Black Panther's Origin: Did T'Challa Copy an Early Marvel Villain?
Still a hugely influential superhero today, the creation of the Black Panther is a constant subject of speculation for comic fans, with many fascinated by the process that went into creating such an iconic character. The concept of an African royal moonlighting as a big cat-themed Avenger is certainly a unique one, but nothing is created in a vacuum. In fact, Black Panther, like many of his fellow Marvel heroes, likely owes a part of his legacy to a little-known hero from a bygone era of comic books.
In an interview from 2005 for Alter Ego #104 which touched on Black Panther's origin, co-creator Stan Lee (who invented T'Challa along with Jack Kirby) recalled: “I think The Phantom… no, The Phantom had a dog… some character had a black panther, and I thought it was so dramatic when I read those stories.” The character he’s possibly referring to here is an obscure Australian knock-off of the Phantom called the Panther from 1957, at the tail end of the pulp hero era. This is bolstered by the fact that a villain with the Panther’s name and appearance was used for one of Marvel’s Western-themed comics, one year before T’Challa’s debut.
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Marvel's Two Gun Kid #77 from 1965 by Al Hartley and Dick Ayers, edited by Stan Lee, was appropriately titled “The Panther Will Get You if You Don’t Watch Out,” and has a very interesting cover image. Despite having completely different backstories, the Panther’s costume in the issue itself is largely the same as that of his Australian counterpart: a panther jumpsuit and mask with the bottom half of the face exposed. However, the Panther’s costume on the cover is unmistakably similar to the one worn by Marvel's
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