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Beware: Spoilers for Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther.

In Captain America: Civil War, T'Chaka is the King of Wakanda, and I understand that the Kings of Wakanda hold the power of the black panther.

Yet we see T'Chaka die in an explosion while delivering his speech for the Sokovia Accords.

How does he die here if he's got the superhuman strength, endurance, durability and etc. of the black panther?

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  • It's not even spoilers. It's like, first minute of the film. Knowing this doesn't ruin the movie at all. – theonlygusti Mar 1 '18 at 15:23
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    @theonlygusti ... its a spoiler for Civil War, not for Black Panther. – iandotkelly♦ Mar 1 '18 at 16:00
  • I was talking about civil war – theonlygusti Mar 1 '18 at 16:05
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    @theonlygusti .... ok, I appreciate you're not talking precisely, but its not in the first minute of the film, which confused me. When discussing potential spoilers in the titles of questions, and when its easy to do - its definitely good to avoid spoilers. We've had some very unhappy people here when questions have been put in the 'hot network questions' list or sent out over twitter. – iandotkelly♦ Mar 1 '18 at 16:19
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    Related: How and why did T'Challa have the Black Panther power already? – Ankit Sharma Mar 2 '18 at 5:34
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At the time of Civil War, T'Chaka was no longer the Black Panther, T'Challa was. According to the official prequel comic, Black Panther: Prelude, the mantle of the Black Panther was passed on to T' Challa many years earlier, around the time that the events of Iron Man were occurring.

So, when the explosion happened, T'Chaka was just a normal person, as susceptible to serious injury as anyone else.

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    Thanks, that explains why T'challa was able to use the mantle of the black panther immediately to capture the winter soldier. – Bk Santiago Mar 1 '18 at 3:00
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    @theonlygusti: He may simply stop using it. – Matthieu M. Mar 1 '18 at 14:40
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    @theonlygusti There is only one Black Panther at a time traditionally. Multiple Black Panthers existed in the movie due to a break from tradition. – Ethan Mar 1 '18 at 15:41
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    @theonlygusti As you may also recall from the Black Panther film the Wakandans have an "antidote" to the powers given by the Heart-shaped Herb. Nothing physically prevents there from being multiple Black Panthers, however it is tradition that there be only one. – EldritchWarlord Mar 1 '18 at 15:44
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    @theonlygusti The "antidote" is used each time T'Challa fights a challenge for the throne, in order to make the challenge fair. – Kamil Drakari Mar 1 '18 at 16:22

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