Ultimate Black Panther Vol. 2: Gods And Kings

Ultimate Black Panther (2024) #2

by Bryan Edward Hill, Stefano Caselli (Artist), Carlos Nieto (Artist)

Collects Ultimate Black Panther (2024) #7-12.

The war of the kingdoms! While T'Challa has sought to grow his power, so too have his enemies - and with access to a unique new resource, Ra and Khonshu are stronger than ever! How will Wakanda stand in its resistance against the kings of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms? And is T'Challa prepared to bear the consequences of tapping into such dangerous wells of power? As Black Panther and Storm mount a guerrilla counterstrike against Moon Knight, Killmonger and Okoye seek allies to aid their cause outside of Wakanda - and the big gun they call in is the Ultimate Sorcerer Supreme! But the source of their magic is not what it appears to be due to the Maker's reshaping of the world. What is the price of trying to master the mystic arts?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2025

About the author

Bryan Hill is a screenwriter, photographer, tv writer, and director. He is known for his work on the DC show TITANS and for his work in comics, most notably his outings on DETECTIVE COMICS, POSTAL, AMERICAN CARNAGE, KILLMONGER and ANGEL.
His writing is infused with esoteric principles, which can also be found in his photography and music.
He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is vibranium sentient?
In the new Ultimate universe, the answer is...maybe.



I'm really enjoying this new take on Wakanda and the Black Panther. He's up against Moon Knight, posing as a god with the help of Konshu and Ra, who promises to save Africans from the neglect of T'Challa and his ancestors.



There are some cool surprises in this volume, and I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it yet, but it definitely starts melding science and magic in this one.
T'Challa realizes that he's going to need to armor himself with knowledge outside of what he has available to him, and sends Killmonger and Storm on a mission to find someone who understands both sides of the coin.



And due to some spoilery things, it appears as though the vibranium that gives his country such strength and technology might be something more than just a metal. It seems to be giving him dreams of the future, changing him, and possibly making him act rashly.
Again. Too many spoilers.



The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the switch-up in artists, but that's a small complaint.
Overall, I really like this one! If you're on the fence, give it a shot.
Recommended.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the vibranium angle 3.35 stars

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book that I really enjoyed but it was very rushed. A lot happened between the panels. There was a bit too much jumping around for me to give this 5 stars. I would like to have given it 4.5 stars.

Africa is being torn apart by war. Khonshu and Ra, with their avatar, the Moon Knight, are turning the continent against Wakanda. As much as T'Challa (the Black Panter and King of Wakanda) does not want to kill the people he is supposed to protect, he might have no choice. However, he must also learn the secret of Vibranium. He sends Killmonger and Storm on a reciting mission on someone who can help. Also, is he in as much control as he thinks he is.

I am loving the Ultimate books so far (not quite sure of the Ultimate X-MEN), I do especially like continuity between the book and to see new versions of classic heroes. The book finishes with a varient covers gallery.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally! This series had potential to be good but it was moving at such a slow pace. This volume the war between Wakanda and the empire of Khonshu and Ra finally begins! And we meet the Ultimate Universe’s Sorcerer Supreme and she’s a little crazy but cool as hell. One year in and all these stories are finally expanding in big ways. Excited to see where we go next as we head into year two.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2, similar to volume 1, continues to be a good, but honestly, not quite great series for me. My main hang-up is that it just doesn't take enough risks, and it feels overly too similar to the main 616 Black Panther. We're in a whole new Ultimate Universe, with this escalating war against Ra and Khonshu's "Moon Knight" forces who are taking over Africa, and T'Challa is even tapping into seriously dangerous power wells to fight them, yet it still feels a bit familiar.

That being said, it moves quickly and is a fun read most of the time. Watching Storm, who's really stepping up as his ally in a brutal guerrilla counterstrike, and Killmonger, who's off with Okoye seeking out the Ultimate Sorcerer Supreme for outside help, is actually a really fun time. The designs are good, the fights are solid (especially that war against the Moon Knights), and there are hints about Vibranium's secrets that are intriguing. But ultimately, I just wish it leaned harder into the "Ultimate" part of its name and took more bold, unexpected risks. For me, it's a 3 out of 5.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm digging the decompressed nature of this Ultimate Black Panther series, but this volume might be a bit too slow. All that really happens is: Killmonger and Storm go find the Ultimate Sorecer(ess) Supreme and Black Panther struggles with whether he should kill Ra and Khonshu (and maybe is being whispered to by sentient vibranium).

