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

Ultimate Black Panther (2024) #3

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, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Paperback

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.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7 stars

[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.

[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.

[Odo · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10

[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.

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[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

[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).