Ultimate Black Panther By Bryan Hill Vol. 3: Darkness and Light

Ultimate Black Panther (2024)

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

The thrilling saga of the Black Panther in the Ultimate Universe enters its exciting second year!

With Moon Knight defeated and the Maker’s Council forced to regroup, T’Challa must learn the secrets of vibranium — because his very life and soul are at risk! The Sorcerer Supreme can help understand the truth of the terrifying element that built Wakanda, but her aid comes with a price. The Black Panther’s dangerous reliance on vibranium only becomes more volatile when an ancient spirit attacks Wakanda! Battle-worn and beleaguered, T’Challa must go back to basics to prepare for battle against the new foes who have turned vibranium and its dark counterpart against him! Plus: The Panther and Storm team up to uncover why a CIA agent is undertaking covert missions in Wakanda! Will the prophesied union between the king and the mutant freedom fighter come to pass?

COLLECTING: Ultimate Black Panther (2024) 13-18

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 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]

I'm hooked.



Absolute BP takes Wakanda's metal and turns it sentient. Or something along those lines.
Killmonger and Storm are a couple, and they've teamed up with Wakanda's king to take down Moon Knight and Ra, who are backed by some badass, wacky Lovecraft version of vibranium.



This one is fun. I kept wondering if/when Kilmonger and T'Challa go at each other, or when/if Storm was going to become a love interest. And Bryan Edward Hill did not disappoint.
It's like he used to be a writer on Dynasty or something. Ohhh my! Wakanda is just bubbling over with some soap opera shenanigans.
Tune in next time to see if Black Panther has an evil twin!



Recommended.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of drama in Wakanda!

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler warning


So vibranium has a consciousness...

...And Wakanda needs an exorcism...

I’ve been reading comics for more than 35 years so I reckon we can assume I’m rather open-minded as far as dumb pitches go but here I found my limits.

[Rylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

another solid volume. we start to head toward the endgame and get some major revelations. i have a few issues with this volume compared to the previous ones it’s still a solid read and definitely has me engaged. mainly the romance is my problem, because a huge plot point focuses on it and only now are we seeing it developed.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7 stars

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my favourite issue of the Ultimate Black Panther so far. It all comes to a head agendas are revealed, loyalties change and betrayals are coming. The whole landscape will change after this issue.

A frank conversation between king T'Challa and the Sorcerer Supreme reveals the true nature of vibranium. The element that is sown and seeded through the veins of Wakanda. The Black Panther goes to face what has been unleashed but is he leaving the kingdom to the wolves?

Great artwork, good story and huge implications. I am so glad it stuck with this series just for this volume and I can't wait to see what happens next. The book finishes with a varient cover gallery.

[Zachary Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know if it’s just me, but this book seems all over the place. I think it suffers from the month by month issue format, and it’s making too many massive jumps and trying to fit too many plot lines into a two year storyline that needs to be told in 24 issues. It has potential but I just don’t see it sticking the landing in it’s last volume, especially with announcement that it is ending in the next one.

[Odo · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting to lack its luster compared to the other Ultimate series.

Theres plenty of decent action here and I am really intrigued with what is happening with vibranium here!

Unfortunately though, the payoff for a lot of what was set up feels unsatisfying.

I have been really into where each of the characters stood and what they sought in the last two volumes, but this volume seems to make a sprint to jump the characters where they wanted them to end at.
As a huge fan of T'Challa, Storm, and Killmonger, the trajectories are neat, but honestly kinda come out of nowhere but a couple short teases.
All 3 of them have been tip toeing around their wants and being respectful and suddenly they all get a giant cinematic panel where they just totally turn mid conversation.

Killmonger I mostly love this take on him much more, but this is certainly not as good as main cannon T'Challa and Storm.

Also the art in this book is sometimes pretty and sometimes so sterile and empty.

[Juan Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

La leche, ha subido mucho el nivel. Estoy muy contento con como evoluciona la historia, no me lo esperaba. Me da la sensación de que Bryan ha tomado inspiración en cierto universo escrito por un tal Sanderson.

[Charles Korb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black panther started to find its footing towards the end of the last volume and keeps it here. That footing seems to be in a bonkers location but I'm interested to see where it goes (and also how they are going to wrap this up in basically 6 more issues).

