With Halloween putting Marvel fans of all ages Black Panther fantasies across the world, one writer explained that this was actually the main reason for the creation of King T’Challa’s sister Shuri and the Marvel Universe’s female Black Panther.
Shuri co-creator, Reginald Hudlinshared insight into the character’s purpose, after seeing a reference to the character in Abbott Elementary. During the show’s Halloween episode, “Costume Contest,” teacher Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) reacts to one of her white students dressing up as Black Panther, prompting Hudlin to cite a similar surprise she encountered after creating Shuri:
Shuri’s creator explains he wanted his son and daughter to be Black Panther
With the intention of inspiring his children, he ends up inspiring many around the world
Shuri made her debut in 2005, specifically in Black Panther #2 by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., with this story establishing early on that Shuri always wanted to become Black Panther, having planned to fight her uncle for the throne if her brother, T’Challa, hadn’t defeated her. . Establishing this early on seems to suggest that Hudlin had plans to anoint Shuri as the Black Panther from the start.. Hudlin’s foreshadowing would pay off four years later when Shuri officially gained the cowl in Black Panther #1 by Reginald Hudlin and J. Scott Campbell.
The foreshadowing adds additional context to Hudlin’s claim that he created Shuri so his son and daughter could dress up as Black Panther for Halloween. The films that would come from the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be launch the character into an entirely new stratosphere of popularity. Hudlin saw it all happen firsthand, in a scenario not very different from that seen in the Abbott Elementary episode, where children of all races dress up as Black Panther. It shows the lasting impact pop culture can have on audiences, even beyond comics.
Pop culture’s impact on Black Panther’s (and Shuri’s) legacy
Reginald Hudlin’s dream fully realized
The impact of any work can be impossible to predict and this is no more true than with the release of the first Black Panther film in the MCU. Black Panther’s namesake was beloved in its own right, but no one could have imagined it would represent a billion-dollar franchise. Adoration of the films and comics has allowed fans to celebrate in ways that are personal to each of them.
It means a lot to children to see themselves reflected in the media they admire, so to Black Panther doing this for both boys and girls realizes Hudlin’s dream in even more ways than he could have expected.