Ta-Nehisi Coates Set to Write 'Black Panther' Comic for Marvel

Ta-Nehisi Coates is making the plunge into the world of superheroes.

According to the New York Times, the esteemed writer has signed up to write the next Black Panther installment for Marvel.

The iconic comic publisher isn’t new territory for Coates, who says Marvel was “an intimate part” of his childhood.

Following the success of his book Between the World and Me, a moving letter to his son on being Black in America, Coates say’s he’s ready to make the move to comics.

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“I don’t experience the stuff I write about as weighty,” he said. “I feel a strong need to express something. The writing usually lifts the weight. I expect to be doing the same thing for Marvel.”

Created in 1966, Black Panther (also known as T’Challa) is the first Black superhero and hails from the fictional African country of Wakanda. Coates’ storyline, drawn by Brian Stelfreeze, is titled “A Nation Under Our Feet” and follows T’Challa’s ups and downs as he deals with an uprising in his country. 

Black Panther is set to make his big-screen debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War with a solo film set to hit theaters in 2018 starring Chadwick Boseman. The new Black Panther series is set to begin next spring.