There's a lot of "which is better: a God or a king?" yammering, which I suppose fits with the subtitle but doesn't really further the plot or generate excitement. The artwork is still stellar and, with its decompressed nature, the book really moves. Definitely a middle volume, though, as the big fight is cut off mid-scene at the end.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This is a great Black Panther reboot. All the main characters are present with some good twists for die hard fans. If your like me and just want a good story and aren't diving hard on the continuity side of things you get a fast moving story with visceral art work. Some of the character designs are very rad. I love the look of the Ororro Kill Monger duo.

I'll be continuing the series, but it could use a couple big moments while this volume develops the plot well there weren't enough bomb drops along the way to elevate things

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compared with the previous volume, the plot thickens: vibranium is clearly the focal point of it all. But we're heading there at a snail's pace.

Subplot 1: T'challa- am I worthy or not? How far should I go to win the heart of the people? Did I remember to turn off the light when I left? It's long and I don't give a fuck about soap opera-ish interrogations and pompous lines.
Subplot 2: looking for a Supreme Sorcerer- actually Sorceress- for... I don't know what. She's introduced as a half-crazy Zatanna who revels in chaos. It's long and so far I don't give a fuck either. The character doesn't seem that interesting to boot.
Actual plot: we'll see in the next volume I guess...

All that to say, it could be worth 3* if I’d put my mind to it, but I'll stick with 2 for the exaggerated narrative decompression and the not particularly original story ideas.

What's more, the drawing is pretty meh, so...

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8 stars

[Machiavelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had fun with this, stakes are rising and lots of complex drivers from across Africa - Ultimate Black Panther Vol. 2: Gods & Kings thrusts Wakanda into all-out war as the forces of Khonshu and Ra threaten to engulf Africa. T’Challa, grieving yet resolute, must decide whether to isolate or rise—and he chooses resistance. Alongside Storm, he leads a guerrilla counteroffensive that expands beyond Wakanda’s borders. Meanwhile, Killmonger and Okoye forge uneasy alliances that may prove more dangerous than expected.

Bryan Hill crafts a story full of political intrigue, mythic stakes, and emotional weight, while Stefano Caselli’s cinematic visuals make every battle and revelation feel epic. Inspired by the scale of Dune but grounded in Wakandan culture, this volume delivers explosive action, rich world-building, and a rising storm of prophecy and power.

A bold and thrilling chapter in the new Ultimate Universe—Gods & Kings is essential reading.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid. Extremely visual, and brings great art to pull it off.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this series is a bit underrated when it comes to the Ultimate line of comics.


⭐️🌟⭐️

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm interested to see where this Vibranium story goes.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume felt much more cohesive and driving forward than the first volume. The central question of what vibranium really is and what it is doing to T'Challa is compelling. I also enjoy that he is a pretty ineffectual king, but is starting to realise that now.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The war between Moon Knight and Black Panther comes to a head, but at a great price, as the truth of Vibranium begins to weigh heavily on T'Challa. Meanwhile, Killmonger and Storm head out to recruit a new ally, the Ultimate Universe's Sorcerer Supreme.

Just as good as the first volume - things are moving, T'Challa's downward spiral and the slow progress of the war feel real and well-realised, and the worries from Okoye and Shuri ring true, even given that they're worrying about their king. I really have no idea where we're going here, and that's definitely a nice change of pace.

The art's still awesome, as the artists from the last volume, Caselli and Nieto, continue to double-team. Something else I like about the Ultimate line - each book has a regular art team, and they seem to be in for the long haul.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of interesting pieces in this volume. T'challa confronting that Wakanda has abandoned the rest of Africa. A new sorceror supreme. Vibranium that is more than simply a metal. Really interested to see where this goes.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better paced than vol 1 and the will of vibranium is an interesting concept as well

[Rylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story starts to come together, this volume is intense lots of politics and war skirmishes. i really like the angle they are playing making moon knight a false prophet conducting a holy war. t’challa is a very strong protagonist his growth throughout the series is a highlight. the exploration of vibranium as a sentient being is really intriguing, i’m eager to see where this story goes.

[MannyLikesPie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great, definitely worth the slow build up

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gods and Kings continues the story from the first arc as we follow King T'Challa's continuing war against Khonshu and Ra. Now dubbing himself as the Moon Knight, Khonshu has gathered a large army of followers to incite revolution against Wakandan hegemony in the Africa. Empowering his followers with the mysterious green orb that seems to operate as a counter to vibranium, Moon Knight's powers grow. Seeking to understand the properties of both vibranium and its opposite, T'Challa has Ororo and Erik Killmonger seek out the "Sorcerer Supreme", who may hold answers he seeks. This second arc primarily deals with the two parallel storylines of the Black Panther's war against Moon Knight and Storm and Killmonger seeking out the mysterious Sorcerer Supreme.

