Estimated wealth: $500bn Little known fact: the original Quinjet was actually designed by T'Challa, rightful king of Wakanda, and one of the eight smartest people in the Marvel Universe. The Black Panther is also, without a doubt, the richest character in the Marvel - or any other comic book - Universe. Which isn't bad for a superhero who's generally considered to be a second-stringer, despite the fact he is totally awesome in nearly every way. One of those ways is that, as we mentioned before, he is an actual king. Like, he rules an entire African nation. And he does a damn fine job of it, to the degree that part of the reason he rarely shows up in the US-centric Marvel superhero stories is because he's busy trying to make his country better for his people, not risking his neck for some snarky white dudes in tights. Part of the way T'Challa keeps Wakanda in such good nick is by exploiting the country's considerable natural resource: Vibranium. What is Vibranium? Well, take Wolverine. His skeleton is coated with adamantium, the strongest (fictional) metal known to man. He can cut through basically anything with his claws, and he's basically indestructible. Vibranium is a metal even stronger than adamantium, and the only place on Earth it can be found is Wakanda. Which means that the Black Panther is sitting on a goldmine that everybody on the planet wants to take advantage of. When they're legit, he gets billions of dollars to funnel back into his country's economy. When they're not, he has the skills, the intelligence and - crucially - the resources to handle some of the more violent negotiation. Oh, also, for a while he was part of the Illuminati, which means he was technically running the whole world. Money equals power, and the Black Panther isn't wanting for either.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
