Panther Habit

"Are you telling me that the king of a third world country is running around in a bulletproof cat suit?"

- Everett Ross

The Panther Habit is a uniquely crafted vibranium-weave suit used by the Black Panther, the protector of Wakanda.

History
"The Black Panther has been a protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle passed from warrior to warrior."

- T'Challa

The Panther Habit was worn by the King of Wakanda for many generations, who would then take the mantle of "Black Panther" to be Wakanda's protector. T'Challa is the latest owner of the Habit, having trained during his youth to be the protector of Wakanda.

Chase of the Winter Soldier
"So you like cats?" "Sam." "What? The guy shows up dressed up as a cat. You don't want to know more?"

- Falcon and Captain America After T'Chaka perished in a terrorist attack believed to have been committed by the Winter Soldier, T'Challa became the new king and donned the Panther Habit to avenge his father. Tracking Bucky Barnes to Bucharest, Black Panther fiercely hunted him down to a traffic tunnel, facing off against Winter Soldier, as well as Captain America and Falcon, where he proved to be a match for all three. However, Black Panther's attempt was prevented by Captain America, followed by the arrival of War Machine and an entire police squad, to whom he removed his mask and revealed his identity.

Clash of the Avengers
Seeking revenge against the escaped Winter Soldier, T'Challa would don the Panther Habit again, fighting on Iron Man's side in the Clash of the Avengers against Captain America and Winter Soldier along with their supporters. However, he was stopped short of capturing the pair by Black Widow, who held him back with her Black Widow's Bite as they escaped in a Quinjet. Later, planning to finally find and kill the Winter Soldier, T'Challa followed Tony Stark to the Winter Soldier laboratory in Siberia where he discovered that the terrorist attack that killed his father was actually orchestrated by Helmut Zemo. Seeing the effects of revenge on Zemo, Black Panther chose to spare him to the point of preventing Zemo from taking his own life.

Upgrade
"Exhibit A." "My design." "Old tech. Functional, but old. 'Hey! People are shooting at me- wait, let me put on my helmet!' Now, look at these. Do you like that one?" "Tempting, but the idea is to not be noticed. This one."

- Shuri and T'Challa After learning that Ulysses Klaue had been spotted in Korea, Shuri showed T'Challa the new equipment she had developed for the mission, including upgraded versions of the Habit which were entirely bulletproof and much lighter than his previous design, due to constructed from nanotechnology, as well as able to be stored within the teeth of a ceremonial necklace. Impressed with his sister's modifications, T'Challa decided to continue using the upgraded Habit instead.

Arrest of Ulysses Klaue
To be added

Battle of Mount Bashenga
To be added

T'Chaka's Habit
In his youth, T'Chaka served as the Black Panther years before his son would claim the mantle. His Habit possessed a golden color scheme, crossing throughout many areas of the Habit, and its torso design was reminiscent to T'Challa's initial Habit he wore during the Clash of the Avengers.
 * Vibranium Claws: The Habit possessed vibranium claws for use in combat.

T'Challa's Original Habit
"I got a look at your suit. Vibranium weave. I'm very impressed."

- Natasha Romanoff

The Habit was designed to be reminescent of King T'Chaka's. Its vibranium composition makes the user completely bulletproof and near-indestructible, able to withstand two explosive arrows from Hawkeye's arsenal at point-blank range without any noticeable damage. Due to the lightweight properties of the metal, the suit doesn't inhibit the wearer's mobility in the slightest. Due to the vibranium absorbing and redirecting force, the user becomes physically superhuman, enhancing their durability to be able to withstand explosions and gunfire, as well as strikes from physically stronger opponents. The gloves have vibranium-laced knuckles built in, while the toes are also laced with vibranium, both of these are meant to enhance strike attacks. The suit is accompanied with:
 * Vibranium Claws: Two sets of deployable vibranium claws embedded in the tips of the gloves' fingers; serving as a primary weapon of T'Challa during combat. The claws are exceptionally strong and razor-sharp, notably able to put scratch marks on Captain America's Shield during the airport clash.
 * Panther Helmet: The Habit comes equipped with a helmet, which has similar properties with the suit, and is adorned with silver trimmings and slightly pointed arches on either side of the top that mimic the ears of the animal. The helmet seems to have a safety latch in the rear area, enabling it to attach firmly onto the user's head.

Upgraded Habits
"It is lighter, thinner and it absorbs energy for redistribution."

