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 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
To be added

First Suit
"I got a look at your suit. Vibranium weave. I'm very impressed."

- Natasha Romanoff

The Habit's 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.

Second Suit
"It is lighter, completely bulletproof 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 T'Chaka's version, 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.
 * 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.
 * Suit Manifestation: 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 manifest 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 whenever he needs it. 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.
 * Energy Absorption: Black Panther OCT17 Trailer 76.png 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 make a car flip over 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 predecessor, 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.
 * Communication System: The Habit has a built-in communication system, allowing T'Challa to communicate with Shuri through her Kimoyo Beads.

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."