A Black Panther primetime animated series is set to debut on BET early next year.
The deal with Marvel was announced Thursday during the cable network’s upfront presentation in New York.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). As most readers of superhero comics probably know, he’s T’Challa, the king of the technologically advanced African kingdom of Wakanda who fights crime on the side.
Reginald Huldin, BET’s president of entertainment, currently writes the Black Panther comic series.
No other details about the animated series have been announced.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Yes! Huldin On A BP Animated Series This Is Going To Be Sweet! I Love That Book.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Will Priest get to write for it?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner - like the day after Hudlin became BET’s president of entertainment.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I hear in the first episode, he puts Galactus in a headlock.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
AWESOME!!!!!
I am loving this book, if you asked me 3 years ago I would never believe it.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
whatever…..who cares…i dont….oh christ..am i first? again…..who cares
April 17th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
any comic book cartoon is good. Especially with the second year where after they establish the character they can bring in other Marvel universe characters. AS LONG AS people don’t think the cartoons are in continuity or have to be faithful to the comics. Let the cartoons tell a different story with the characters.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Am I the only person on earth that thinks Black Panther is not worth the pages he is printed on. Crap allllll Crap!!!!!
April 17th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I hear in the first episode, he puts Galactus in a headlock.
Comment by Spot — April 17, 2008 @ 11:32 pm
HOW CAN HE PUT A CLOUD IN A HEADLOCK?
lol
April 17th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Damn, I don’t have cable. I’ll have to catch this on DVD!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Man, I feel like I’m in that old “Good Idea, Bad Idea” sketch from Animaniacs.
Good idea: A primetime Black Panther cartoon.
Bad Idea: A primetime Black Panther cartoon with Hudlin in charge.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:22 am
it’s about *ucking time!but why bet?why not fox,or cartoonnetwork?!this country still has a long way to go!maybe this is a start.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Why is there so much animosity for Hudlin online? He’s writing a GREAT book! (Okay, the frogs and the substitute FF weren’t his finest hour, but …)
I’ve loved this book since the beginning. It has a different tone, a different feel, and a totally different sensibility to anything else in the Marvel line, and I love it for that. It has a VOICE, like Simonson’s THOR or even Miller’s DAREDEVIL and Claremont’s X-MEN.
And on that topic— thank God someone is finally doing something interesting with Storm. No one after Claremont had any idea what to do with her (Ellis came closest), and when Chris came back— he just told the old stories again. (ARENA? Really …?)
It’s a great book, can’t wait for TAS.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:34 am
You know what would be even better? A Black Panther cartoon directed by Aaron McGruder, and without BET to exploit it.
adult swim, maybe?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
I am 100% for anything that gets Black Panther more recognition, but I seriously hope they get someone who knows something about Africa on the creative team.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:49 am
1) Love the character of Black panther.
2) Hate the current series.
3) Am totally psyched about this news.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:54 am
You know who’d be a great story editor for this but would never get the job? Dwayne McDuffie. You know, that guy who wrote an awesome Panther in his FANTASTIC FOUR run and was the story ed on JLU. But his Panther is apparently too awesome and Priest-y to be allowed to live.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I challenge anyone that enjoys the current Hudlin era of Black Panther to read Priest’s run on the book. Everything that people praise Hudlin’s run for was there tenfold under Priest, and all the weaknesses in Hudlin’s book were nonexistent in Priest’s.
Dare I say it? Priest’s BP may have been too “racial” to be a best-seller. Hudlin makes BP say lines like “ya got me straight trippin’, boo” and white folks go “hahaha, that’s how black people talk! This is so good!” Priest gave us an unflinching look at how BP *should* be written, and because it made people uncomfortable, it was cancelled. Damn shame.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Hopefully Dwayne McDuffie will write this. Marvel also needs to find a decent animation art style to use like DC did.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Craig–Sweet Jesus, he actually SAID that? I only read the first 3 issues. That’s just horrifying…I fear no good can come from this.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Who wants to start the betting pool this is going to be parodied next season on the Boondocks?
April 18th, 2008 at 1:41 am
It might be cool. I don’t follow Black Panther much but he seems like a cool character. He seems like he’s kind of like Marvel’s version of The Phantom.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I like this, hopefully there will be guest appearances: Storm, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spiderman, Ironman, Hulk, bring ‘em on!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:58 am
^^^
Thats if we get a next season
I can’t imagine how an animated series, especially a new one, would work on BET of all channels. I believe the station’s demographic are teenagers and 20 year olds though, so who knows, maybe it will catch on with them. I can imagine this situation ending up like what happened with Spider-Man on MTV or even worse, FF on Cartoon Network, but I’ll keep my hopes up. A failed season on BET could probably be better than no season at all. I’m a black guy that hates BET but maybe this is something that might actually get me to tune in to that channel.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:29 am
perfect lead in for the booty shaker vids they show at 3am
April 18th, 2008 at 2:30 am
I am 100% for this.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Oh, snap! I was looking forward towards this, but i’m not interested unless Priest is involved in this at some point, if not completely.
