The Evolution of the Black Panther. Analyzing the Progression of T´Challa´s Mindset Based on Different Fictional Texts (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Institut für Philologie), language: English, abstract: This paper analyzes the evolution of T¿Challa as the Black Panther regarding the progression of his mindset by taking a look at different fictional texts that reach from comic books to movies about the character, while also referring to secondary literature in order to examine the different conceptions that people receive from these diverse representations of the Black Panther. Obviously, the Black Panther can¿t really be seen as a linear character, due to the fact that the different fictional texts are not created or produced by the same person. While the Black Panther was firstly introduced by Stan Lee as a white, U.S.-American comic author, the film from 2018 was produced by Ryan Coogler, an African American director, which seemingly allows different representations of the character. Keeping that in mind, I¿m not going to point out how the character evolves from one storyline to the other, but rather take a look at how T¿Challäs motivation has changed and how his mindset matured over time.

Over 50 years ago, on the 12th of April 1966 in the 52nd edition of the first volume Fantastic Four comic books, the Black Panther was introduced as the first black superhero in the acquainted American comic book branch. This appearance laid the foundation for T¿Challa, the Black Panther as a character and Wakanda as a nation with great history and tradition, being admired not only by comic book or movie fans, but also many other people in today¿s society.

The character was created by comic author Stan Lee and illustrator Jack Kirby, who aimed to address the lack of black characters in the comic book industry by introducing a strong, independent figure, who is not part of a group like the Fantastic Four for instance, but rather his own personality. Although black characters "did occasionally appear" in comic book history before the introduction of the Black Panther, they were mostly "presented in a manner that reproduced and sought to legitimate the legal and political status of African Americans as second-class citizens". With the introduction of the Black Panther as a comic book character, Stan Lee managed to break these old-fashioned representations of black characters and thus have an impact on a whole generation of comic book fans and creators.