Warning: Contains spoilers for Black Panther: Blood HuntBlack Panther has recently gained a new arsenal of powers thanks to some familiar gods. In Marvel’s ongoing Blood Hunt event, Earth is cast into eternal darkness as a vampire revolution, led by Blade, threatens to turn Marvel’s iconic heroes into bloodthirsty monsters. The first to fall under Blade’s domination is T’Challa, King of Wakanda. In an effort to resist Blade and save Wakanda, Black Panther must seek divine help.

In Black Panther: Blood Hunt by Cheryl Eaton and Farid Karami, Blade sends Black Panther on a mission to Wakanda, where T’Challa seeks the help of Wakandan gods to free himself from his curse.

The series shows that, while under a familiar threat in the distant past, Wakanda’s religious pantheon known as the Orisha met to plan their resistance against the undead. Gathered by Khonshu, the Orisha attempted to destroy the true source of the vampires, Varnae, the first vampire. Unfortunately, the gods’ plan failed, leading some to turn to their mortal champions for help many years later. Despite T’Challa’s vampiric corruption, the goddess Bast, the first Black Panther, sees hope in her champion, but knows that her gifts alone can not save her people. With no other option, Bast gifts T’Challa to another.

Black Panther Receives the Blessing of a New God

The River Goddess Anuket Adopts T’Challa as her New Champion

Anuket, a river goddess and sister to Bast, often finds herself uninterested in the politics of the Orisha. For most Wakandans, she is not a god worth believing in. But when Bast comes to Anuket with desperation and an infected Black Panther, the river goddess agrees to impart T’Challa with a taste of her blood and a wealth of her powers. As seen in Black Panther: Blood Hunt #2, Anuket drags T’Challa beneath the waters into an ethereal plane where she blesses the Wakandan King before leaving him at the doorstep of Atlantis.

In Black Panther: Blood Hunt #3, after a tense confrontation with the Atlantean guard, Black Panther acts on instinct to end the battle before it can begin. T’Challa soon discovers a new breadth of powers bestowed upon him that give him an advantage against his sea-dwelling enemies. Now effortlessly breathing underwater, T’Challa summons the divine forces of electricity and control over water to dispatch the Atlanteans and proceed with his task of carrying out Bast’s will. While an impressively showy feat, this wouldn’t be the first time the Black Panther has borne divine powers from the extended Wakandan pantheon.

Black Panther Could Be Considered a Demi-God

T’Challa Still Reigns as King of the Dead

In 2012’s Fantastic Four #607-608 by Jonathan Hickman and Giuseppe Camuncoli, Wakanda faces a new threat from beneath the halls of the Necropolis, Wakanda’s resting place for the previous Black Panthers. After an uprising by Anubis, God of the Dead, T’Challa undergoes a mission to stop the mad god and his legion of undead. Black Panther turns to Bast for guidance and is promptly blessed with an armament of necromantic powers as he is dubbed Wakanda’s King of the Dead and protector of the Necropolis. T’Challa is bestowed with the guidance of all preceding Black Panthers and command of the dead.

In combination with his newly blessed abilities from Anuket, T’Challa bears an incredible strength of divine power that could rival the likes of Storm or Thor. Until now, Wakanda’s territory has reached only as far as the seas have allowed. Atlantis has long been an enemy of Wakanda, but with his new powers, maybe the tides of that conflict will turn in T’Challa’s favor in the future. For now, it’s hard to say if these abilities will last. Anuket’s blood may only be a temporary blessing, but who’s to say that the river goddess may not favor Black Panther again in the future?