Black Panther first pounced unto the scene in 1966 appearing in Fantastic Four #52. He was the creation of legendary Marvel artists Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. His character is an iconic milestone as he represents the first superhero of African descent in mainstream American comics. He precedes other famous African American superheroes like The Falcon (1969), Luke Cage (1972), and Blade (1973) who were all under the Marvel umbrella. DC comics had their first black superhero in John Stewart (not that John Stewart!) with Green Lantern #87 in 1971.

But Black Panther holds the title of being the first superhero that opened the door to develop a comic universe that was more realistically reflective of the one in which we all live. It seems his creators knew this character would be significantly more important so they came up with an impressive list of powers and abilities for his backstory.

The quick version of Black Panther: He eats a mystical herb that grants him super-humanly acute senses, enhanced strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, healing, and reflexes. He is King of Wakanda which makes him insanely rich. And he wears a sick Black Panther costume made of vibranium. Basically, you don't mess with Black Panther.

Unless you can make a good joke in comic form... then you get 25 Hilarious Black Panther comics only true fans will understand.

25 Get This Man Something

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You never know what phrase or cultural touch-point is going to catch on and become viral. These are little moments of online awareness where the world seems to 'get' some kind of inside joke, that's not really all that inside. They take the form of memes and one-off gags. This one comes from a scene in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. I won't give any spoilers, this one can be seen on the official trailer for the movie which is where this joke mostly spawned from.

T'Challa (the Black Panther) is giving some official decree to prepare for battle and he ends with one of those serious statements that comes off like a punch-line. (with a heavy African accent) “Evacuate the city... Engage all defenses... and get this man a shield.” Which is an obvious reference to Captain America. Watching all these superheroes interact in the same world is one of the best things about these Avengers movies.

So now the running gag is Black Panther granting other superheroes what they need. Like a planet for Superman (his was blown up), or a body for Cyborg (whose is mostly machine). But Batman gets the snub because he's loaded. This also plays upon the made-up 'feud' between the two because of their similar costumes and abilities.

24 Nail-ed it

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Aaaaah! I am one of those people. Even imaging that sound makes my finger tips awkwardly tingle and the back of my neck tense up. Just writing about it is giving me that effect right now. And perhaps you are experiencing the same sensations as you read this.

The Spanish have a word for this, “grima”. It generally means an unpleasant sensation, shivering, and repulsion in response to certain stimuli. On the scale of emotional responses, it was generally rated as being less pleasant than disgust.

Scientists have even studied this effect on humans noting that when volunteers where exposed to grima-eliciting sounds, their heart rates fell very slightly at first, then rose sharply, then returned to normal after about six seconds.

Can you imagine the grima inducing sound that Black Panther's vibranium claws would make on a chalkboard.

He'd have to do it oh-so-gently to avoid shredding that chalkboard like it was made of cheese. His claws are made of the same stuff that Captain America's shield is composed of, so you know they are, ah, tough as nails. While it is a ridiculous name for a metal, it's still way more believable than that 'unobtanium' James Cameron tried to sell us in Avatar.

23 The Killmonger Lego Set

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Spoiler alert. If you haven't seen the Black Panther movie, you most definitely should. There is a reason it set box office records. The discussion might touch on some minor plot points from here, but I am going to assume you are a loyal Black Panther fan and have seen the movie. Twice. So you will most likely agree, Killmonger was one of the best characters in the Black Panther movie.

His character is complex and his backstory could be a Maury Povich special. His father S'Yan is the uncle of T'Challa, the current Black Panther, whose father, T'Chaka was the King of Wakanda before him. The Black Panther is a power bestowed upon the King of Wakanda, so there have been multiple Black Panthers. So when T'Chaka was eliminated, his son became The Black Panther. T'Challa was challenged by M'Baku at his celebration, who he defeated to solidify himself as the current Black Panther. Later int he movie, Killmonger challenges for the role and wins, becoming the third Balck Panther that we see on-screen.

As for the all the scars that Killmonger wears, each representing one of his kills... yeah, they are actually little Lego stubs. You can build a Wakandan village on his chest.

Comic by Roshfaizal.

