West Wind Drive-In Blogs

Black Panther Fun Facts

Since its release, Black Panther has rightfully been a box office smash. The iconic super hero film sits number one at the box office for the fourth weekend in a row, crossing the $1 billion mark. But not much was known about the king of Wakanda before appearing on the big screen, unless you were a devout Marvel comic book fan. With that being said, here are five facts about the Black Panther and his origin.

1. Black Panther may not have been as well-known of a superhero as some other mainstream superheroes like Spider-Man or Iron Man, but the Black Panther actually first appeared in the Fantastic Four #52 comic in July 1966.

2.The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Jack Kirby, who are most notable for creating the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spider-Man, X-Men and countless others. Lee has stated that he was inspired by a pulp adventure hero who received help from a black panther.

His name was briefly changed to the Black Leopard in the Fantastic Four #119 comic in 1972, but that did not last long. He appeared as the Black Panther once again in the Avengers #105 comic, where T’Challa discusses why he changed his super hero moniker back.

3. T’Challa was actually married to Storm from X-Men. The marriage between the two heroes first appeared in the Black Panther #18 comic from 2006. Unfortunately, their courtship did not have a happy ending and was annulled by T’Challa in the Avengers vs. X-Men comic.

It would have been interesting to see how their marriage would have played out on the big screen, but sadly it was not meant to be.

4. T’Challa is one of the most unique superheroes of all time. Not only does his wealth ($90.7 trillion) make Tony Stark’s wealth look like pocket change ($12.4 billion), he is also a jack of all trades. T’Challa had to train rigorously for many years to even earn the distinction of the Black Panther. He is also the king of Wakanda, as the movie states and has genius level intellect.

5. He is here to stay! We were first introduced to Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, before he became the forefront of a Marvel film. He will also be featured in the new Avengers: Infinity War, which is slated to hit theaters on April 27^th (we will be showing at the drive-in). I am also willing to bet without a doubt that there will be a Black Panther sequel, so you have every reason to be excited!