10 Insane Alternate Versions Of Black Panther You Won't Believe Exist

"Happy Pants Panther". That was REALLY the best name you could come up with, huh Marvel?

Symbiote Black Panther
Marvel Comics

In the Marvel lineup, few heroes are more beloved and renown than King T'Challa, the Black Panther. The first black superhero has been a mainstay of the Marvel canon ever since he was first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Although decently popular during all that time, T'Challa wouldn't get the recognition he truly deserved until the ever-iconic Chadwick Boseman played him in the MCU.

And it's in honour of his legendary performance that we take a closer look at the more obscure avenues of Black Panther's universe.

Like any Marvel hero, Black Panther has quite a few alternate versions of himself, whether they were made for one off what if stories, or given their own alternate universe to play around in. While having nowhere near the same amount of alternate universe incarnations as Spider-Man or Captain America, there are still quite a few different interpretations of this iconic hero.

These versions of Black Panther may differ wildly from the broad strokes of the hero they're based on, but they always remain recognisably that of the hero mantle we can't get enough of seeing.

10. Ultimate Black Panther

Symbiote Black Panther
Marvel Comics

The Ultimate universe was Marvel's far more successful equivalent to DC's All Star line. The goal was to create brand new iconic interpretations of the Marvel universe separated from the baggage of decades of continuity. Band new writers could approach their respective series with fresh eyes and a clean slate.

Sometimes it really worked, sometimes it really, REALLY didn't. And then you have Ultimate Black Panther, who cruised right on down the middle.

The Ultimate version of Black Panther shares a ton of similarities with his 616 counterpart, but with one key exception in his origin. In the Ultimate universe, instead of ingesting the heart shaped herb, Wakandan princes/princesses must duel an actual panther in order to be proven worthy of the Black Panther mantle. T'Challa won his fight, at the cost of his throat being sliced wide open. His father then had him sent to the Weapon X program that created Wolverine in order to save him.

Besides giving him the military training that he would later incorporate into his hero life, the program also outfitted him with his own healing factor, and even his own version of the adamantium claws.

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John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?