Original Black Panther Concept Art revealed during Marvel’s Phase 3 announcement conference.

Formfitting superhero costumes are rampant in the comics—after all, they don’t call it “donning the spandex” for nothing. But while T’Challa’s Black Panther suit in Civil War came out looking pretty much exactly like it did in the very first concept art we saw of the character, it almost took form-fitting to a whole other level.




The new concept work comes from artist Jerad S. Marantz, who recently posted it to his art blog. Marantz describes the work as a very early pass on Black Panther for Marvel’s Visual Development team—and while still very Black Panther-ish, it’s very different to what eventually made its way on-screen.


It’s not just super-form fitting; it looks like a human body with no layer of skin on top, just showing the sinewy musculature underneath. There’s a ton of detail in the costume, and it’s kept very faithful to T’Challa’s classic design, especially the mask, recreated to look like the loose, material version the character wore years and years ago in his original debut.



Some elements transitioned into the final design, like the silver claw “necklace” motif, but otherwise this is a very different sort of suit to what we eventually got. Black Panther looks great in Civil War, but his would’ve been cool to see on the big screen too.

[Jerad S. Marantz via CBR]