Black Panther remains a formidable pillar of the MCU – but a different fate awaited the Wakandan superhero in an alternate reality.

Long before Marvel made history with its billion-dollar Avengers film or Academy Award-nominated Black Panther, the pieces of the comic universe were scattered among Hollywood’s numerous studios. The MCU played with only the spades in its deck by bringing out Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.

But true universe-building only began when Disney acquired Marvel Studios in 2009 and 20th Century Studios in 2019, essentially bringing the MCU, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four properties under one banner.

As Marvel Studios now takes its first official steps toward building out a proper cinematic universe, all elements from Fox and Marvel come together in an ambient mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Among them, X-Men and the Fantastic Four primarily take the cake with Pedro Pascal leading the charge in the MCU Phase Six film.

Black Panther Almost Made a Debut Before the MCU

In the 1990s, Demolition Man star Wesley Snipes was determined to make his superhero debut as Black Panther, the king and protector of the afro-futuristic nation of Wakanda. However, that plan fell through, leading to his iconic turn as the half-human Vampire hunter, Blade. Soon after, Fox picked up on the Fantastic Four project, delivering two live-action films with a less-than-optimistic reception.

But the relatively poor box office earnings and the horrible performance of the sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), did nothing to discourage director Tim Story from attempting a trilogy of Marvel’s First Family. With Shazam! star Djimon Hounsou at the helm, 20th Century Fox’s planned Fantastic Four 3 was designed to serve as the debut of Black Panther in a live-action team-up crossover film.

However, bureaucratic red tape involving the rights to the comic character prevented 20th Century Studios from green-lighting Fantastic Four 3 (as though the box office earnings and the flop ratings weren’t enough of a discouragement already). Meanwhile, in the late 2000s, Marvel Studios began aggressively chasing after the IP as well to secure the rights from Universal and New Line Cinema.

Although Black Panther eventually made it back to his parent organization, Namor stayed behind at Universal, leading to some mixed feelings among fans who wanted a solo exploration of the character after the anti-hero’s impressive debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The Legacy of Black Panther and Chadwick Boseman

When Black Panther debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he commanded equal measures of love and respect from the fans of the superhero genre. Chadwick Boseman revolutionized the role and made it his own in Captain America: Civil War with a nuanced take on the MCU’s first Black superhero. Even while sharing his screentime with Marvel’s usual heavy hitters, Boseman left an impression that was difficult to forget as the ruthless yet beneficent hero who set out to avenge the death of his father.

So when the solo Black Panther film was announced after the positive reception of Civil War, there was an understandable anticipation among the masses in the run-up to the character’s arrival. It was already accepted that the movie would be a sensation, but upon release, it exceeded the mass expectations by a mile and then some.

Black Panther was an immediate cultural phenomenon, fetching $1.38 billion at the box office and becoming the highest-grossing solo superhero film of all time, the highest-grossing film directed by a Black filmmaker, the first superhero movie to earn a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, and winning 3 out of 7 Academy Award nominations.

However, all of that could have easily been made redundant, and 20th Century Fox followed up on their devious coup on the Wakandan superhero.

Fantastic Four and Black Panther are available to stream on Disney+