--- title: Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write New Marvel Black Panther Comic description: The "Between the World and Me" author is taking over the the storyline for Marvel's first black superhero canonical: https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-22T18:57:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:09:40.664Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel og:description: The "Between the World and Me" author is taking over the the storyline for Marvel's first black superhero og:url: https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd69fca4679066ac/698864cd2dce0168139e5a52/black-panther-marvel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: black-panther-marvel og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel twitter:description: The "Between the World and Me" author is taking over the the storyline for Marvel's first black superhero twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd69fca4679066ac/698864cd2dce0168139e5a52/black-panther-marvel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel ## Video: Understanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe [Watch (HLS stream): Understanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nKWYGrii.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2013-11-05. How do we get from Iron Man to The Avengers? Where do the X-Men fit in? Learn how Marvel has crafted the progression of its superheroes in film._  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Sep 22, 2015 6:57 PM CUT  Black Panther No. 1 Cover drawn by Brian Stelfreeze Black Panther No. 1 Cover drawn by Brian StelfreezeMarvel Comics  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Sep 22, 2015 6:57 PM CUT Ta-Nehisi Coates, a leading voice in America’s current debates surrounding race, is taking on a new role: a writer of Marvel Comics’ Black Panther, Marvel’s first black superhero. The series will hit comic book store shelves next spring. Though writing a comic book may seem out of step for a man best known for his critically acclaimed new book, _Between the World and Me_, an ardent letter to his son about race in America, Coates no doubt recognizes the cultural cache comic books now hold. Coates is a national correspondent at _The_ _Atlantic_, an influencer on Twitter and a National Book Award nominee, but his new position at Marvel might just be his most powerful yet. The comics themselves command a wide audience, and—more importantly—they serve as source material for the hyper-successful Marvel blockbuster movies like _The Avengers_. A film based on the _Black Panther_ comic books is planned for 2018, and Chadwick Boseman will make his first appearance as the character in _Captain America: Civil War_ next year. **MORE:** [This Map Shows How All the Future Marvel Movies Are Connected](http://time.com/3841234/avengers-age-of-ultron-marvel-movies-next/ "undefined") “I don’t experience the stuff I write about as weighty,” Coates [told](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/books/ta-nehisi-coates-to-write-black-panther-comic-for-marvel.html?%5Fr=1 "undefined") the _New York Times_. “I feel a strong need to express something. The writing usually lifts the weight. I expect to be doing the same thing for Marvel.” Black Panther, the leader of a fictional African land of Wakanda (home to the fictional element Vibranium for those paying attention in _Age of Ultron_), first emerged on Marvel’s pages in 1966\. He has a Ph.D. in physics and has at various points been a member of the Avengers team. Coates will write a year-long storyline for the character dubbed “A Nation Under Our Feet,” with Brian Stelfreeze illustrating. The story will follow Black Panther as he confronts the superhuman terrorist group that set off a violent uprising in his country. Coates is a self-described comics nerd and has advocated for diversity in the genre. Marvel has been undergoing its own diversity renaissance since Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso took over in 2011\. New characters include a half-black, half-Puerto Rican Spider-Man, a black Captain America and a female Thor. “It was always in the back of my mind that I’d like to see superheroes look like me or look like my son. So I’m always striving to make the next great Mexican superhero,” Alonso [told](http://time.com/4012852/everyones-a-superhero-at-marvel/ "undefined") TIME in a recent interview. In May, Coates [interviewed](//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y1ihwPplL4&list=PLwj46yNDLyTX1K2D76ZB1SSbKPEE33REE&index=20 "undefined") Marvel editor Sana Amanat—who spearheaded Marvel’s efforts to diversify its characters and helped create the popular teenage, female Muslim superhero Ms. Marvel—about promoting women and people of color in comic books. Marvel reached out to him about writing his own comics after that conversation at the New York Ideas seminar. **MORE:** [Everyone’s a Superhero at Marvel](http://time.com/4012852/everyones-a-superhero-at-marvel/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/"},"headline":"Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel","datePublished":"2015-09-22T18:57:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:09:40.664Z","description":"The Between the World and Me author is taking over the the storyline for Marvel's first black superhero","url":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/","keywords":["comic books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd69fca4679066ac/698864cd2dce0168139e5a52/black-panther-marvel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd69fca4679066ac/698864cd2dce0168139e5a52/black-panther-marvel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"black-panther-marvel","caption":"Black Panther No. 1 Cover drawn by Brian Stelfreeze","creditText":"Marvel Comics","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/comic-books/","name":"comic books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/","name":"Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write the New Black Panther Comics for Marvel"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Understanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe","description":"How do we get from Iron Man to The Avengers? Where do the X-Men fit in? Learn how Marvel has crafted the progression of its superheroes in film.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nKWYGrii/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-11-05T23:08:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nKWYGrii.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/","duration":"PT2M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4044856/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-comics-marvel/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```