The Fantastic Four’s History with Black Panther and Wakanda, Explained

In Marvel Comics, the story of Wakanda began in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #52 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. After Wakanda sealed itself off from the world for generations, Black Panther (T’Challa) opened his nation to the Fantastic Four, hosting Marvel’s First Family as honored guests. The Wakandans and the Fantastic Four quickly came to view each other as dear friends and trusted allies, fighting alongside one another against threats like Doctor Doom.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how the Fantastic Four’s relationship with Black Panther and Wakanda evolved. From their first encounter to Multiversal crises, here’s how their worlds collided.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR’S FIRST TRIP TO WAKANDA

When superhuman heroes like the Fantastic Four began to operate publicly, T’Challa initially viewed them as a potential threat to Wakanda. To determine the exact danger these heroes could pose, T’Challa invited Marvel’s First Family to his nation in FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #52. The Fantastic Four traveled to Wakanda with Wyatt Wingfoot, the Human Torch’s college roommate. As soon as the team landed in Wakanda, Black Panther defeated them through a series of traps and one-on-one battles. Thanks to Wyatt, however, the Fantastic Four escaped and confronted T’Challa, who revealed his true intentions.

T’Challa explained that Wakanda possessed the extremely valuable vibranium ore, a resource that the villainous Ulysses Klaw wanted to steal to power his sound weapons. Although Black Panther wanted to test his skills against the Fantastic Four once more, the heroes leapt into action when Klaw attacked in FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #53. While they may have met as rivals, Reed Richards and T’Challa developed a deep mutual respect for one another. The Fantastic Four left Wakanda with several gifts, including a little bit of vibranium to help them defeat Klaw again in the future.

BLACK PANTHER AND THE FANTASTIC FOUR

Black Panther later joined the Avengers, remaining a steadfast ally of the Fantastic Four. In FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #241 by John Byrne, Marvel’s First Family detected strange energy readings in Wakanda and helped T’Challa defeat a living alien weapon called Gaius Tiberius Augustus Agrippa. Black Panther returned the favor and prevented the Fantastic Four from falling into a Latverian civil war between a deposed Doctor Doom and his successor in FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #312 by Steve Englehart and Keith Pollard.

During a period when the Fantastic Four had broken up, T’Challa also helped set up a similar team called Fantastic Force in FANTASTIC FORCE (1994) #1 by Tom Brevoort, Mike Kanterovich, and Dante Bastianoni. This group included Psi-Lord, a teenage version of Franklin Richards who grew up in a dark future timeline, and the young Wakandan hero, Vibraxas. After being exposed to energized vibranium, Vibraxas developed the ability to manipulate the metal’s vibrations to create shockwaves, shields, and even to teleport himself. Black Panther funded the group and helped them battle villains like Klaw. Although the Human Torch and She-Hulk eventually joined the team, the Fantastic Force fell apart shortly after the Wakandan government mandated that T’Challa stop financing them.

BLACK PANTHER JOINS THE FANTASTIC FOUR

After working alongside the Fantastic Four for years, Black Panther officially joined the team following a tumultuous period in the superhuman community. As the Superhuman Registration Act pitted Marvel’s heroes against each other in CIVIL WAR (2006), Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. The married couple subsequently left the Fantastic Four to repair their relationship. Meanwhile, Black Panther married his long-lost love, Storm, and Reed invited the newlyweds to fill in for them in FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #544 by Dwayne McDuffie and Paul Pelletier. 

During their brief time on the Fantastic Four, Black Panther and Storm mixed their diplomatic duties as Wakandan leaders with the team’s cosmic adventures. The King and Queen of Wakanda even moved into the Baxter Building following the destruction of the Wakandan Embassy in New York. Alongside their new teammates, they saved a cosmic entity named Epoch from Galactus and his Heralds, Silver Surfer and Stardust. This iteration of the Fantastic Four also traveled to the MARVEL ZOMBIES (2005) universe and battled a group of zombie superhumans wielding the Power Cosmic in BLACK PANTHER (2005) #27 by Reginald Hudlin and Francis Portela. Black Panther and Storm eventually left the Fantastic Four when Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman returned.

WAKANDA VERSUS DOCTOR DOOM

When Doctor Doom set his sights on Wakanda, the Fantastic Four helped T’Challa and his sister, Shuri, take on their nemesis. Doom’s first attack put T’Challa in a coma, so Shuri took on the mantle of Black Panther and became Wakanda’s leader. To destabilize things further, the Latverian monarch manipulated Shuri and Namor into fighting one another. The Fantastic Four broke up the ensuing fight and helped defend Wakanda against Doom’s forces in BLACK PANTHER (2009) #11 by Jonathan Maberry, Ken Lashley, and Paul Renaud.

While the heroes won that battle, they had yet to win the war. Doom overthrew Wakanda’s government to steal Wakanda’s vibranium and increase his mystical powers in DOOMWAR (2010) #1 by Maberry and Scot Eaton. Shuri enlisted the Fantastic Four into the war, with Reed and a now-recovered T’Challa developing a way to track vibranium. As the war ensued, the Fantastic Four, the Dora Milaje, and Wakanda’s warriors fought Doom’s forces all over the world.

Against Reed’s advice, T’Challa used shadow physics, an experimental field that merged science with ancient Wakandan magic, to throw Doom off balance. Although Doom built a vibranium armor, T’Challa defeated him by rendering Wakanda’s vibranium inert. As Wakanda recovered from the conflict, the Fantastic Four assisted their friends in starting the rebuilding process.

WAKANDA AND THE FUTURE FOUNDATION

The Fantastic Four established the Future Foundation to devise solutions to the planet's pressing problems. To do so, they recruited young super-geniuses from around the world, like Onome, a young physics prodigy from Wakanda.

In FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) #607 by Jonathan Hickman and Giuseppe Camuncoli, T’Challa summoned the Future Foundation when waves of dead warriors attacked Wakanda. To stop these attacks, Queen Shuri, Storm, and the Invisible Woman directly confronted Anubis, the God of Death, and his undead army. As that battle raged on, T’Challa and Reed approached Bast, the Panther God, and asked her to restore his Black Panther powers.

Bast proceeded to name T’Challa the King of the Dead and bestowed upon him the power and knowledge of previous Black Panthers. Shuri would remain the Black Panther and Wakanda’s leader while her brother ruled the lost Wakandan city of Necropolis. As Bast also helped Shuri and the heroes defeat Anubis, the goddess warned Reed that he and T’Challa would need each other to face oncoming crises.

REED AND T’CHALLA AT THE END OF THE MULTIVERSE

Shortly after that grim prediction, Black Panther and Mister Fantastic faced an impossible situation together: the collapse of the Multiverse. In NEW AVENGERS (2013) #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting, T’Challa witnessed two realities crash into each other in an Incursion. He subsequently gathered the Illuminati, a secret group of super hero leaders who quietly influenced the world. While other heroes tried to save the Multiverse through heroic acts, Reed and T’Challa came to the same grim realization that they might have to destroy other worlds to save the Earth.

From their secret meeting place in Necropolis, Reed, T’Challa, and the rest of the Illuminati desperately tried to save the doomed Multiverse. Although they developed an early warning system, the Illuminati failed to stop the Incursions, only surviving the final collapse of reality in a ship called the Life Raft. They emerged on Battleworld, a realm built by the godlike Doctor Doom from fragments of broken realities. T’Challa and Reed played a critical role in defeating the all-powerful villain and restoring the Multiverse.

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