The Black Panther is a movie set along the Avengers timeline, scheduled for released in mid February 2018. The film has already drawn rave reviews from critics and fans who viewed the early screening.
Chadwick Boseman stars in the movie as King T’Challa who has an alter ego known simply as the Black Panther.
If you’re a fan of the Avengers movies or comic books, you’re already familiar with the origins of the character. I’m sure many children and even some adults are going to love this character and therefore will want to emulate the hero as closely as possible. For those not already familiar with the Marvel Character, scroll to the bottom of this post to see the official trailer.
What would it take to become the Black Panther
First, understand the Black Panther character is the king of a fictional country (Wakanda), which gives him a tremendous amount of resources at his disposal: the loyalty of an entire country, an army, and of course the resources available to an entire nation.
Outside of that, the Black Panther character has a number of other “gifts” not available to your average person.
Vibranium- Vibranium is a (fictional) metal found in meteoric ore exclusive to Wakanda. One of the properties of Vibranium is it absorbs sound waves and kinetic energy. This makes it very effective against bullets, punches and other kinetic energy based attacks. The Black Panther’s suit is made of Vibranium and therefore makes him very difficult to injure through conventional means. If you’ve seen any of the Captain America or Avengers movies you should note Captain America’s shield is also made of Vibranium.
The Heart Shaped Herb- Due to radiation from the meteor in Wakanda, a heart shaped herb grows in the region. The herb is a gift from Bast, a cat shaped God from Egyptian mythology. Those seeking to become the Black Panther have to undergo a number of physical trials. If they successfully complete the trials, they use the herb to create an oil to rub over their body. IF they survive the process they may become the Black Panther and gain certain physical gifts. The Black Panther has heightened senses such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. He can even see in the dark, much like you would expect a nocturnal hunter such as a big cat to have.
The Black Panther is still a man
While this character has obvious advantages not available to people living in the real world, most of his other physical skills are actually just a result of training. Granted, his keen senses help him in ways we would not be able to benefit from. For the most part, with the time and resources, you can train to a high level in everything else.
Fighting- The Black Panther is an expert martial artist. His wealth and background have allowed him to train with experts in their arts as well as bodyguards and other security personnel. While dedicating hours of practice every day over the course of twenty to thirty years does not sound achievable, there are systems out there that teach several ranges of fighting under one roof.
Combat Sambo is a Russian system combining wrestling, Judo and kickboxing into one style. No matter what happens during the fight, Combat Sambo prepares you with an answer.
Mixed Martial Arts is as the name says, a mixed combat system and a sport of its own. Most commonly you will find this taught in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gyms where classes are either conducted separately, or in some cases, in a specialized class. This system is also comprised of punches, kicks, take downs and fighting on the ground, including fighting on the ground when you are pinned by your opponent.
While very few people have the time or money to devote hours everyday to training in dozens of different systems for decades, these two styles can teach you how to protect yourself while standing and on the ground, when free to move or when grabbed, restrained or tackled.
Agility/Reflexes- The Black Panther is at the peak of human ability in regards to his reflexes and agility. Obviously his heightened senses help him with this attribute, but that doesn’t mean a real human is incapable of improving this skill. The obvious skill that can be trained in is gymnastics. This will teach you how to perform all manners of flips and somersaults and as a side benefit will improve your explosive strength, which is important for moving into and out of position.
Of course, you can also train your reflexes through combat training. Once again, the styles listed above help tremendously in that regard.
Strength- Black Panther is very strong for a human. He doesn’t have what the comic books consider “superhuman” strength but he is quite strong compared to the average person.
Improving this physical ability is almost a no brainer. Power lifting and bodybuilding has been a practice for centuries and the general concepts have not changed too much. Pick up heavy things and move heavy things. Next week, pick up heavier things.
It’s that simple.
Endurance/Conditioning- The common thing so far has been that the King of Wakanda has pushed his body to human limits. This is no different. He can run for miles, fight for long periods of time and perform other feats reserved for high level athletes.
To improve this physical ability, participate in some sort of cardiovascular training as well as short high intensity intervals. The Black Panther does not always have the luxury of jogging along at a leisurely pace. Sometimes he must go all out for minutes at a time, yet still have enough in reserve to make a get away on foot if necessary.
Employ High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and long distance runs to increase your endurance and achieve “heroic” stamina.
Black Panther Stats
If I had to put a numerical figure on the Black Panther’s stats on a scale of 1 to 10, they would look like this.
- Fighting: 7 or 8
- Agility/reflexes: 7 or 8
- Strength: 6
- Endurance/Conditioning: 6
While his sensory gifts clearly aid the first two attributes, training hones them in. The last two attributes are high level for a normal man but they are not unachievable.
None of us will ever have access to some rare meteoric alloy that can be made into armor. Most of us will never find an herb granting us superhuman senses. However, all of us are fully capable of taking time to train and improving our physical skills and attributes!
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