Wakanda's Finest

    T'Challa/Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four #52, marking the a new era for comic books: one that finally started to include non-while characters as main characters of comic books, something that had been frowned upon and downright against the rules in many cases in the comic book world, which had been shown in the Comic Code Authority's attempt to censor the story "Judgement Day" which appeared in Incredible Science Fiction #33. The story simply includes a black man in a completely normal manner, with some subtle symbolism in the story itself with othering of certain beings within the story. Fantastic Four #52 appeared in 1966, 10 years after the issue that included "Judgement Day". Though Black Panther isn't the first black super hero to appear in comics, he is the first black superhero to truly reach the mainstream of comic books. Though DC attempted to answer Black Panther with their own character, Red Lion, Marvel's character was much more successful in many forms.

    Of course, Marvel film studios released their adaption of Black Panther in 2018, which received critical acclaim. The film was even nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, which marks the first super hero movie to receive the nomination. The film won 3 Academy Awards, though Best Picture was not included in those awards(being nominated is still a great milestone for the character/story). 

    The film largely consists of a story that covers the conflict between T'Challa(Black Panther) and Erik Killmonger and their ultimate struggle for control of Wakanda. T'Challa wishes to uses Wakanda's resources really only for Wakanda, since the nation has seen the downsides of interacting with colonialism and wishes to not have similar outcomes of other colonized countries. Killmonger on the other hand wants to use Wakanda's resources to help black communities across the planet, since Killmonger believes that if Wakanda has the surplus resources, why not use them. Both have points to their goals, though each are also flawed in ways as well. The solution to their conflict, of course, is a compromise, which uses T'Challa's want for peace and Killmonger's want to use Wakanda's rescources, which is given to the viewer as the best of both worlds.