Soldier and engaged in a one on one fight with his enemy, proving to be equally matched in skill although the Soldier was able to use his Prosthetic Arm to gain an advantage with strength and managing to knock T'Challa to the ground. T'Challa refused to allow his prey to escape and continued fighting, using his ring to block the Soldier's attacks before kicking him down the stairs, which only helped him get away.

When T'Challa learned from his Attaché that the Winter Soldier had escaped from the building, seemingly with the help of Steve Rogers, he decided to use Wakanda's many resources to track him down. On his way out, he was stopped by Natasha Romanoff, who came close to fighting Ayo, his security chief. T'Challa spoke to Romanoff politely and explained his plan, however, Romanoff offered him an alternative, to join Stark's team of Avengers members in finding and capturing Rogers along with the Winter Soldier for Thaddeus Ross. Knowing that this would prove to be a much faster method of finding and killing his target, T'Challa agreed to join Stark's team.

Clash of The Avengers
Having joined Iron Man's side, Black Panther eventually found and ambushed Captain America at an airport in Flughafen Leipzig-Halle, greeting Rogers with respect while Stark continued to argue about the Sokovia Accords while Spider-Man arrived and took away his shield to ensure that he could not fight back, as Stark tried to convince him to surrender himself over to the Joint Counter-Terrorist Centre for interrogation.

However, Rogers remained confident and had Hawkeye free him from Spider-Man webbing and Ant-Man gave him back his shield. As Iron-Man scanned the area, he spotted the Winter Soldier, who Black Panther attempted to go after, only for Rogers to stand in his way. When Rogers ignored T'Challa's warning to get out of his way, they engaged in a fierce fight, where the claws on his own Panther Habit caused permeant scratch marks on Rogers' shield.

T'Challa teamed up with War Machine during the fight but they both proved to be bested by Captain America, who fought them both off while disarming War Machine's weapons. The fight was stopped when Captain America and Ant-Man used a Pym Particle Disk to enlarge and throw a large fire truck towards T'Challa, War Machine and Black Widow, much to their annoyance as both T'Challa and Widow managed to dodge the explosion while Rhodes was hit with it's full on force, knocking him painfully backwards.

As Rogers and the rest of his team attempted to make their way to the Avengers' Quinjet to make their escape from the airport, their path was soon stopped by the Vision, who used the Mind Stone to stop block their path. T'Challa joined the rest of Iron Man's team as the two opposing sides later gathered up to charge against their former allies, T'Challa first targeted the man he was desperate to get revenge on the man seemingly responsible for the terrorist attacks.

During the fight, Winter Soldier tried to convince T'Challa that he wasn't the one who murdered T'Chaka, but T'Challa only questioned why he had run away if he was innocent. He almost succeeded to kill the wrong suspect as he pulled away from his Prosthetic Arm and then attempted to cut his throat, but Scarlet Witch intervened and stopped his claws from reaching Barnes, and threw T'Challa through a distance with her powers, hitting a jet bridge.

Losing his Targets
Later, T'Challa spotted both Captain America and the Winter Soldier attempting to escape with a Quinjet in the hangar, but Giant-Man held him and the rest of Iron Man's team back. When keeping Spider-Man, Iron Man and War Machine away from his team members Ant-Man kicks an airplane bus at T'Challa, only to be saved at the last second by Vision intervening and blocking the bus with his Vibranium body.

With Vision's, help T'Challa was able to elude Ant-Man to reach the Quinjet Hangar. Before he can do so, Hawkeye tries keeping T'Challa at bay by firing many of his explosive arrows directly at him. T'Challa dodged many of the arrows and caught two before they exploded right in his face, angering him enough to fight Hawkeye by showing him his Vibranium claws unleashed from his own Panther Habit as the Black Panther prepared to fight his legendary attacker.

Seeing that his current technic was not working and still attempting to ensure his ally's escape, Hawkeye turned his bow into a staff and introduced himself to T'Challa, since they had never been introduced before this point, with the latter replying that he did not care who it was he was fighting. The pair started fighting one another until T'Challa broke his staff and knocked Hawkeye out of the fight, continuing his pursuit to the Quinjet Hangar.

Despite the best efforts of Vision to block them, Rogers and Barnes reached the hangar due to Scarlet Witch's interference. Black Panther came close to them, only to be stunned multiple times by Black Widow's Widow Bite, allowing Rogers and Barnes to escape, despite T'Challa trying to get a hold of the Quinjet. As they left, Romanoff claimed she had only promised to help him find not kill them. T'Challa was nevertheless furious with her for allowing them to get away and he later reported her betrayal to Everett Ross.