A fair bit of a step up from a very slow, plodding first volume, Gods and Kings begins to move the central narrative of Ultimate Black Panther forward in a more interesting direction. Though the culmination of this volume is a little rushed and anticlimactic, the overall ride here is much more entertaining than what came before. I also previously felt that Stefano Caselli's artwork was a little too bland, but marked improvements in the backgrounds and paneling are noted in this volume. A couple fill-in issues by Carlos Nieto was a nice change of pace too, and overall it does feel like this series has hit a bit more of its stride.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Consistently excellent with a message and story to tell. I like that T'Challa isn't necessarily likeable yet somehow also identifiable and so you root for him.

Very Game of Thrones-like.

[Macqueron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu plus inégal que le premier volume, cette suite a tout de même de bons points, notamment (toujours) autour de ce qui constitue et nourrit le fanatisme. La fin, qui interroge non pas le fait de mettre fin au fanatisme, mais la façon d’y mettre fin, est particulièrement pertinente aujourd’hui.

[Sam Whale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat a step up from volume 1 though still easily the weakest book in the Ultimate Universe.

the side story with Killmonger and Storm recruiting the Sorcerer Supreme had a lot of forward momentum and was the most enjoyable part of the book. Inan is a welcome addition to the cast and I hope we see more of her in the coming volumes.

the main story felt like it continued to go in circles with dream sequences and discussion on how Wakanda "isn't doing enough" followed by nothing more being done.

[Shivesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 takes the narrative up a notch, and the shift is welcome. The story splits its focus between Killmonger and Storm’s growing insurgency and the Wakandan storyline centered on T’Challa’s spiraling dependence on raw vibranium. Watching him wrestle with the bloodlust and heightened aggression that come with channeling Bast’s power gives this arc a darker emotional core. The addiction metaphor is strong — honestly rich enough to fuel an entire additional volume — but Bryan Hill keeps the pacing tight by zeroing in on T’Challa’s internal battle and the consequences of leaning too heavily on divine strength.

That said, the storytelling remains decompressed, with abrupt jumps between major events. We move quickly from Storm and Killmonger consolidating their forces to T’Challa confronting the cult of Khonshu, and those transitions can feel jarring. Read as a collected edition, it’s easier to follow, but I can see why reading these month‑to‑month must have been frustrating. Still, the broader direction is clear: this series is inching toward its inevitable collision with the larger Ultimate Universe.

The highlights continue to be the art and coloring, which are consistently excellent. The fight sequences — especially T’Challa’s clash with Khonshu’s avatars — are dynamic and visually inventive, and several character designs are striking enough to make you linger on the page. The final showdown between T’Challa and Khonshu is exciting but surprisingly brief, ending without the definitive resolution I expected. Clearly, the creative team is saving that payoff for later.

Around the time these issues were releasing, Marvel announced that the Ultimate Universe line will conclude with issue #24, which is a curious choice but at least gives me a clear finish line. My plan is to work through all the individual series before diving into Ultimate Incursion and the endgame currently unfolding.

Overall, this volume is an engaging, visually rich read — appropriate for teens, though not entirely kid‑friendly — and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of this series unfolds.

[José Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that’s more like it!

The first volume of this series was good, but it felt very standard and didn’t really feel like it was that much of a departure from something you’d see in the regular 616 Marvel Universe, but it finally starts picking up the pace here and I really love where it’s going.

The main internal conflict of T'Challa being stuck between Wakanda’s isolationist traditions while also witnessing what those "traditions" have cause within the regular population of Africa gets this additional extra layer of spice with the continued exploration of the new twist on Vibranium, and it works so well and it’s so cool.

It’s a story all about faith and belief, about how humans tend to NEED something or someone to believe in and how they will follow anything and anyone who will promise them to fill that hole, regardless of their intentions (being fair, the mind control doesn’t help either, but what I love about the book is that there’s plenty of non-believers that aren’t brainwashed shown)

T'Challa’s slow decent into madness is great in my opinion, you can slowly see him getting more and more desperate as he is egged on by everything around him, and I like this more unsure side of the character, instead of being the proud and capable king of Wakanda he is in the main continuity (not that he doesn’t show weakness or humanity in 616, it’s just that here it feels like it weighs on him so much more)

I will say I'm a little disappointed that the traitor mystery plot line from the first volume seems to have been forgotten about, as it isn’t even mentioned by Khonshu or Ra, so that is one of my major problems, along with that the pacing is still a little bit off as it does take a while before fully getting into the cool stuff I praised.

