When T’Challa first appears in comics and films, he is already a man. He is already the Black Panther. Unlike many of the best-known superheroes,1 his debut appearance does not yet depict his origin.² It will be told in flashback,³ and his life will be revealed in pieces over time. A person’s life story follows meandering paths with many choices, and each choice made leaves other possibilities behind. Why does one person take the path of great resistance where others take the least? And when two people follow similar paths so far along the way, why does one become a hero where others might go astray?

Life’s beginning is not the only time or only way that a Panther is born.

NOTES

1. e.g., Superman—Action Comics #1 (1938); Wonder Woman—All-Star Comics #8 (1941); Captain America—Captain America Comics #1 (1941); Marvel Comics’ most prominent Silver Age superheroes beginning with the Fantastic Four—Fantastic Four #1 (1961).

2. Fantastic Four #52 (1966); Captain America: Civil War (2016 motion picture).

3. Fantastic Four #53 (1966).