22 Spider teases the cat

Via: youtube.com

Everyone knows that cats love to play with those little red laser pointers. The first time I saw this in effect, there were two young kitties and one old cat. The two little ones were absolutely losing their little kitty minds over this red racing menace that had to be caught at all costs. The old one would watch intently, and every once-in-awhile, when the dot got close enough, he couldn't help himself and would give a little pounce and reach. He wouldn't muster up the energy to actually chase it around the room, but he was still completely fascinated.

My mom had a cat. It hated everybody but my mom. If you tried to give it love, it would hiss, howl, and smack you with its paw. Unless you had food. Then it would reluctantly let you pet it, but only as long as the food lasted. I suggested we get the ornery thing a laser pointer. So we got one and projected a little red dot unto the floor in front of the cat. The cat looked it, looked at us, back at the laser dot frantically zig-zagging in front of it. The cat turned around and walked into the the next room, completely unimpressed.

This comic deservedly mocks that cat.

21 Bad Kitty

Via: youtube.com

Ah Deadpool, the clown prince of the super-hero world. Superheroes are not often known for their super-senses of humor. So anytime Deadpool is on the scene, it's a breath of sadistic fresh air. He is certain to bring a laugh while pushing the boundaries of political correctness. Plus, I dig the 'kid-style' art approach to this one.

The water spray bottle is a cat-training technique that most are familiar with. However, and not surprisingly, animal experts warn against using such negative deterrent systems to modify cat behavior. While the method of spraying your cat with water when it does something undesirable may seem like a fairly clear action-to-consequence event, one must remember that a cat doesn't have the rationalization abilities of a human. They are just being a cat, doing cat-like things when all of a sudden, the person they trust most in the world pulls a dirty mean trick and soaks them with water.

Experts suggests addressing the problem by providing appropriate and non-destructive ways to address the cat's needs, along with positive reinforcement or passive deterrent systems. Experts also suggest you don't spray Black Panther in the face unless you are looking for a premature ending to your own existence.

20 Thanks Rudyard Kipling

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The idea of mistaken identity seems to run through a lot of The Black Panther comics. While the character is wholly unique in certain aspects, there are elements of The Black Panther that are similar in appearance to other characters which leads to this running gag.

Here we have a Jungle Book cross-over, which makes total sense since Bagheera is also a black panther and a character in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The word 'bagheera' is Hindu for 'black panther'. In the Kipling stories, he acts as friend, protector, and mentor to the man-cub Mowgli. His character is dark and complex with an interesting backstory that explains why the cat has such a special insight to the world of men. Born in captivity to one of the Raja, (a princely ruler) of India, the only one he ever tells his origin to is Mowgli. “I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera - the Panther - and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan.”

19 Hulk feed kitty

Via: youtube.com

Coming in as the most technically artistic entry on this list, the whole 'Hulk Feed Kitty' abstract is hilarious. The level of realistic detail is quite astounding. I am duly impressed that someone with this level of talent, sat around and dropped what, I am assuming, was a significant amount of effort into this visual gag.

There's just a level of 'go with it' that the artist is projecting upon any viewer of this piece. Not only is Hulk pointing at where Black Panther is supposed to eat, because, y'know... he's a cat, he is visibly upset that the feline-man chose to eat at the table with the humans. Humans such as The Incredible Hulk who was probably Bruce Banner just moments before this scene took place. But he was so enraged at the concept of a cat eating at the table, he Hulk'd out and picked up Black Panther by the scruff. Poor BP still has his fork and spoon in hand.

That's what happens when you model your superhero self on an animal.

All the wise-guys will chime in with their oh-so-funny jokes. But when that wise-guy is an enraged green lunatic with severe radiation poisoning, maybe you just roll with it and eat from the bowl on the floor.

18 What kind of Batman

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You start to feel sorry for Black Panther after awhile. As cool as he is, it seems he is forever in the shadow of his fashion frenemy Batman. You can see why the jokes are made. They both have black-ish costumes. They are both quite rich, although Batman isn't King of Wakanda rich. Let's just say T'Challa could buy out the entirety of the Bruce Wayne fortune many thousands times over. That vibranium meteor that lies underneath Wakanda has made their King the richest super-hero in the Marvel universe. By far.

