Draft:Ultimate Black Panther (2024)

Ultimate Black Panther is a 2024 comic book by Bryan Edward Hill and Stefano Caselli. It is set in the Ultimate Universe.

Publication history
Ultimate Black Panther, a reimagination of the Black Panther character, is the second comic of the Ultimate Universe line. It was published a month after the debut of Ultimate Spider-Man and one month before the debut of Ultimate X-Men.

Hill explained that, although the comic is set in the Ultimate Universe and that would give him great freedom to reinvent the character, it still has to respect the IP. He reasons that an IP has major and minor rules, and that the creative freedom only allows breaking some of the minor ones. He also wanted to explore the concept of a Isolationist country such as Wakanda. "And the questions that all isolationist kingdoms have had is when do we join the conflict that's happening outside of our walls? When is it our problem? And in joining that conflict, what cost do the citizens of our kingdom have to pay for it? And so that's a big question, I think, within the first issues of the story, considering what Jonathan Hickman's doing writ large with Moon Knight and Ra and all of that stuff, I really wanted to explore just the vagaries and the dramatics of deciding when you're going to enter the fray, when are you going to make the problems of the world my problem? And it felt like an interesting place to start when you're thinking about leadership and legacy and royalty and all that stuff."

Plot
T'Challa, married to Okoye, is the king of Wakanda. The nation has taken an isolationist policy, but now it must wage war against the Moon Knight, the collective name of the deities Khonshu and Ra. He is helped by the freedom fighters Erik Killmonger and Storm.

Reception
The first issue had high sales, so Marvel ordered a second printing, which hit the stands by the time of Ultimate Black Panther #2. It featured a new cover art by R.B. Silva.

Spencer Perry from Comicbook.com considers that the comic book wasted the chance to make a radical reinvention of the comic. Instead of that, it plays it safe, with most characters staying at their usual characterizations. The comic takes a strong influence from the Black Panther film, both in the chosen cast and in the visual appearances. Perry points out that even that had already been done by the mainstream Black Panther comics. He also points that the comic draws influence from the Dune novel, with the political intrigue and rival factions. However, he considers that the comic is still of good quality.