the thing i love about t’challa wasn’t just that he took killmonger to see the sunset, it was that he was in tears as he listened to killmonger’s story – that he was arguing that killmonger wouldn’t exist if t’chaka had simply shown compassion, that he understood the black panthers of the past had maybe been wrong. you can feel his empathy for people, and why it makes him the black panther whose story is being told; the most special thing about him isn’t his powers, or his suit, because there were black panthers generations before him. his fighting skill isn’t revolutionary – he gets beaten. the thing that made him special was that he has a big heart. t’challa is a good person. genuinely, a great one.
and that he listens and can change his mind.
He did the same thing in the end of Civil War, when he talked to Zemo and realized he was wrong about Bucky. T’Challa will be the first to admit when he, as an individual or as the throne he represents, is wrong, and when he realizes he is wrong or a mistake has been made he actively works to correct it as best he can. He shows compassion for his enemies – that’s clear even when he was challenged by M’Baku. And that compassion is his greatest strength, because it allows him to turn his potential enemies into allies.
i asked steve if he would draw this important scientific finding and he said ‘im not having anything to do with this international incident in the making.’ so i drew it myself. i am…not an artist.
peter parker, expressing his affection as any teen would: thor i would die for you 🙂
thor, gripping his shoulders with the intensity of ten thousand burning suns: i would never let that happen
peter parker, later that week: i would die for you loki
loki, looking him dead in the eye: you will.
drax: [really bad joke]
peter parker: mr. drax? I would die for you
drax, with a pause spent determining that peter is probably joking and then a hearty guffaw: but my muscles and fighting power is several times your own! your death would be meaningless!
peter parker, in the middle of battle with no regard for his own safety: i would die for you
t’challa, who has lived with shuri long enough to know exactly what answer peter is looking for: then perish