How Many Fighting Styles Does T'Challa the Black Panther Know in Fantastic Four #52 (1966)

 

Wakanda Forever, citizens! Welcome back to the Comic Book Dojo where we take a look at the fighting style of one T'Challa aka the Black Panther in his very first appearance from Fantastic Four #52! T'Challa and the Black Panther have evolved a lot over the years, so join us for a look back at the character's origin. 

Black Panther is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (cover-dated July 1966) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Black Panther's real name is T'Challa, and he is depicted as the king and protector of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Along with possessing enhanced abilities achieved through ancient Wakandan rituals of drinking the essence of the heart-shaped herb, T'Challa also relies on his proficiency in science, rigorous physical training, hand-to-hand combat skills, and access to wealth and advanced Wakandan technology to combat his enemies.

Black Panther is the first superhero of African descent in mainstream American comics, having debuted years before early black superheroes such as Marvel Comics' the Falcon (1969), Luke Cage (1972), and Blade (1973) or DC Comics' John Stewart in the role of Green Lantern (1971). In one comic book storyline, the Black Panther mantle is handled by Kasper Cole, a multiracial New York City police officer. Beginning as an impersonator, Cole would later take on the moniker of White Tiger and become an ally to T'Challa. The role of Black Panther and leadership of Wakanda was also given to T'Challa's sister Shuri while he was in a coma for a short time.

Black Panther has made numerous appearances in various television shows, animated films and video games. Chadwick Boseman portrayed the character in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's films: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019), and voiced alternate versions of the character in the first season of the animated series What If...? (2021).

How Many Fighting Styles Does Captain America Know in Captain America Comics #1 by Jack Kirby (1941)

Welcome to the first episode of a special feature on Comic-Jutsu, entitled "Comic Book Dojo", where we breakdown the fighting styles and skills of your favorite superheroes and mine! Up first, Captain America! We're taking a look at Captain America Comics #1 at an attempt to pinpoint the original fighting style of the star-spangled avenger as presented by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.

Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941) from Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who often fought the Axis powers of World War II and was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. The popularity of superheroes waned following the war, and the Captain America comic book was discontinued in 1950, with a short-lived revival in 1953. Since Marvel Comics revived the character in 1964, Captain America has remained in publication. A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialogue contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics have some origins in 18th century in Eastern Asia, comic books were first popularized[disputed – discuss] in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the US in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.