The What If..? animated series brought back Killmonger with devastating consequences for Black Panther and Wakanda. While he’s been the main villain so far for T’Challa in the MCU, many others exist in Marvel Comics and some of them are extremely powerful. These powerful Black Panther villains play a role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, including Namor.
Black Panther’s role as the head of state in Wakanda brings him into conflict at times with the rulers of other fictional Marvel countries, like Doctor Doom. He also faces off against threats from within, some of who hail from the main Marvel Universe of Earth-616 as well as the broader multiverse in the comics.
Killmonger
In the comic books, Erik Killmonger possesses no superpowers, but he remains a powerful threat to Black Panther. Killmonger counts the best martial artists in the Marvel Universe, highly trained, and an expert in several forms of hand-to-hand combat. He’s also an expert marksman and strategist, making his intellect and experience strong counters to the superpowers of Black Panther.
He also counters his lack of powers and resources by aligning with other villains. He teamed up with numerous villains over the years, including Venom, among the best Spider-Man villains in Marvel Comics.
Kraven The Hunter
Comic book fans know Kraven The Hunter also ranks high with Spider-Man’s most significant villains. He fought Black Panther in the Marvel Knights era in the early 2000s. Kraven possesses peak human strength, stamina, and agility, all heightened by his ingestion of poisonous toxins. He’s also an expert marksman and hand-to-hand combatant.
While he lacks the superhuman power Black Panther brings to every battle, their knockdown drag-out fight in the story “The Lesson” still proved brutal for both men.
White Wolf
Like Killmonger and Kraven, the White Wolf lacks superpowers. He enjoys some advantages, though, including his extremely durable costume, which is made of a vibranium mesh, not unlike Black Panther’s outfit. The suit also contains a cloaking field that makes him invisible to the naked eye. The suit also projects the appearance of different clothes as well.
White Wolf can also fire energy blasts, which are primarily used as a way to blunt his momentum when he is falling or running. With the blasts, he can effectively walk across water.
Venomm
Venomm (not to be confused with the Spider-Man villain) debuted in Jungle Action #6 in 1973 and made for a powerful Black Panther villain. A snake charmer, he used poisonous snakes as whips and lassos, covering his body in them and developing an immunity to their venom. His fighting skills contributed to his unique threat against T’Challa.
Venomm shared a close relationship with Killmonger, including possibly a romantic one, hinted at in Marvel’s Voices: Pride #1. If Killmonger returns in the MCU in the future, Venomm could potentially appear as well.
Achebe
Achebe made a bargain with Mephisto, easily one of the most powerful magical beings in the Marvel Universe, and gained a new lease on life to hunt down the people who destroyed his village. His primary powers and abilities include his intellect and capacity for chaos.
Achebe instigated a coup against T’Challa that he very nearly pulled off, working behind the scenes in Wakanda to sow dissension on a national scale. He’s also a highly skilled fighter and naturally acrobatic, making him nearly the equal of Black Panther in terms of agility.
Baron Zemo
Marvel Comics readers know Baron Zemo usually challenges the Avengers and that includes Black Panther. Zemo lacks superpowers but more than makes up for it in his ambition and resources. His tactical prowess, combined with his ability to fund major operations like attacking Avengers Mansion in New York City, makes him a global threat.
Zemo also wields expert ability in the martial arts as well as with numerous weapons. Zemo’s most powerful attribute includes allying with other villains, as he did with the Masters of Evil and later during the Secret Empire comic book storyline, the Army of Evil.
Masters Of Evil
Zemo formed the Masters of Evil and brought together several powerful villains, including Moonstone, The Enchantress, and others. Their combined power, which includes cosmic and magical ability, often proves overwhelming. They demonstrated their power in Under Siege, a key 1980s comic book storyline where they destroyed Avengers Mansion.
Black Panther faced off against the supervillain team several times in the comics, including in Avengers #54 from 1968, some of his earliest adventures with the Avengers.