Capturing Helmut Zemo
Having had a meeting with Thaddeus Ross onboard the Raft prison where he had a top secret meeting with Falcon, Tony Stark discovered the location of the now fugitives Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Once Stark had put on his Iron Man suit and went to find them, T'Challa secretly followed Stark while on board his jet to Siberia, where the Winter Soldier laboratory was located.

T'Challa infiltrated the building with the plan to kill Winter Soldier; following close behind as Iron Man made peace with Rogers. However, he overheard the conversation between Rogers and the terrorist Helmut Zemo, in which he confessed to killing all the other Winter Soldiers and admitted to framing Barnes for killing King T'Chaka. Having learned this truth that he had been deceived, Black Panther focused his efforts on Zemo, with the intention of killing him.

While Zemo rested on top of a hill outside the missile bunker, certain that he had succeeded to pit Iron Man and Captain America against each other, T'Challa quietly confronted him, now aware of the truth. However, rather than going face-to-face with T'Challa, Zemo instead explained to T'Challa that his family died in the Battle of Sokovia and that he wanted to tear apart the Avengers to find justice for his own family's tragic demise. Zemo also admitted that T'Chaka's death was not intended and apologized for it, saying that T'Chaka was a good man who he respected and had a dutiful son in T'Challa.

Realizing how horribly revenge could consume a man and that his father would never have wanted a Black Panther to commit murder, T'Challa decided to spare Zemo and even stopped him from committing suicide, using his Vibranium-protected hand to block the gunshot. While he struggled to get out of the headlock, he explained to Zemo that the living were not done with him yet and that he would answer for his crimes. Following his apprehension, T'Challa turned Zemo over to Everett Ross to be placed in custody.

Saving the Winter Soldier
T'Challa later helped Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes to safety and gave them brief asylum in his Kingdom of Wakanda, where Barnes willingly let himself freeze in a cryo-chamber until the Wakandan scientists could find a way to cure him of HYDRA's brainwashing. Rogers warned T'Challa that forces of opposition could come and declare war on Wakanda for allowing the infamous Winter Soldier to take refuge within their kingdom. T'Challa replied that they were free to attempt this, saying let them try, as the overlooked the landscape, where the statue of a panther proudly stood.

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

 * Black Panther Knowledge: T'Challa has the power to draw all the knowledge, strength, and every experience from every previous Black Panther.
 * Superhuman Strength: Black Panther's strength is almost equal to that of Captain America and Winter Soldier's.
 * Superhuman Speed: Black Panther's speed surpasses that of Captain America and Winter Soldier's.
 * Superhuman Agility: Black Panther has cat-like agility.
 * Superhuman Reflexes: T'Challa's reaction time is superior to that of any Olympic athlete that has ever competed. His reflexes are so efficient that he can dodge and deflect point-blank gunfire, dodge bullets from machine guns and sniper rifles.
 * Superhuman Stamina: T'Challa's body eliminates the excessive build-up of fatigue-producing poisons in his muscles and his musculature generates considerably fewer fatigue toxins than the muscles of an ordinary human being, granting him superhuman levels of stamina, exceptional endurance, and lung capacity; in all physical activities. His lung capacity is at peak human level enabling him to hold breath for 6 minutes underwater, making his lungs as healthy as human's lungs can get. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue toxins begin to impair him.
 * Superhuman Durability: Black Panther could easily land from several stories unfazed, as both Captain America and Winter Soldier could do; without his suit, T'Challa was barely injured by the explosion at the United Nations at point blank range, even as he lunged towards where the explosion came from and his father was killed by it.
 * Superhuman Acute Senses: T'Challa can see with greater clarity and greater distances than an ordinary human. His vision extends into the ultraviolet and infrared areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing him to see in near-total darkness and retain the same level of clarity. T'Challa's hearing is similarly enhanced, enabling him to detect sounds normal humans can't and sounds they ordinarily could but at much greater distances. T'Challa can memorize tens of thousands of scents. His sense of smell enables him to recognize people/objects by scent, even if they are well hidden. He can track a target by scent and track them to the exact location, can smell fear, and detect if someone is lying by a change in body odor. T'Challa's sense of taste is sensitive to the point that he is able to taste the exact ingredients of any particular food he is eating.

