Marvel fans were left confused and upset following the new Black Panther reveal.
Earlier this week, Marvel unveiled its new Black Panther, and it was a rather odd pick for the character.
The new Marvel Knights: The World To Come limited series focuses on Black Panther and Wakanda, set in the aftermath of T’Challa’s death.
It’s written by Christopher Priest, who has written for the character in the past going back to the 1990s.
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It’s revealed in the first issue that T’Challa’s son, Ketema, is the next to pick up the Black Panther mantle. But fans have seen this as controversial because the character appears to be white.
I’m sure the following issues of this story will subvert our expectations here, but considering Ketema seems to be a white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, it hasn’t really gone down well with fans.
“Christopher Priest is coming back to Marvel Comics to write Black Panther,” writes a fan on X (formerly Twitter). “Twist: Priest is a black man who hates being typecast into being "the guy who writes black people because he's black. IMMEDIATELY TURNS THE PANTHER WHITE.”
“Ain't no way....aint no way they did the meme,” wrote another fan. “We got a White Black Panther before GTA6”
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“THEY EVEN COLONIZED BLACK PANTHER!!!!” wrote another fan.
And some users were also worried this change might fuel a certain bad crowd on the internet.
One fan wrote: “Watch, all the people who were against race changes are all of a sudden okay with this one in particular. I’m calling it.”
Some people are clearly taking it more seriously than others, but either way it’s bizarre to see Marvel try something like this. Still, we’d recommend waiting until the end of the comic book run to see how this is handled, as it’s possible there might be more to this than meets the eye.
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In addition to Black Panther, Christopher Priest has also worked on series for characters like Spider-Man, Conan the Barbarian, and Deadpool.