Of all the Black Panther books and appearances i’ve ever seen, his has been THE author for it. He and that book were perfect, just like Ennis for Punisher.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:34 am
the booty shakin’ videos at 3am no longer air, lol.
In BET’s defense, they are in the stages of moving their programming in other directions, but since they have an established audience they have to do it over time. What they have done is stopped airing the uncut videos at any time, limited the air time for the “Rap City” show, and start showing more news briefs and religious programming.
I still don’t see this Black Panther being too great, though, but hopefully it will follow its own path and not mimick the current series in any true way. Magic frogs and a rushed, under-developed and forced reltionship with Storm definately hurt the series. And actually, Black Panther under Hudlin just kind of gets into situations and does stuff. We never see his motives or what he’s really thinking or anything truelly important. He just…does stuff.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:50 am
If there is a god there will be a season 3 of the Boondocks because I just know it that Aaron McGruder will have something to say about this being on BET.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Too bad. I had been following and enjoying Reggie’s BP until the Boondocks Incident. So I guess I’ll have to pass.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:14 am
To Craig and Zach:
‘Straight-trippin’ was House of M Panther, so he was up there with King Magneto and movie-star Spidey as decidedly not-in-character.
BP under Hudlin and Priest has been great, and the current Killmonger arc got off to a great start. I’m am unbelievably excited about this, adn wouldn’t be surprised to see Dwayne McDuffie involved, as he and Hudlin have a good working relationship, and like each other’s writing.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:22 am
The first time I read Black Panther he was showing up Spider-Man in the news paper strips.
Very exciting to get this news.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Putting it on BET will end it quickly.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Without the restrictions of continuity I think Hudlin will do a much better job with this than the comic series, which I feel has fallen apart. Very much looking forward to this.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:09 am
“Putting it on BET will end it quickly.”
Wait: A black super hero, on a cable channel aimed at a black audience…
I’m failing to see your logic, Justin.
It’ll last two or three seasons, ending up with 50 or 60 episodes, and life will go on. And Black Panther will get more exposure, and probably get a movie or three out of it.
Sidenote: BET is owned by Viacom, which owns MTV, and together are in the Paramount family. And Marvel (with Marvel Studios) and Paramount have their movie deal together.
Yeah, everything looks good.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
While I’m not excited that BET has their hands in this, I’m still cautiously excited about this.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Great News. BET needs positive programming. With Deny Cowan/Dwayne McDuffie and Film Roman involved with the animation Im jazzed.
http://www.animationmagazine.net/art…rticle_id=5779
Film Roman, the animation studio behind FOX’s long-running primetime favorites The Simpsons and King of the Hill will produce animated films and multi-platform series with cable broadcaster BET’s newly-established animation division. BET also announced that it will reunite the Static Shockteam of Denys Cowan and Dwayne McDuffie to create a new action-adventure series.
In addition to television and new media projects, Film Roman and BET plan to jointly develop and produce a slate of direct-to-DVD and theatrical releases. The three-year, non-exclusive contract allows for international distribution outside of the BET Network.
After winning an Emmy Award and Humanitas Prize for the kid-centric superhero series Static Shock, Cowan and McDuffie will tackle adult-oriented animation with their next series, on which BET isn’t releasing any information just yet
April 18th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I was talking about BET’s Black Panther show over on Highbrid Nation. I honestly feel like its one of the best ideas to come out of BET in a long time. Let’s face it over the last few years BET has become nothing more than “MTV starring black people”. And MTV really isn’t the best model for a network to follow. I plan to keep an eye on how this develops. Could it signal a change in the direction of BET?…lol probably not.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner - like the day after Hudlin became BET’s president of entertainment.
Comment by The Formula — April 17, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
That made me laugh out loud.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I get the feeling this will be the cheapest looking cartoon on tv.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I think what a lot of white Americans don’t understand is how much many African-Americans HATE BET because they see it as a horrific display of racist stereotypes and source of misogynistic culture.
Boondocks’ ruthless episode covering Huey’s fight against BET was spot on. If you haven’t seen it, search the web for the episode. It’s a hoot!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I don’t see the reason for the negitivity.