Art is as solid as it was in volume 1, can’t complain about that.

Overall, a great book that does take a little while to get going, but is an interesting and enjoyable exploration of T'Challa and what exactly it means to be a symbol people can believe in.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so good! much better than vol. 1 in terms of pacing and overall cohesiveness. i love the science vs. mysticism themes and how that plays into the ways the heroes and villains strategize against each other. not sure if Hill took some notes from Ewing but I appreciate how his T'Challa also realizes the importance of being among the people to understand how to better fight Khonshu. I've also been enjoying the further development of Erik and Storm along with the characters (especially Okoye and Shuri). Them being a little different than their 616 counterparts definitely kept me interested (yes for more hero Erik!).

The art continues to be top notch and I've been awestruck by how beautiful some of the panels were (almost like they could be standalone pieces). Caselli has done such an amazing job bringing Wakanda and the wider Ultimate world to life in these comics. I swear sometimes he just lets the characters look dope and aura farm. I wish all comics had this level of artistry.

Anyways it was a wonderful read and I'm looking forward to vol. 3.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the heels of reading Intergalactic Wakanda by Ta-Nehisi Coates and generally enjoying it, this Ultimates run for Black Panther has felt like a lot of wheel spinning. I think the problems here are many — over reliance on parallelism as the main story conceit, a lack of fully developed supporting characters, antagonists that we don’t spend a lot of time getting to know, and an ending that undercuts a lot of the dramatic buildup in favor of introducing a new and unknown characters while also stymieing the narrative. I want to like these, but so far they just feel very meh — almost the opposite of what Momoko is doing with X-Men, and yes, I think I still somehow like Black Panther more because this Ororo and Okoye are substantially more interesting.

This is one of those write-ups I kept falling asleep during the writing of, shortly after finishing the trade. Let that tell you something about my satisfaction with this story!

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sacada do mundo Ultimate em ter partes do mundo divididas por hegemonias que são combatidas por células rebeldes não é original, mas foi bem aplicada no Universo Marvel. Ainda assim, a revista do Pantera Negra é a mais fraca deste universo. Este segundo volume consegue ser mais fraco que o primeiro. Ele é uma leitura muito rápida, no estilo de Jeph Loeb, com poucos quadros por página e poucos diálogos, muita luta sem sentido e um protagonista desinteressante. O melhor deste gibi é acompanhar o casal Tempestade e Killmonger em suas missões. Na missão desta parte, por exemplo, eles são encarregados de encontrar a Maga Suprema para ensinar T'Challa a lidar com o vibranium. O metal é controlado pelo Pantera ou controla o soberano de Wakanda? Esse é um dos mistérios que nos colocam em atenção para o próximo número. Ainda assim, a sensação é de uma narrativa arrastada que poderia ter sido resolvida em metade das páginas utilizadas.

[Charles Korb · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're finally, slowly, starting to move. And I'll admit it was not in the direction I was expecting. Three other thoughts
1) the author said he was inspired by Dune and I can see that with the more African tinged bene gesserit and the battles over special substances.
2) I feel like across both volumes, the author wants to engage with the question of why, if wakanda exists, is the Africa in the marvel universe so similar to Africa in real life? Why doesn't Wakanda share the wealth or at least prevent other countries from taking advantage. And this is a good question! Just not one it seems the author has a great answer for. They sort of gesture at it but don't have the characters making any meaningful changes.
3)The new character they introduced is cool and I'm excited to see more of her.

[Mr. Stick · Rating 4 out of 5]

BP: "Name the one who set you free."
V: "...The Black... Panther..."
BP: "Say it again. Loud enough for all of Africa."
V: "BLACK PANTHER!!!"
- Black Panther and the villagers he just freed from Khonshu's troops.

Of the new "Ultimate" titles, I've enjoyed this one the least. Which is not to say that I disliked it, Ultimate Black Panther's a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable series. I simply liked Spider-Man, Ultimates, and X-men more.
Erik, Ororo, and Okoye seek a magician who can help T'challa understand the magic behind vibranium. They find the Sorcerer Supreme, who isn't quite what they expected. T'challa must face Moon Knight in a fight-to-the-death, but will the wild nature of the Black Panther lead T'challa down a dangerous path?
Consistently good stuff. Four stars.