Ethereal Site

T'Challa is heir to the centuries-old ruling dynasty of the African kingdom Wakanda, and ritual leader of its Panther Clan. His mother died in childbirth, earning him the enduring hatred of his adopted elder brother, Hunter, who also resented T'Challa for supplanting him in the royal household. Hunter would become the White Wolf, leader of the Hatut Zeraze (Dogs of War), the Wakandan secret police. Their father T'Chaka remarried, but his second wife, Ramonda, seemingly ran away with another man when T'Challa was eight. When T'Challa was a teenager, T'Chaka was murdered by Klaw, a Dutchman seeking to plunder the rare Vibranium metal unique to Wakanda, but T'Challa used Klaw's own weapon to maim him and drive him off. T'Challa studied in Europe and America, then underwent ritual trials in Wakanda - including defeating his uncle S'yan, the existing Black Panther - to win the heart-shaped herb, enhancing his abilities and linking him spiritually to the Panther God Bast. Now Wakanda's ruler as the Black Panther, he disbanded and exiled the Hatut Zeraze and continued transforming his country into a high-tech wonderland. 

T'Challa's restrictions on exports of both Vibranium and Wakandan technology had long annoyed foreign powers. Xcon, an alliance of rogue intelligence agents and the Russian mafia, backed a coup in Wakanda led by Reverend Achebe. Learning Achebe was empowered by the demon Mephisto, T'Challa sold his soul in exchange for Mephisto's, abandoning Achebe and leaving Wakanda in peace; however, T'Challa's unity with the Panther God and its link to the spirits of past Panther Clan leaders forced Mephisto to forfeit the Panther's soul. T'Challa then presented the U.N. with evidence of the Xcon plot and its U.S. links, demanding sanctions against America. When Hunter and the Hatut Zeraze resurfaced during the Xcon incident, a wary T'Challa imprisoned them just prior to regaining his throne.

After T'Challa discharged Nakia from the Dora Milaje for trying to kill Monica Lynne in a fit of jealousy, Nakia was tortured by Achebe and rehabilitated by Killmonger, who shaped her into the mad warrior Malice. She was replaced in the Dora Milaje by Queen Divine Justice, an American-raised Jabari. T'Challa himself returned to the U.S. on a diplomatic mission, leaving his Washington envoy Everett K. Ross in charge as regent of Wakanda, until Killmonger tried to destroy Wakanda's economy; to thwart this, the Panther nationalized all foreign companies in Wakanda, causing a global run on the stock market, which Tony Stark (Iron Man) used to secure a controlling interest in the Wakandan Design Group. Returning home, the Panther fought Killmonger in ritual combat, but was distracted at a critical juncture by Ross and beaten nearly to death. Killmonger only relented when Ross, still regent, yielded on T'Challa's behalf, unwittingly giving the Black Panther title to Killmonger. T'Challa's life was mystically saved by his allies Brother Voodoo and Moon Knight. While T'Challa recovered, Killmonger tried to join the Avengers as the new Black Panther, and Achebe enlisted super-mercenaries such as Deadpool to attack Wakanda again. During the resultant Avengers visit to Wakanda, Ross freed Hunter, whose scheming resulted in Killmonger's seeming demise and the restoration of T'Challa's title.

Panther and his allies returned to Wakanda, where the future Panther fell into a coma. Hoping to free her tribe, Divine Justice freed the Man-Ape, but he broke his promises of non-violence by slaying the helpless future T'Challa. The original T'Challa, by now unstable and hallucinating, attacked the Jabari tribe with the intent of wiping them out; but after nearly slaying Divine Justice, he came to his senses and stopped the battle. Unable to face what he had done, the Panther handed power to his council and hid in New York. There he mentored policeman Kasper Cole (who had adopted an abandoned Panther costume), an experience which gave T'Challa the strength to face his illness, his nation and the world. His rule has since been challenged by a revived Killmonger, an issue which remains unresolved. At the same time, T'Challa renewed his ties with the Avengers, helping them battle Scorpio, secure special United Nations status and unmask U.S. Defense Secretary Dell Rusk as the evil Red Skull; however, the team disbanded after a series of devastating assaults by an insane Scarlet Witch.