Abilities

 * Master Hand-To-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist: Black Panther is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts.
 * Master Acrobat: Even without his suit, Black Panther is a master gymnast and acrobat, capable of feats such as parkour and free running.
 * Master Tactician: Black Panther is a highly skilled tactician.
 * Network: As the king of Wakanda, Black Panther very likely has command of innumerable resources and wealth beyond imagination.
 * Multilingual: Black Panther is capable of fluently speaking English and Xhosa.

Equipment

 * Panther Habit: In his Black Panther persona, T'Challa wears a black and silver-lined combat suit that is composed of a specially-designed Wakandan Vibranium-mesh weave akin to chain mail that is, like Captain America's Shield, light-weight, vibration-absorbent, nigh-indestructible and renders him immune to most physical damages especially from collisions and conventional weapons such as firearms, though he was notably vulnerable to the electrical charges of Black Widow's Bite. The suit is accompanied by:
 * Two sets of extendable and retractable Vibranium Claws embedded in the fingers of the gloves like nails; serving as both utility and primary weapon of T'Challa during combat. The claws are exceptionally strong and razor sharp as it was able to put scratch marks on Captain America's Shield during the airport clash.
 * The Black Panther helmet which has similar properties with the suit, and is adorned with silver trimmings and slightly pointed arches on either side of the top that mimic the ears of the panther. The helmet seems to have some kind of safety lock in the rear area, enabling it to attach firmly to the user's head.
 * Jet: T'Challa has a technologically advanced jet, similar to the Avengers' Quinjet, that he uses when he needs to travel the world quickly. When Black Widow stopped him from capturing Bucky, he used the jet to follow Iron Man to Siberia because he knew that Stark was going after Bucky too, arriving just a few moments later.
 * Wakandan Royal Ring: A ring that is used by the King of Wakanda, that is passed to the next generation after the death of his predecessor.

Captain America: Civil War
After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, T'Challa, and his father T'Chaka, came to the United States to participate in the conference being held in Vienna, regarding the Sokovia Accords, in response to Ultron having bought stolen Vibranium from Ulysses Klaw, and using it to create a weapon that destroyed Sokovia, and due to a disaster caused by Crossbones, which resulted in the destruction of a building housing many Wakandan humanitarian workers, killing them. While making a speech about Wakanda's signing of the Accords, the building where the conference was being held is attacked by another bombing, this time by Helmut Zemo, who framed Bucky Barnes as the culprit. The explosion killed T'Chaka, which devastated T'Challa. With his father's death, T'Challa had succeeded his father as king of Wakanda, as well as the mantle of the Black Panther, an avatar of their deity. Wanting vengeance for T'Chaka's demise, T'Challa vows to kill Bucky. He dons the Black Panther suit and ambushes Barnes, who SWAT teams had found and driven out. Black Panther fights Bucky across on a rooftop and under a highway tunnel while being pursued by Captain America and the Falcon. When they are confronted by the SWAT team and War Machine, T'Challa unmasks and reveals himself.

At the facility where Bucky is imprisoned while the Sokovia Accords are debated, Bucky is brainwashed by Helmut Zemo and goes on a rampage through the facility. T'Challa tries to stop him but fails. T'Challa is recruited into Iron Man's side along with Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, and Spider-Man. At the battle of the Avengers at the Leipzig/Halle Airport, Black Panther primarily takes on Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye. Winter Soldier tries to tell T'Challa that he wasn't responsible for T'Chaka's death, but he doesn't believe it as Bucky still tried to run from it. Black Panther tries to pursue Captain America and Winter Soldier escaping in a jet, but is stopped by Black Widow, who has changed sides and then T'Challa tells Ross what she did, putting her in trouble. When Iron Man discovers Captain America's location, Black Panther follows him to the Siberian Hydra base, where he discovers from an exchange between Helmut Zemo and Captain America that Zemo framed Bucky for the bombing. After Zemo reveals that the Winter Soldier killed Iron Man's parents, T'Challa follows Zemo outside as Iron Man fights Captain America and Winter Soldier. T'Challa realizes how much vengeance has consumed him as it has with Zemo and Iron Man, and feels guilty for nearly killing the wrong man. When Zemo attempts to take his own life, T'Challa stops him and tells him that the living isn't finished with him yet. After arresting Zemo, T'Challa grants asylum to Bucky and Captain America in Wakanda and allows Bucky to be cryogenically frozen while his team tries to find a cure for Bucky to atone for his actions.