Black Super Hero+Station with predominantly Black audience=logic.
In point of fact,BET hasn’t aired sterotypical booty shaking videos like the stuff on UNCUT for years now.
So what’s the diff?
Kudos to all involved.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Cool. Love the comics, I’m looking forward to it.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This is the kind of programming BET needs. I’m very excited about this and can’t wait for it to air.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
As if anyone will be watching a super-hero cartoon on BET… c’mon, the people watching BET are watching for booty shaking ho’s & Cars w/ rims.. Let’s be real here.
Reginald hudlin is pretty weak.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
As if anyone will be watching a super-hero cartoon on BET… c’mon, the people watching BET are watching for booty shaking ho’s & Cars w/ rims.. Let’s be real here.
Reginald hudlin is pretty weak.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I find all the “but it’s airing on BET” comments annoying.
Give it a chance, and as an avid black comic-book reader, I’m glad to see any of the FEW minority properties in comics get converted to a wider medium, and actually think it’s COOL that it’s being aired on BET. I am hoping that it signifies the winds of change that that network has needed for eons now.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
excellent news! I’m looking forward to watching this, then eventually getting the dvd season sets.. all 12 of them..
I would love to see:
the first arc, 1 - 6..
also any other arcs, although I don’t know about the legal availability of certain characters– i.e, Storm, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc.
Other characters I would want to see:
Luke Cage (finally! Luke animated for the first time!!!! in his updated look, of course..)
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau)
Blade (the hardcore Wesley version; hey, maybe he can do the voice!! hint, hint.. )
Falcon
Brother Voodoo
Bishop
Bill Foster
if they can do an updated Panther vs. the Klan arc, that would be a monster..
my unsolicited voicelist suggestions (i’m sure mr. reggie & crew will make fine choices)
Panther/T’challa- djimon honsou
Shuri- alek wek
Taku- don cheadle
Uncle S’yan- carl lumbly
Monica Marvel- vivica fox
Falcon- michael beach
Brother Voodoo- phil morris
Luke Cage- Henry Simmons
Blade- wesley snipes
erik Killmonger- kevin michael richardson
April 18th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Oh come on Zach Adams with a claim like that you mind as well say the same for Brubaker vs Claremont for X-men there is no contest!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Black Panther is not a black character in a channel aimed at black people. He is an African character in a channel aimed at American people.
What Reginald Hudlin seems to ignore is that Africans are about as divided in culture as Europeans are, and the idea of “blackness” or “black brotherhood” is completely alien too them. In most cases, “African”-Americans are not.
The Skrull Planet arc became increasingly ridiculous with the idea of a slave black race in a 1930s environment and liberator figures copying the looks and philosophies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. It was a “black empowerement” stunt disguised as a story, and a bad one at that. Hardly relevant to the context of Black Panther, leader of an isolationist nation deep in the heart of Africa, constantly under attack from neighbors and rivals.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Oh man, an animated Panther show would rule but if Hudlin’s involved, it’s probably not going to be good.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I predict that the cartoon becomes the story of an African prince who moves to New York and becomes an inner-city schoolteacher. But secretly he fights crime, prejudice, and global warming at night, with the help of his Panthermobile and ability to communicate with wild animals such as his pet monkey.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Here are my mixed feelings/thoughts about the new BP animated series.
1. I’m happy as hell that BP is getting an animated series.
2. I’m sad as hell that the new BP animated series is going to be airing on a craptastic station like BET.
3. History has shown us that primetime animated superhero series aimed at an older audience have NOT (so far) been able to succeed. The failure of the MTV SPIDER-MAN animated series and the primetime airings of BATMAN TAS on FOX back in the 90’s is proof of that.
4. I think it is safe to assume that the reason why Marvel has allowed Hudlin to do pretty much whatever the hell he wanted on the book and why they haven’t fired him from writing the BP comic due to the books plummeting sales is because they didn’t want to sabotage any chance of getting BET to air an animated BP series. Once again, this is a classic case of kissing the butt of certain people in high places in order to get something in return.
5. I’m happy that Film Roman is animating this series.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Man,I really miss Priest writing this comic!I pray to the Panther Gods that they get him involved with the franchise again.
April 19th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Next question: who’s getting the Canadian rights?
Teletoon? YTV? Space?
April 19th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
“Wait: A black super hero, on a cable channel aimed at a black audience…”
Let’s say for the sake of argument there was to be an animated series about, oh, Colossus, on a cable channel aimed at a white audience.
But… Colossus is Russian. How is he supposed to directly connect with American audiences?