But yet, the comparisons persist. They both use their engineering skills to make really cool gadgets for their suits. They are both considered genius level smart. And both are martial arts experts. Although, in theory, Black Panther should wipe the floor with Batman at straight hand to hand combat due to his enhanced super-human abilities granted to him by a mystical flower.

Richer, tougher, faster, better in most ever measurable contest, yet who is the more popular superhero? Deadpool knows. Deadpool is kind of a jerk, though. Something that Deadpool also knows (and takes some degree of pride in). He is also smart enough to run away from Black Panther.

17 Kitties love boxes

Via: pinterest.com

Kitties do love boxes. I've even seen videos of giant zoo cats displaying that curious behavior when presented with a giant cardboard box. Science has even examined this cat action and offered up an explanation. According to Stephen Zawistowski, science adviser for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “Cats like boxes because they are cryptic animals; they like to hide. And a box gives them a place of safety and security."

It gives the cat a sense of having its flanks protected so nothing can sneak up on them.

Because your house is always so full of potential predators for your roving litter contaminator. It also gives their lazy butts a secure place to sleep, for like, 20 hours a day. Essentially, these hiding places let them see the world without being 'seen'. Even though every one knows the cat is in the box. There was a physicist named Schrodinger who built a whole career around that concept.

So once again, The Black Panther falls victim to his own cat instincts. At least Iron Man still gives him the proper respect of addressing him as “Your Highness”. While he is safely tucked away in his little box. But look at how well his flanks are protected!

Comic by Lamialee.

16 Is That Batman?

Via: youtube.com

This time it's Spider-Man asking the question that Black Panther gets sick of hearing. Iron-Man and Black Widow are thinking, “Oh here we go again”. That must be one of those 'touchy' subjects around yhe King of Wakanda. Like, when you have a friend that's going through a particularly rough break-up and before they enter a room, you warn everyone to “not mention his ex-girlfriend” because it just sets them off and the police are gonna get involved again. I picture the same thing happening when guests are being prepped to meet the King of Wakanda. His handlers brief all visitors with a speech that includes, “And if your highness the King is wearing his Black Panther jammies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, make any Batman jokes. I assure you the King has heard them all and is quite tired of the comparison. Please keep your questions to a minimum and again, I cannot stress this enough... no Batman jokes.”

And then because the Black Panther has a wicked sense of humor, he walks out wearing a full on Batman costume just to see if anyone mentions it. I'm not saying that actually happened in any movies or comic, but it should, because that's comedy gold right there.

15 Pickles are scary

Via: youtube.com

First of all, I'd like to put a little PSA out there. Do not scare you cats with pickles or cucumbers. Yes, it's really funny when they completely lose their minds and flip out with full on body spasms. But what you probably aren't getting is that it is extremely traumatizing and scary for a cat.

There are numerous speculations as to why the cats react with such intense fear from a stationary object.

Animal specialist Dr. Roger Mugford explained in an interview with The Telegraph, “I think that the reaction is due to the novelty and unexpectedness of finding an unusual object secretly placed while their heads were down in the food bowl.” He went onto to explain, “Cats have to be suspicious of the unknown: It could represent the danger of a snake or another predator. I suspect that there would be the same reaction to a model spider, a plastic fish or a human face mask.”

Now that we have established that it's not a nice thing to do to your cat, we can laugh at this comic of Deadpool pulling the pickle-prank on The Black Panther, because, y'know... the whole cat thing. Iron-Man is not amused.

14 Eat Healthy

Via: youtube.com

I just got done telling y'all about how this is not a good way to treat your cat. Your cat should be your buddy. Yeah, I know they are arrogant and view the world as their domain and all who inhabit it should be in service to them. OK, so they knock stuff off the shelves, hack up the grossest things, and scratch holes into the furniture. And those little 4:00 AM wake-up calls where they just walk all up on your chest like they own the place and stick their nose in your face just to see if you are awake (you weren't), that's always a treat. And how about that never-ending litter box full of crunchy presents? Sometimes, they even leave you a surprise outside of the litter-box because that's fun. Plus I love the millions of little cat hairs that seem to be constantly finding their way into my mouth. And onto my clothes. And all over my sheets. Oh, and that lovely odor that having multiple cats brings to one's house. I have a friend who has four cats. She once asked, “Can you even tell I have cats?” And I said, “No. But I can tell you have a bunch of cat poop in a box.”

