Black Panther-Civil War continuity issue

[Donald Thomas]

Aloha,
By now I'm sure we've all seen both movies at least 2-3 times. Here's the issue. If T'Challa becomes The Black Panther after ritual combat, how did he have BP powers in Civil War? Zuri at the beginning of the ritual combat gives him a tea designed to "remove his BP powers" so that means that he had them BEFORE the ritual. Did T'Challa have the powers before T'Chaka was killed or did he somehow take the heart shaped herb right after T'Chaka was killed? Either way, his Black Panther powers were on display prior to the ritual combat.
Your thoughts!

Long Live the King of Wakanda

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

Aloha,
By now I'm sure we've all seen both movies at least 2-3 times. Here's the issue. If T'Challa becomes The Black Panther after ritual combat, how did he have BP powers in Civil War? Zuri at the beginning of the ritual combat gives him a tea designed to "remove his BP powers" so that means that he had them BEFORE the ritual. Did T'Challa have the powers before T'Chaka was killed or did he somehow take the heart shaped herb right after T'Chaka was killed? Either way, his Black Panther powers were on display prior to the ritual combat.
Your thoughts!

Long Live the King of Wakanda

He became king after ritual combat and then drank the herb to restore the Black Panther enhancements. Just assume as the Crown Prince he was the champion chosen by his father the King to be the kingdom's Black Panther.

Trail by combat is goofy enough, I don't expect the king himself has to beat of challenges at any time like a Klingon in Star Trek had to but just at the initial coronation. Since Erik missed the initial ceremony perhaps he was still in that window of time, or if he came before Zemo's bomb the Black Panther as champion would have fought for his father at the waterfalls.

 

[Melpardus]

They're separate titles that can be held by different people and challenged for independently or as a package deal. T'Challa's brief exposition threat in Captain America: Civil War pretty clearly implied this, emphasizing that the Black Panther is "a mantle passed from warrior to warrior," and that now with his father's death, "I also wear the mantle of king." There's also a tie-in comic for Black Panther that further establishes this, showing that T'Challa became the Black Panther (although I don't think they indicate who he actually beat for it) about a week before Tony Stark announced he was Iron Man.

I do kinda wish that they'd decoupled the Black Panther and King titles a bit more than they did here, or at least explained more of the rules at play. I assume Wakanda made some amendments to try to modernize the tradition, since I seriously doubt that T'Chaka would've been fending off claims to his throne in the last decade or so since he retired as Black Panther, so I guess after a certain point in a kings' life he just cannot be opposed, at least not in this way. Trial by combat still makes plenty of sense for the Black Panther mantle, and it probably made more sense centuries ago when warrior kings were common and geopolitics didn't really extend beyond your empire's region of the world.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

He was already prowling the gilded roads of Birnin Zana as The Black Panther.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

I am thinking T'Chaka was getting too old to wear the Black Panther costume and T'Challa assumed those responsibilities while T'Chaka remained King.

 

[Donald Thomas]

I am thinking T'Chaka was getting too old to wear the Black Panther costume and T'Challa assumed those responsibilities while T'Chaka remained King.

Aloha,
While that deviates from comic book canon, within the MCU, it makes the most sense. Without the Fantastic Four you have to go with the way the MCU was able to introduce BP. In the comics, Klaw, killed T'chaka and T'challa blasted off his hand. The death of T'Chaka made him the new King, but he still had to enegage in ritual combat and climb a dangerous hill to get to the heart shpaed herb before he became the Black Panther.

Long Live the King of Wakanda

 

[Golgo-13]

The post credit scene in Civil War where Bucky is frozen in Wakanda; BP made it appear as though when T'Challa and Co are greeted by the Queen it's the first time he's been home since his father died, so when did the CW post credit scene take place?