Name: Shuri

Superhero Name: Black Panther (occasionally, when T’Challa isn’t able to hold the mantel)

Created By: Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jnr

Played By: Letitia Wright

Powers: Superhumanly acute senses, peak human strength, speed, healing, durability, stamina, reflexes and healing. Shuri also now has supernatural powers, in the form of the ability to turn into a flock of birds or a stone-like material which is nearly bullet-proof. She also now has even more enhanced speed and durability, can enter the Wakandan plain of memory at will and has been able to raise an army of dead Wakandan warriors during battle.

Mini Bio: Shuri is the younger sister of T’Challa, and the daughter of King T’Chaka and Queen Ramonda, T’Challa’s stepmother. From a young age, she had the dream to become the first female Black Panther, to the point where she challenged her uncle S’Yan for the title while she was still a teenager. She lost to another fighter, who was later to be revealed to be T’Challa himself.

After he had gained the title of Black Panther, he offered to train Shuri in combat so she could take his place, should she ever need to, and while Shuri struggled with killing opponents in battle, she was too determined to let her dream go.

When T’Challa was left comatose after a battle, his wife, Queen Ororo (Storm of the X-Men), named Shuri as his successor, and after completing the trials made for potential Black Panthers, Shuri was given the Heart-Shaped-Herb. She kept the powers even after T’Challa recovered, and the two have since teamed up multiple times against enemies – and Shuri has also gone after a few villains by herself too.

During one battle though, Shuri was killed by Proxima Midnight, one of the Children Of Thanos. Her soul went to Djalia, the spiritual plain which contains the entire collective memories of Wakanda. There, she trained with a griot spirit, and when T’Challa found her body and brought her back to life, Shuri found that she now had powers similar to the griot spirit, including the ability to raise the souls of dead Wakandan soldiers during battle.

Currently, Shuri sits on the Wakandan Council, which was set up by T’Challa.

Interesting trivia: Like her MCU counterpart, Shuri is a gifted inventor and is deemed one of the most intelligent people in the Marvel Universe. She even once invented a form of vehicular transportation that was no bigger than a vinyl sleeve.

First Comic Appearance: Black Panther issue 2 (May 2005)

Most Common Team Ups: Avengers

Comic Recommendations: Black Panther (2005) by Reginald Hudlin, Black Panther: Deadliest Of The Species (2009) by Reginald Hudlin, Shur: The Search For Black Panther (2019) by Nnedi Okorafor and Black Panther (2016) by Ta-Nehisi Coates