Fans have fallen in love with quite a lot of Black Panther, including the film’s wide array of costumes. But as it turns out, the titular hero’s suit almost had a pretty different look.
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Concept artist Jerad S. Marantz recently shared several pieces of concept art for the suit worn by T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in the film. The first sees the suit’s headpiece with a more textured look, as well as a particularly interesting design for the necklace the suit comes out of.
And the other two pieces show a different suit design, both in the overall shape and in the presentation of the mask, which had a sort of “half mask” option.
Ultimately, the Black Panther suit did make undergo some subtle changes from its initial appearance in Captain America: Civil War, under the direction of costume designer Ruth Carter.
“I like the original Black Panther costume,” Carter said during a set visit last year. “I liked his helmet and I liked his boots. I liked a lot of things about it but what we wanted to do was take it into a new millennium. A new attitude. A new technology. Make it exciting again.”
According to Carter, this sort of blend of old and new carried over to the overall aesthetic of Wakanda’s citizens as well.
“They’re not in outer space,” Carter revealed. “They still like to wear Nikes that light up and yellow hats and big kooky glasses. They still wear natural hair. They still like to combine prints like everybody else does.”
What do you think of these early Black Panther suit designs? Would you have wanted to see any of these in action? Sound off in the comments below.
Black Panther is in theaters now.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