So how is Black Panther, who is from a fictional African nation, supposed to connect with any American audience?
To be bluntly honest, if BET wants a superhero that African-Americans can relate to more closely, I would think Luke Cage would’ve been a good choice.
Maybe they’ll try and show the character in such a light as to have people connect with their African roots? I honestly don’t know, and I really don’t know enough about BET to speculate one way or the other.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Umm Weggie Rudlin at BET the worst network next to Fox in charge of a Black Panther comics which has had mediocre writing since this guy has been writing for it. I smell doom for sure. You would have done better by putting it on Cartoon Network! this is bad…If anyone dares to watch BET you can see it just full of old reruns and bad remakes of MTV’s reality shows since they are both owned by Viacom. Marvel think bard before you give anything to BET whose best show is a video count down program. I don’t that most of its target audience even know who Black Panther is or read comics for that matter!
April 19th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Oh yeah if you want to see something funny and informative about BET check out the eps 14 and 15 this seasons The Boondocks which has storylines featured around BET, Weggie Rudlin, and the bad programming at this network. These did not air on Cartoon Network because Sony was kissing BET’s butt so its artist could keep getting their lame videos played on this station. I know you tube has them.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
(Before start: My englis isn’t good. And I’m just teling you what I’m thinking, you don’t must agree with that)
this show is going to be one, big piecie of crap, I told you. Why Huldin ? Didn’t anyone in USA see, that his comics are just one big idiocy, and nonsense ? Seriusly, his stories are supid, and racistic, and for the thing he put i Martin Luter King’s mounth, somedoby should kick him very, very hard.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Crabs in a big FAT FUCKING BARELL.
Let’s skip over the fact that this will be the first action cartoon aimed at black people EVER.
Let’s skip over the fact that this is the first predominately black action cartoon cast EVER.
Let’s skip over the fact that T’challa is finally starting to appeal to (ohmagosh) Young Black Men.
Let’s skip over the fact that BP is now being written as the TITAN he’s supposed to be.
Let’s skip the fact that BP just had his first annual EVER.
Let’s skip over the fact that this is the LONGEST Black Panther run EVER.
Without all that you got Ross.
No annual
No Cartoon
People hatin need to stop.
Priest is GONE
He aint commin back.
He didn’t want to write a “Black” hero anyway.
Selfhater (JMHO)
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Hey SelfHater,
how do you know what Priest wanted?
As James Owsley, he wrote a long run of
PowerMan and Iron Fist, before he wrote
Black Panther.
Someone go wake Priest up so we can get his comments on this…
I for one, am glad that T’Challa is making it to TV.
And I will hold judgement until the first eps airs.
Why hate before you have a reason to hate?
Could be worse, we could be getting another Spider-Man series or another FF cartoon…..:roll:
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
That’s the vibe I got from reading his interview in the Black Panther TPB.
This man sounded ofended when they asked him to write the book.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
BLACKPANTHER great character that said iwould much rather have seen a toon bassed on stroemans tribe or mariogullys ant!
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Ye of little faith. Using an established animation studio such as Film Roman gives me more confidence in the success of this project. They have never missed a stated release date of an animated series. Their last effort–HellBoy was well recieved.
As well as the Simpsons movie, Tripping the rift, X-men: Evolution, Stan Lee’s Condor, Mosaic, Condor, Family Guy, King of the hill Tv series, etc. I have no doubt this will indeed rock.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
WOW, I love all the chatter happening over this great character. You know, I’m a storyboard artist whose also skilled in character / prop design, animation and layout. I would LOOOOVVVVEEE to work on this project.
I’ve loved The Black Panther since way before Marvel Knights. I’ve admired Denys Cowan since his run on The Question with DC comics. Concerning, McDuffie, I’m probablly one of the few people who knows that he wrote the Captain Marvel Giant-size issue for Marvel comics in the 80’s when Captain Marvel, original a blond white guy, was revamped into a Black woman. How many of you people out there remember that?
Anyway, I’ve been waiting for the Black Panther to really be set free in movie form or on TV like this. I want to be a part of it. Denys, Dwayne, please check out my portfolio link below:
http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i256/rhaselrigStoryboarding/
I now this is shameless promotion, but I really want this one. Let me know a little someth’m -someth’m when you can.
E-mail: rhaselrig@sbcglobal.net
TONIGHT, THE PANTHER STALKS.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Do people make big deals about Telemundo, Univision, or the CMT channels? These are channels geared toward a certain demographic or lifestyle. But you don’t really hear people up in arms about those channels. Make some mention about BET and the shit really hits the fan. People grow up.