[Gabriel Calderón · Rating 4 out of 5]

La trama se pone cada vez más whacky pero sigue prometiendo…


Esa parte de Killmonger en el trono uuu

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying the story, but the characters themselves are really inconsistent.

[José Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

One hell of a twist on the Black Panther mythos

At first I wasn’t too sure about the reveals presented here regarding Vibranium and a lot of the established elements surrounding this T'Challa’s mythos, but it got better as it went on.

There’s so much intrigue and political plays it’s insane, sure, it can get a little cliché and the fact that they offhandedly reveal who the traitor from Vol. 1 was is a little bit anticlimactic, not to mention that Ororo’s and T'Challa’s relationship just kind of happens after they barely talked with each other or demonstrated any type of infatuation with one another previously (in fact you could make the argument Ororo doesn’t trust or care much for T'Challa in all the issues before), it really feels like a "it happens because the plot demands it" kind of development.

The art is still damn solid tho, absolutely no complaints there.

Another awesome piece of the Ultimate BP puzzle and I can’t wait to see how it ends.

[Emmanuel Jamir · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh my GOD this was easily the best volume of the bunch. ultimate black panther’s plot was at a slow and steady pace for most of its run—but boy when it ramped up, it ramped UP. i was immediately hooked from issue #13 alone. i have no complaints about this run. this plot and this pace seems to pay off as i read more and more

[Macqueron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une petite déception dans cette suite. Il y a une bonne idée: un pays qui appuie son développement et sa culture sur une ressource naturelle doit en connaître les limites. Un sujet très pertinent aujourd’hui mais pas très bien exploité. Ca reste un bon divertissement par ailleurs

[Harry Alliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly a sign the UU is so strong is that this is only the 2nd best book.

[Zachary Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

The action scenes continue to be great. The story is okay albeit a bit predictable. A quick popcorn kind of read.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great ongoing series in the Ultimate universe.


⭐️✨⭐️✨

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't love the dark vibranium story, but the character work is strong enough to keep me engaged in this series.

[Jacob Gilchrist · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this has finally hit its stride and is building into a solid story after taking some time and a couple of boring issues.

[Jannes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was even worse than the volume before in my opinion, the story develops in a way I don’t really like at all, moon knight was dealt with way too fast as well for both of khonshu and ra being on the makers council.

These were my notes while reading:

- if it’s the makers doing, that this things consciousness lives inside the vibranium it would definitely explain what his plan to deal with wakanda is, but at the same time if it really is then why wait until now
- Despite what I just said I think it’s somewhat of a lame pay-off for the whole vibranium is alive mystery, because I feel like it pointed in a different direction
- And despite me thinking that it wasn’t a good pay-off for the mystery, I think the progenitor has potential to be cool
- In calling it now, killmonger is the ultimate vessel for the progenitor
- I feel like they sometimes waist a lot of time in this run. They often focus on stuff that doesn’t really matter or explain everything way too long and at the end of an issue you’re wondering what even happened, because sometimes it’s happening next to nothing
- Gateway? This is getting interesting! I’m excited who these people on the other side are and why t‘challas line is chosen by them
- I really hope all of this was planned by the maker, because this would mean that this run is at least halfway a good ultimate title
- I like the commentary on the old/traditions holding back changes for a brighter future
- I also like the theme of a prophecy being taken as good, but in reality it only serves the goals of one group
- Idk if I’m dumb, but the change up of killmonger seems really weird. When he was talking to t‘challa and storm before he was saying that he didn’t want to stay and can do that for a short while to repay t‘challas favor
- Both pairs ditching their partners is so random too, I understand that okoye was not happy with how t‘challa handled things but still this feels super out of character for all 4 of them. Just a shocker, because there wasn’t even chemistry before now

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This marks the beginning of what is going to probably be a deluge of comic book reading in early 2026 for me despite wanting to focus more time on reading novels and novellas again. With the Pima County libraries pausing acquisitions during a time when they were changing distributors, I ended up having tons of stuff on hold all suddenly land on shelves last week. So here I am, needing to catch up on stuff I picked up in early 2026 with even more stuff piled on top.