M’Baku
The MCU version of M’Baku doesn’t appear to have superpowers, at least not yet. In the comics, he gained superhuman strength, speed, and stamina from Baron Macabre, who resurrected him from death. The Jabari Clan’s chieftain possesses supreme ambition, seeking to usurp the throne from T’Challa and claim all of Wakanda for himself.
M’Baku, like other Black Panther villains, is also an expert martial artist and had training from the Wakandan military in weapons, tactics, and strategy. This makes him among the most powerful Black Panther villains in the comics, though their live-action relationship has become much more amenable.
Klaw
Fans of the MCU may be surprised to realize that Klaw ranks with the more powerful Black Panther villains. His signature power - emitting sonic blasts from a weapon grafted onto his hand - changed somewhat in the movies. But in the comics, Klaw’s entire body has been converted through a scientific process into a living sonic being.
He’s made up of ‘hardened sound’ which gives him incredible strength and durability. In addition, he projects deafening sonic blasts and frequencies, which can debilitate enemies without him having to lift a finger.
Morlun
Morlun feeds off people’s energy, giving him superhuman strength, stamina, and speed. He also feeds off totems that in the Marvel Universe contain unbridled cosmic power. He came into conflict with Black Panther when he fed off the Panther totem, and displayed his shocking power by consuming M’Baku’s life force.
Morlun’s strength outclasses Black Panther and Spider-Man, as he showed in major battles with the Wall-Crawler. He needs to constantly feed though, or else his power diminishes, and he’s vulnerable to conventional attacks.
The Scarlet Centurion
The Scarlet Centurion ranks among the most powerful Kang The Conqueror variants in Marvel Comics. He shares Kang’s powers and abilities, including highly-advanced 31st-century technology, which he uses to travel freely through time. He manipulates time to his own ends, often attacking the Avengers in the past.
He wears a unique scarlet armor that differs from the standard Kang ensemble and also traveled in a spaceship capable of time travel. Numerous Scarlet Centurion variants exist in the comics as well and some likely appear in the MCU in the Multiverse Saga.
Tetu
Tetu once tried to overthrow T’Challa as king of Wakanda. He certainly possesses the power to do it. A powerful Wakandan magician, Tetu wields the ability to manipulate natural elements like wood, which he often uses to terrifying effect with the pair of wooden rings he wears on his shoulders.
He alters the shape and length of the rings, turning them into spikes or tendrils which he can then unleash against opponents. He can also teleport, and not just from one place to another. Tetu demonstrates on occasion the ability to be able to teleport back and forth through time.
T’Channa
The sister of T’Challa from Earth-2301 surprised readers when she revealed herself as a powerful Doctor Doom variant in the Marvel multiverse. She shares Doom’s expansive intellect and capacity for evil, as well as his propensity for magic. Well-versed in a broad range of spells that allow her to manipulate matter and energy.
She uses this to devastating effect by creating and then orchestrating armies of Doombots, using power derived from the Negative Zone to make her a truly powerful technomage in this dark reality. Her power and cunning number her among the most powerful magic users in Marvel Comics.
Namor
Namor and Black Panther often find themselves at odds, with the history of Atlantis and Wakanda bound up in conflict. Namor possesses superhuman strength, stamina, and agility, all heightened by being a product of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis as well as a mutant. He certainly brings this to bear in Wakanda Forever.
Namor can also fly, thanks to the wings on his ankles, something the trailers for the upcoming movie show in detail. Hydrokinesis rates as perhaps his most devastating ability. Namor controls water, generating waves and other actions that have proven devastating in some cases. He may cause the tidal wave seen in the trailers for Wakanda Forever.
Doctor Doom
With his genius-level intellect and unrelenting ambition, Doctor Doom serves as a villain for most heroes in the Marvel Universe. He invents machines of war like the Doombots that he unleashes against his enemies, including Wakanda in several major conflicts, including the Doomwar storyline.
He’s also a powerful magician, able to generate mystical blasts, force fields, as well as teleport between dimensions. He can nullify another person’s power through magic, making him especially dangerous. During Doom War, he left Black Panther in a coma, forcing Shuri to take up the mantle for a time.
