6. Black Panther - T'Challa - Is Introduced In 1966
Marvel Comics
Almost thirty years on from Superman making his debut in Action Comics, Black Panther - the first black superhero to be featured in a mainstream American comic book - made his first appearance. Said appearance came in Fantastic Four #52, which was written and drawn by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and saw the Four head to Wakanda by invitation of the king himself.
The fact that it took as long as it did to have a hero of colour in a comic book is scandalous in itself, but what's particularly amazing about T'Challa's creation is his superhero identity. The Black Panthers were, of course, a radical self-defence organisation founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale at the peak of the Civil Rights movement, so to feature a superhero bearing their name during the same period was, while not intentional, quite revolutionary in itself.
Three years later, Marvel would also introduce The Falcon, Captain America's longtime friend and eventual successor, before DC would bring in characters like John Stewart and Black Lightning. T'Challa undoubtedly paved the way however, and with a cinematic solo feature releasing next year, it's important to illustrate just how important the character really is.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
