[Phantasm]

PANTHER

Real Name: T'Challa.
Occupation: Monarch, tribal protector.
Identity: Publicly known.
Legal Status: Ruler of Wakanda,
Other Aliases: Black Panther.
Place of Birth: Wakanda.
Marital Status: Single.
Known Relatives: T'Chaka (father, deceased), N'Yami (mother), Shuri (sister), Jakarra (half-brother), Joshua, Itobo, Ishanta, Zuni (cousins), unnamed grandfather (deceased).
Group Affiliation: Sometime partner of Wind-Rider.
Base of Operations: Wakanda.
History: For as long as the people of Wakanda can remember, the Panther, a shadowy figure who stalks the land, has protected them from all threats, internal and external (see Wakanda). Until recently, only the members of the royal family were aware that the role of the Panther has been passed down from father to son throughout their lineage for generations.

When he was a boy, T'Challa was sent by his father T'Chaka to England to be educated in the ways of the outside world, against the wishes of the rest of the royal family. For the most part, he only returned to Wakanda during the summer. A curious child, he constantly questioned the Wakandans' insular customs, but mindful of his family he didn't challenge them. When he was fourteen, he was recalled abruptly to his homeland for his grandfather's funeral. Not long after, he learned the history of the role of the Panther and was told that he and his half-brother Jakarra would be competing for the role upon T'Chaka's future relinquishing of the role.

This occurred earlier than he expected. Returning home at the age of 25 with a degree in physics, he found his father dying from a poacher's gunshot wound. Feeling obliged to take on the mantle of leadership, he was given two trials: to defeat six of Wakanda's greatest warriors in combat, and to obtain a secret heart-shaped herb that grows only in a secluded valley along Wakanda's northern border with Kenya and Uganda which could grant increased strength and heightened senses.

During the second trial, he met and fell in love with the young woman known to the locals as Wind-Rider, who was worshipped locally as a weather goddess (see Wind-Rider). Wind-Rider, whose given name he learned was Ororo, soon reciprocated his feelings and accompanied him back to the royal palace. Their romance was only the first of the great controversies of T'Challa's reign; his family did not care for her, as she was an outsider, but the fact that their new king was courting the local weather goddess endeared him to his people.

Having succeeded at the trials (Jakarra had failed to defeat the six warriors), T'Challa drank an elixir made from the herb and donned the guise of the Panther, which further enhanced his physique and senses. Not seeking to further alienate his family, he named Jakarra his heir for the throne, should he fall while acting as the Panther. In addition, he granted Jakarra permission to attempt the trials again annually, as he rightly figured that if he fell without a child the role of the Panther would otherwise end with him; however, he also began secretly training his younger teenage sister Suri in the combat arts, against the customs of their people, believing her to be a better candidate for the role of the Panther than his brother. (He has kept this belief to himself, though, so that she won't gloat.)

Since then, the Panther has come into conflict with Ulysses Klaw, a European entrepreneur and elephant poacher who had, unknown to T'Challa or his family, been the one to shoot T'Chaka (see Klaw). Klaw intended to exploit the Great Vibranium Mound of Wakanda, the only apparently natural deposit of the metal Vibranium in the entire world. At the end of this conflict, Klaw was turned into a being made of "solid" sound waves and fled the country.

T'Challa and Ororo were later seen visiting New York City during a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. Their later exploits have so far gone unrecorded.
Height: 6'.
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Black.
Uniform: Black bodysuit, black gloves, black boots, black full-face cowl with feline ear coverings, gold weapon bracelets, gold belt, gold tribal necklace. The bodysuit worn by his father in the role was made of native fabrics; T'Challa has imported an advanced ballistic fabric for his own uniform to better protect himself from the guns wielded by hunters, poachers, and other criminals.
Strength Level: Thanks to his training and the herbs consumed during his rites of passage, T'Challa is as strong as a human being without powers can be. He can lift (press) a maximum of 800 pounds with supreme effort.
Known Superhuman Powers: The Panther's senses of sight, hearing, and smell are highly – almost superhumanly – acute, though the latter two are not on par with those of the vigilante Daredevil (see Daredevil). He is able to see clearly at night with little difficulty, and can make out faint sounds from farther out than most people.
Other Abilities: The Panther is a skilled hand to hand combatant, possessing the speed and physique of a highly gifted athlete. His fighting style incorporates moves and stances that seem rather cat-like, most likely from studying the hunting techniques of the large cats of the Serengeti. He has also trained himself to travel through a forest or jungle region via brachiating (swinging from tree branch to tree branch using his arms).
Weapons: The claws on his uniform's gloves are made of sharpened high-density metal, enabling them to dig into most materials with relative ease.

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