Published Jul 3, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT
Jason is an award-winning journalist whose writing career dates back to when he developed the ability to use a crayon. He, most notably, worked previously as a "professional fan," as he likes to call it, at CinemaBlend, for which he wrote about anything and everything under the pop culture umbrella... especially Batman. His passion for the art of cinema began even earlier, stemming from repeat viewings of The Wizard of Oz.
This initially led him to pursue a career in filmmaking -- and even work briefly in the industry as an extra in the straight-to-video family film, Alice Upside Down -- before deciding that his talents would be better served discussing and showing appreciation for the various forms of entertainment he is passionate about.
These days, it seems that most alternate timelines in comic books are unified by their willingness to go darker. For instance, DC's Absolute Universe and Marvel's Ultimate Universe have offered a far grittier spin on their most beloved heroes.
Take, for example, the Ultimate Black Panther series, which puts T'Challa's Wakandan kingdom in dire straits. However, the comic's creator apparently had an original idea that would have made the story something much scarier.
Ultimate Black Panther Was Almost A Horror Comic
In Marvel's Ultimate Universe, otherwise known as Earth-6160, T'Challa rules over and protects a version of Wakanda that is kept hidden from the rest of the world. However, he is forced to reveal himself to the public when Moon Knight, a collective of Lords Ra and Khonshu in this timeline, takes various territories of Africa by force.
That is a pretty intense concept for a reimagining of the revolutionary Marvel comic in its own right. Yet, writer Bryan Edward Hill shared during an AMA on League of Comic Geeks that he had something else in mind for Ultimate Black Panther that not only would have left readers thrilled but also spooked.
With BP, I wanted to do a really scary arc, but I didn't have enough runway... I didn't get the chance to do that. That could have been fun.
Hill would also admit that dialing back on the concept to fit what Marvel had in mind for the Ultimate Universe take on the property would help him improve the story's structure. The author does not provide any specific details as to what would have made this a horror-centric take on the Marvel superhero, but he does express interest in doing a main timeline Black Panther run that would include "more fights and explosions."
Hill worked with artists Stefano Caselli and Carlos Nieto on his 24-issue run of Ultimate Black Panther, which has effectively come to an end (or, perhaps, entered a hiatus) with the release of Ultimate Universe: Finale #1. The one-shot serves as an epilogue to all the storylines involved in the imprint, which was launched in 2024, but also drops hints at there being more to expect from the tales.
A Scary Black Panther Could Work For Marvel Midnight
Image via MarvelThe opportunity for Bryan Edward Hill's "scary" idea for Ultimate Black Panther may have come and gone. However, that does not mean that its chances of seeing the light of day are over.
Shortly before Marvel's Ultimate Universe was brought to its "conclusion," the comic book publishing giant announced another upcoming imprint dubbed Midnight. The mantra is to reimagine the property's most famous superheroes with origins of a more nightmarish sort.
For instance, writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Midnight Spider-Man sees Peter Parker's transformation into a half-arachnid, half-human hybrid take a more Cronenbergian direction as he plots his revenge against Oscorp for his grotesque transformation. Midnight X-Men, from Jonathan Hickman, still makes mutants a main focus, but their central goal is to rid the world of a race of deadly nocturnal creatures known as empyres.
There is more from the Marvel Midnight line to look forward to when it launches in Oct. 2026, namely Midnight Fantastic Four, and plenty more where they came from as well. One hopes and wonders if there could be a Midnight Black Panther by Bryan Edward Hill appearing on the stands at some point.
The complete Ultimate Black Panther series is now available where comic books are sold.
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