Black Panther Got a Costume in Captain America: Civil War Because of Spider-Man

If it wasn’t for Spider-Man, we might not have gotten Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, at least not in costume as a full-fledged superhero. When writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were working on the story originally, they included Spider-Man, despite Marvel and Sony not having their deal done yet. That meant T’Challa’s role in the film was very different, as he was going to just be a diplomat.

“Originally, T’Challa and T’Chaka were just the representatives of Wakanda, sort of the voice of other countries in the world going, ‘You people are out of control,’ and then to be aggrieved by possible Bucky actions,” Markus told CinemaBlend during the Civil War press junket. “Frankly, just not have him be Black Panther yet. He’s getting his own movie, you know. He’s the prince of a country! That’s pretty good for a movie.”

However, at one point things didn’t look good for Spidey, and that changed things.

“When things maybe looked like we weren’t going to get Spider-Man, it was like, ‘Let’s put the costume on that guy!’” Markus said of Black Panther. “And then he became so integral to the story as it evolved that once Spider-Man came back, we didn’t take him out. So, it was a problem that created a really nice situation.”

So thanks to Spider-Man almost not making it in, Black Panther made it in all his costumed, superheroic glory.