With Black Panther fever still in full swing, Marvel just uploaded the old animated miniseries to YouTube. The 2010 cartoon adapted a comic by writer Reginald Hudlin and artist John Romita Jr., covering T’Challa’s origin story and a conflict between Wakanda and interlopers like Ulysses Klaw.
This cartoon is a weird artifact from recent Marvel history, more like a motion comic than a true animated show. To be honest, it highlights how little Black Panther was valued until a few years ago—although the film’s success has definitely changed that now. The Black Panther animated series didn’t warrant its own story or even its own visual style, simply borrowing images from the comic.
Despite all that, it landed an incredible voice cast. Djimon Hounsou voices T’Challa, with Kerry Washington as Shuri, Alfre Woodard (now starring in Luke Cage) as Ramonda, Jill Scott as Storm, and Stan Lee as the American General Wallace.
You can watch all six episodes on the Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel. While not quite exactly a top highlight from Black Panther’s history, it does inspire an interesting question: Are we going to see a new animated series? T’Challa appears as a supporting character in several other Marvel shows, and the upcoming fifth season of Avengers Assemble is titled Black Panther Quest. Given the sudden popularity of T’Challa and Wakanda, we won’t be surprised if Marvel announces a new series soon.
