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How Each Member of the Royal Wakandan Family is Related in Black Panther

If you ever did a family tree for a school project or for your own genealogical enjoyment, you probably realized they can be really cool. Your family tree probably isn’t as cool as T’Challa’s, though. Marvel has created an awesome video tree of Wakanda’s royal family that gives us a brief history of the Black Panther’s that came before.

The Black Panther powers all started with Bashenga, who is considered a god. He also has a crazy cool headdress that we’re very envious of. The King of Wakanda will always be the one to protect their land as Black Panther (with a little help from the Dora Milaje, of course). Those roles were filled by Azzuri during WWII, which in the world of Marvel means that he was fighting HYDRA. A couple of generations later we get to T’Chaka and his wife N’Yami. Those are, of course, T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) parents. King T’Chaka (John Kani) held the Black Panther mantle until his death in Captain America: Civil War.

From there, T’Chaka married Ramonda. They had Shuri (Letitia Wright), making her T’Challa’s half-sister. They do have another half-brother, Jakarra, from an unknown mother.

You’ll see other familiar faces on the tree, like W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) and Zuri (Forest Whitaker). The Dora Milaje even get their own branch. Off in the corner is the “would be usurpers”, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and M’Baku (Winston Duke). They will try to dethrone T’Challa, but he is prominently placed beneath the crown as the rightful heir.

So, it might not be the most detailed genealogy, but it’s one fierce family you won’t want to mess with.

Black Panther finally hits theaters this Friday.

Featured Image: Marvel Studios’ BLACK PANTHER. L to R: Marvel Studios’ BLACK PANTHER. L to R: Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Okoye (Danai Gurira). Photo: Matt Kennedy. ©Marvel Studios 2018. Photo: Matt Kennedy. ©Marvel Studios 2018

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelle Long

Kelle has written about film and TV for The Credits since 2016. Follow her on Twitter @molaitdc for interviews with really cool film and TV artists and only occasional outbursts about Broadway, tennis, and country music. Please no talking or texting during the movie. Unless it is a musical, then sing along loudly.

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