I remember the vague outlines of the last two collections in this series, but reading the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda had muddied some of my sense of which story is which. I honestly only vaguely remember the showdown between T’Challa and Khonshu and/or Ra. I’m really not totally on board with the “living entity of Vibranium” or dark vibranium — it feels like a weird way to get at similar themes when certainly there were other ideas to disrupt the typical BP narrative around Wakanda?

Also feeling a bit thrown by the suddenness of Killmonger ascending to the throne and the weird relationship interplay between him, T’Challa, Ororo, and Okoye. I have been liking the art generally — really like the character designs for Eric and Okoye, and I’m digging the current BP suit. I just wish this all felt even a little connected more clearly to the other Ultimate plot lines, since this whole story feels weirdly isolated even as it spans out of Wakanda and over to Nigeria.

You know I’ll be back for volume 4 despite any frustrations.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Khonshu and Ra defeated, T'Challa turns his attention to the next biggest problem - the sentient dark vibranium that's now trying to destroy his country.

I like that this series seems to be a tale of two halves, and we're in the second half now. The new villain is kind of faceless compared to the previous pair, but the stakes are higher for certain. The interplay between the five main characters continues to compel me, even if they spend a lot of time apart here. Even with T'Challa on the lamb for most of this volume, we still have plenty of time with Shuri, Okoye, and Killmonger back in Wakanda to see just how badly everything's going.

The art team's still exceptional - you can't go wrong with Stefano Caselli, and Carlos Nieto has come into his own on this book without a doubt. One of the best things about these Ultimate Universe books is that they've had a consistent art team for their entire runs, just the two rotating artists (or one, if you're Ultimate X-Men).

[Mr. Stick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I think vibranium is alive. That it has a consciousness. And a will. And I think I'm losing my mind to it."
- King T'challa to the sorceror supreme, Inan.

Wow! At first, I didnt think this title was as good as the others, and I was wrong. This got good, quick. Along with the other titles in this universe, Black Panther is snowballing into awesomeness. So much happened here with T'challa, Okoye, Erik, Ororo, and the Vibranium... and it's all spoiler material.
I don't usually get to say this about superhero comic books, but the artist took the time to research firearms and the representations here were detailed, accurate, and to scale. Well done to the creative team.
Four stars!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hill continues to cook with T'challa and friends in the ultimate universe. I'm here for all the creative, magical, otherworldly things he's doing with vibranium (oh no is it going to be the real antagonist? *clutches pearls*). The mysticism vs science continues to be a strong point (shout out Dr. Strange!) and the machinations of other clandestine Wakandan groups adds to the complexity our heroes are dealing with. Love the intrigue mixed with action.

My only gripe is the unnecessary left-field quadrangle situationship that's thrown in. Seems out of character for all involved and really forced. Do we really need Storm x T'Challa in EVERY universe? So yeah -1 ★ for that.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading this, I thought it was too much like the regular Black Panther title, with little to set it apart as an "ultimate" title. But this is really developing into one of the best comics among this new Ultimates run. Apparently, dark vibranium has a consciousness and is seeking something (control of Wakanda? all of Africa?) and T'Challa is the only thing in its way. Some really exciting storytelling here and excellent artwork throughout. Looking forward to the next volume.

[Nunya · Rating 3 out of 5]

> Shows up
> Summons the evil spirit of Dark Vibranium
> Sends the evil spirit of Dark Vibranium to space
> Doesn't elaborate
> Meditates for multiple months while the evil spirit of Dark Vibranium returns
> Wakes up
> Says vague nonsense
> Falls asleep

Inan might be the worst Sorcerer Supreme ever.

[Charley Isaacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite of the Black Panther volumes so far and I think that’s because it has the least T’challa. I don’t dislike him, I just think I like all the side characters more. I love the weird mystical stuff and political drama. But then the infidelity plus Erik’s switch up all felt too sudden to me

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mystery behind the consciousness of vibranium takes center stage in this arc. Nigeria has some dark vibranium and that's going to be a problem. Meanwhile T'Challa goes off on a mission with Storm while Killmonger stays in Wakanda with Okoye. It's good stuff with excellent art.