- Shuri

Presented to T'Challa upon his return to Wakanda, the latest version of the Habit was highly upgraded by Shuri to be lighter than his original Habit, as well as entirely bulletproof. Most notably, the Habit was outfitted to harness a powerful energy field that it absorbs from external sources for later distribution, greatly enhancing its offensive capabilities. This version of the Habit is constructed from Wakandan nanotechnology and materializes from a ceremonial necklace worn by the user. It's features include:

Wakandan Technology: Upgraded by Shuri, the Panther Habit is now one of Wakanda's more advanced pieces of technology, housing an advanced array of sophisticated technology to greatly enhance T'Challa's capabilities as the Black Panther.
 * HUD: The helmet of the Habit projects a holographic interface for T'Challa to utilize. With it, T'Challa was able to identify vehicle obstructions during his pursuit to capture Ulysses Klaue.

"Now tell it to go on. The entire suit fits in the teeth of the necklace."

- Shuri


 * Suit Materialization: Black Panther OCT17 Trailer 44.png Shuri incorporated her advanced designs into the new Habit's technology, T'Challa, similar to Tony Stark's use of the Telepresence Headset, is able to mentally command the Habit to materialize around himself, originating from his necklace with the same energy field generated capable of shredding any other clothing it replaces. Due to the helmet being integrated into the Habit, T'Challa is able to summon and dismiss the helmet portion at will, as well as just its lenses.
 * Suit Regeneration: After a small portion of the suit was destroyed by a blast from Ulysses Klaue's Prosthetic Arm, the Habit was able to reform the lost portion back. Additionally, both T'Challa's and Killmonger's Golden Jaguar Habit was still able to regenerate continually even after the stabilizers for the Wakandan Maglev Train interfered with the Habit's materialization technology, at the cost of the suit's defenses being weakened. This disturbance ultimately led to the death of Killmonger, as T'Challa was able to mortally wound him through the destroyed area of the suit.

"The nanites absorb the kinetic energy and hold it in place for redistribution." "Very nice."

- Shuri and T'Challa


 * Energy Absorption: Black Panther OCT17 Trailer 76.png As explained by Shuri, a prominent feature of the upgraded Habit is its ability to redistribute stored energy. It can receive energy from any incoming source, such as bullets being fired at T'Challa or attacks from enemies, that will charge his suit and enable him to repurpose the energy later. The Habit begins to glow purple from its accumulated charge of energy, to which T'Challa can use either by releasing it all at once, or to charge his strikes during combat, further augmenting the force behind them.
 * Kinetic Energy Pulse: BP Teaser Trailer 60.png the kinetic energy absorbed from the bullets being fired at him, T'Challa was able to disable a car using a kinetic energy pulse expelled by the Habit, using the propelling force to launch himself further into his pursuit. As the Habit gains more charge, T'Challa is able to release much more powerful and devastating pulses, strong enough to send multiple enemies flying.
 * Vibranium Claws: Like its predecessors, the Habit possesses razor-sharp vibranium claws that are able to cut through almost anything, such as the wheel disk or roof of a car. However, the second Habit can deploy claws out of the fingertips for slashing attacks, as well as from its knuckles for strikes.
 * Sound Nullification: The Habit's boots possess sound absorbent soles, which completely absorbs any sound generated by their contact on any surface, enabling T'Challa's footsteps to be completely masked, making it easy for him to be stealthy.
 * Communication System: The Habit has a built-in communication system, allowing T'Challa to communicate with Shuri through her Kimoyo Beads.

Trivia

 * Concept art for T'Chaka's Habit by Andy Park reveal that an unused design of the Habit resembled the classic caped look Black Panther often had in the comics.
 * In fact, Park also was inspired by the comic storyline for T'Chaka's design.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ryan Meinerding, Head of Visual Development of Marvel Studios, said "I tend to like to design the 'men-of-action' of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I find the ones I'm drawn to are the more physical ones, the ones who specialize in hand-to-hand combat. Panther's silhouette throughout the comics has always been lithe, and because the costume was primarily black with muscle shapes, the challenge with this one was trying to find a way to translate something that's simple to a real-world setting with enough texture and detail to not just be a man in a black leotard. I was trying to come up with ways of having the suit constructed that the audience wouldn't understand - it's meant to be woven together in ways that are nearly impossible to achieve in a practical setting, and therefore make it feel like it's from a culture that's way more advanced than ours. The overall concept is that it's a woven suit - on a more granular level, there is vibranium woven into the fabric. This vibranium would provide a silver sheen so that when it catches the light, it would glisten a bit. From there we tried to create a design language for patterns to fit very subtly into the hard vibranium pieces that are woven through the suit."