Coming to comic book stores next month, Marvel Comics' Black Panther will see T'Challa make his return in a new solo ongoing series from the creative team of writer Eve L. Ewing (Monica Rambeau: Photon) and Marvel's Stormbreaker artist Chris Allen (Miles Morales: Spider-Man).
The new saga will see Black Panther serve Wakanda in a bold new way after he’s exiled from the throne. A king without a crown and a fugitive in his own homelands, T'Challa journeys deeper into Wakanda than ever before as he finds a new purpose striking from the shadows of the Wakandan city that bears his father's name, Birnin T'Chaka.
Operating as an undercover vigilante, Black Panther vows to remain the Wakandan people's sworn protector by defending this broken city from danger. But as he tries to understand the heart of this city that feels it has been forgotten by the Black Panther, he’ll discover it has challenges unlike any he’s faced before, including powerful crime families and corruption that go against all that Wakanda stands for.
This won't be the first time Black Panther has served as a street-level superhero as he once protected Hell's Kitchen in place of Daredevil. However, setting the action in an unexplored corner of Wakanda is definitely intriguing and promises to put a brand new spin on this iconic character. Could this be the plan for Shuri in the MCU? That obviously remains to be seen.
Today, we get a taste of this daring new direction in the new Black Panther #1 trailer, featuring never-before-seen artwork. The thrilling sneak peek takes us to the streets of Birnin T'Chaka for the very first time, and the city pulses with both beauty and danger as Black Panther leaps into action against the forces of its criminal underworld, including a new adversary, Beisa.
This alluring thief is more than willing to teach T'Challa the ways of her city and we'll catch her harsh first lesson in the debut issue.
"I am so excited for people to see this character design! T'Challa is going to be looking really different. It's much more edgy and kind of homespun. It's not so sleek and slick," Ewing says. "Not giving too much away from the story, he's trying not to be seen. He's kind of working incognito. What I can say, honestly, is that we will be seeing Wakanda in a way that we have not seen it ever before."
The first issue arrives in comic book stores on June 14, and you can check out the trailer below.