13 Too Much Armor

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In the film Black Panther, Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) is T'Challa's 16-year old sister and princess of Wakanda. Aside from her stunning fashion sense, she is incredibly gifted in science and engineering. She is responsible for designing a lot of the technology for the country and Black Panther. The movie does a great nod to classic bond films when Shuri is giving her brother T'Challa a run-down of all the new weapons and tech they've developed for his Black Panther suit. Versions of that scene appear in most every James Bond film where Q gives the secret agent his nifty new spy gadgets for that mission.

This gag plays off her Shuri's desire to always been upgrading and improving things.

But if you go too far, you become Voltron.  Cross-overs are always good for a quick joke. And here, I'm going to drop some nerd cred on y'all. While the artist was very clever in his joke, and more than captured Voltron's appearance enough to make it all work... Voltron's left arm was green, and his right arm was red. This has got it reversed. A minor detail only a detail-obsessed power-nerd like myself is going to notice.

Comic by Roshfaizal.

12 Iron Man Smack

Via: quirkybyte.com

Next to his completely-made-up-for-jokes rivalry with Batman, it seems Iron Man often gets played off the Black Panther. But instead of ripping on costume similarities, it usually goes after their comparative wealth. And while Tony Stark has done well enough in his businesses to finance his superhero passtime, he cannot even come close to the wealth that is possessed by the King of Wakanda. Seriously, that vibranium stuff is worth some heavy coin.

While a special herb gives the Black Panther most of his abilities, it is the wealth they derive from the vibranium buried beneath their country that supplies him and his country with their technology and superior way of life. The movie even touches on some of the ethics involved in possessing such vast wealth and how best to share, or not share it with the world.

In Marvel lore, the large deposit of vibranium was deposited by a meteorite some 10,000 years ago. One of the most famous objects ever constructed out of the alien metal is Captain America's shield. The metal has a the strange ability to absorb sound waves and other vibrations, including kinetic energy. Perhaps they can absorb the hurt feelings of an Iron Man who was just put in his place.

11 The Panther is Pink

Via: quirkybyte.com

A little Photoshop and a clever idea can make a pretty simple joke work so well. Although, there are probably a few of you younger folk who don't even get this one. Sure, the Black Panther painted pink is funny, but what is that weird panther head?

The Pink Panther was a classic cartoon back in the day when they only showed them on Saturday mornings. Maybe for an hour or two after school if you were lucky. This was before the internet and cable. There were only three channels of TV! Barbaric, I know.

The character was originally run as an animated intro with the credits to the classic Peter Seller's comedy The Pink Panther. The title of the film was in reference to a valuable pink diamond that had a flaw in its center resembling a leaping panther. Response to the animated intro was so strong, United Artists developed the character into a series of theatrical animated shorts.

The Pink Panther went unto to star in numerous other mediums including video games and advertising campaigns. Most notably, as the mascot for Owens Corning Fiberglass. He even made an appearance in a Sesame Street short as he karate-chopped a letter K out of a block of stone, only to have it crumble soon afterward.

10 Cat Fight Club

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We get it. the Black Panther is a cat. Anyone who has ever had two cats knows, 'cat-fight' is an all-too-common occurrence. It usually happens in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep.

This is a rip on the epic battle between T'Challa (Black Panther) and his cousin, Erik Killmonger. Despite Killmonger being cast as the obvious villain and enemy of T'Challa, there is a whole contingent of fans who have rallied around this character and his cause.

“Killmonger did nothing wrong” is the running mantra of some fans.

In his own warped way, the character did want a better Wakanda. He just had a different vision for how the country should be run. And some obvious rage-issues with the fact that T'Challa was forced to take out Killmonger's father.

A lot of this gets sorted out to some degree in the movie, but not before one epic cat fight between essentially two Black Panthers. It was one of the most climactic scenes in the movie during which I doubt anyone was thinking 'cat fight'. But when you put the two frames together, yeah, what you got is an old-fashioned, down home, Wakanda cat-fight. Rawr.

9 Grrrl power!

Via: dorkly.com

While superheroines have not been traditionally given their equal share of the limelight in the Marvel universe, there have always been some level of acknowledging the fairer sex. With the success of Wonder Woman at the box-office, perhaps the Marvel machine will keep investing in strong, female characters.

Black Panther did a great job of putting a lot of their female characters up front in leading roles portraying strong, intelligent, and competent people. They were integral members of the team and helped push the themes of nationalism and love for one's country and leader. Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye all had noteworthy scenes that demonstrated their characters best traits.

That's why the burn is so hard here on Miss Pepper Potts, who is Iron Man's glorified secretary (and eventual girlfriend). Although it should be noted, Pepper Potts gains some serious screen time and gains temporary super powers in Iron Man 3 due to her exposure to the Extremis project. But even then, she is cast as the damsel in distress that must be rescued. Mostly, she's Iron Man's secretary. What's worse is she's often left behind while Iron Man spends time with his true love... his mechanical suits!

8 It's the Cat Man!

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Black Panther is like the Rodney Dangerfield of superheroes... he just can't get no respect. To be fair, there is a 'man' version of almost every animal known to man. The most famous two are arguably Batman and Spider-Man. And most have witnessed at least one version of Catwoman. And after doing a bit of research, there is a DC character named Catman. He is, of course, a supervillain rival to Batman. They basically hijacked a lot of Catwoman's modus operandi to create Catman.

There is also a Marvel character that goes by the name of Cat-Man. He was a part of the Ani-men team that included Frog-Man, Bird-Man, and Ape-Man. That character dates back to 1965 and has appearances in numerous high profile titles like Daredevil, X-Men, and Iron Man.

So that just adds a little more sting to calling the Black Panther 'Catman'. Even though, he does look like a cat. Way more than most of the other 'cat men'. But the King of Wakanda chose his title well. Black Cat just doesn't have the same zing as, Blank Panther. They considered The Black Meow for a little while, but that was deemed 'too cute'.

7 Net Worth

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This time, we have Black Panther sounding off on both Batman and Iron-Man. As I previously mentioned, the contest isn't even close. Time Magazine even put together a ranking of the top 5 richest superheroes for a fun hypothetical contest of wealth.

Coming in at number 5 is Emma Frost. She's a telepath with psychic powers and is CEO of Frost International with a net worth of $1-3 billion dollars. Charles Xavier, the telepath who leads the X-Men and the School for Gifted Youngsters (meaning: mutants), is estimated to be worth 3.5 billion. Now we get to the Batman. His superpowers are being rich and moody, and with his tidy inheritance at his disposal, is worth 9.2 billion. Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man, beats the bat by a few billion clocking in at a net worth of 12.4 billion.

And finally, we come to the King of Wakanda. That vibranium doesn't come cheap. It costs about 10,000 dollars per gram. And Wakanda has thousands of tons of vibranium. A little rough math would put the value of that much vibranium at more than the GDP of the entire world. You'd think that kind of wealth would come with more recognition.

6 Be Quiet Peasants

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As we just established in the last entry, Black Panther is beyond wealthy. This sets up for numerous jokes about these superheroes getting into macho contests of comparing money. And Black Panther easily wins. Which brings up an interesting thought about Wakanda. The (fictional) city is located on the continent of Africa, which has regions that have historically been wracked by poverty, disease, and hunger.

Wakanda having an abundance of wealth while allowing their fellow country-men to suffer is a theme that has been explored in the comics and in the movie.

T'Challa (the current Black Panther) follows in his father's thinking that the country should be concealed from the outside world. The desire for the powers and wealth of their vibranium make them a certain target for evil outside forces. By selling off small amounts of the metal, T'Chaka (one of the previous Black Panthers and father of T'Challa) sends his brightest scholars to study abroad who all bring back the knowledge that allows them to become leaders in technology. It is this policy of isolation that causes a rift between T'Challa and some of his fellow Wakandan subjects. When you are sitting on that kind of ching, you gotta keep that on lock-down, no doubt.