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20 years ago, Marvel introduced a Jewish Black Panther
(JTA) — Like some Jewish baseball fans, many dedicated Jewish comic book readers keep a running roster of Jewish heroes that have appeared in the “major leagues” of the comic world: Marvel, DC and some independent publishers’ titles.
Many know the handful of often-discussed Jewish characters: The Thing, whose adult bar mitzvah and Jewish wedding were major storylines; the Jewish star-wearing X-Men character Kitty Pryde; one-time Batwoman Kate Kane; and the popular supervillain Harley Quinn, to name a few. Moon Knight recently became the first overtly Jewish character to appear in the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe, with his own show on Disney+ starring Oscar Isaac.
But not many readers are aware that, for a brief period exactly 20 years ago, the most overtly Jewish of all mainstream superheroes was the Black Panther.
Marvel’s original Black Panther character debuted in the summer of 1966, coincidentally just months before the launch of Bobby Seale and Huey Newton’s political party of the same name. Like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Captain America, the first mainstream Black superhero was created by Jewish comic book legends, in this case the dynamic duo of Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) and Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber).
The Black Panther first appeared in a “Fantastic Four” issue, and is also known as T’Challa, the king and protector of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society hidden from the world. T’Challa possessed superhuman abilities, advanced technology and unmatched combat skills, and was considered one of those most brilliant men alive. The character and his storylines explored themes of identity, heritage and the responsibilities that come with power.
At the time of its creation, a strong, positive portrayal of an African superhero that defied stereotypes was a significant milestone in representation and diversity in the comic book industry. The Black Panther’s impact has been far-reaching, inspiring generations of readers as an enduring symbol of Black empowerment and pride.
Flash forward several decades after the character’s debut, and comics creator Christopher Priest was nearing the end of a transformative 60-issue run at the helm of the Black Panther title. Priest was the first Black writer to work full time at either of the big two studios, and his trailblazing reinvention of the character served as the primary inspiration for the two blockbuster movies that have earned acclaim in recent years.
In the final dozen issues of Priest’s “Black Panther” series, the story took a surprising turn. T’challa had vanished and was presumed dead. In his stead, a new Black Panther appears mysteriously on the scene: Kevin “Kasper” Cole, a narcotics officer in the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Cole’s father was born in Uganda, but Kevin lives in a tiny apartment in Harlem with his Korean girlfriend, Gwen, and his Jewish mother, Ruth. Kevin is known as “Kasper” — after the well-known Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon — because, as he puts it:
There once was the greatest cop who ever lived. A proud and noble warrior, someone to be both feared and respected. Jonathan Payton Cole. “Jack” Cole. Called him “Black” Jack because he was so dark. Just like they called his kid “Kasper,” because I was so light.
Meanwhile, Priest modeled Ruth after the mother on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” played by Jewish comedic actress Doris Roberts.
Cole originally “borrows” the Black Panther costume from the home of his boss, Sgt. Tork, an ally of T’challa who had held on to the costume for safekeeping. Cole’s motives were hardly altruistic, as Priest wrote on his blog at the time: “Kasper’s motive is to wear the costume so he won’t be recognized by the good guys or the bad guys as he goes about cleaning up his precinct so he can get a promotion to Detective so he can make enough money to marry his pregnant girlfriend and move them all out of Harlem.”
But what starts out as a side hustle for Cole soon evolves into a hero’s journey. When Cole is discovered by T’challa’s longtime adversary and half-brother, Hunter — AKA The White Wolf — he provides Cole with training, equipment and mentorship in order to use Cole as a proxy to hurt T’challa, who has resurfaced in New York City. The story soon becomes, in Priest’s words, “a war between The Black Panther (T’Challa) and the ‘white panther’ (Hunter) over the soul of this young kid.”
The story doesn’t end there: Cole decides to pursue official Wakandan acceptance as Black Panther by enduring rigorous initiation trials, and he soon receives support from none other than Erik Killmonger (the villain in the first “Black Panther” movie). Killmonger offers Cole a synthetic version of a heart-shaped herb, giving him T’challa-level powers. The series ends when Cole agrees to become an acolyte of the Panther god, Bast, instead of living as an imitator. He assumes a new title, The White Tiger (thereby becoming the second Jewish Marvel hero after Moon Knight to dress all in white and serve at the pleasure of an African deity).
Throughout the series, Cole’s Judaism is not a mere aside. Priest provides numerous examples of a strong Jewish identity: He dreams of his unborn son having a bar mitzvah (where they will serve “Bulgogi and ribs”). He dons a kippah and recites a Hebrew prayer at the grave of his slain friend and boss, Sgt. Tork. Even Erik Killmonger refers to Cole’s Jewish identity as a reason why Cole would identify with the underdog. Cole also proudly mentions his Jewish identity to several other characters in both Black Panther and in Priest’s short-lived follow-up series, “The Crew.”
(Priest originally envisioned the ensemble for “The Crew,” which wound up being mostly Black heroes, to be a much more diverse group, including not only Cole but also the one-time Avenger and New Warrior, Vance Astrovik, AKA Justice. That would have meant an unprecedented two Jewish superheroes on one team.)
Cole was the son of a non-Jewish African father and Jewish-American mother. (Marvel Comics)
One reason why Priest decided to make Cole Jewish could have been his personal familiarity with Jews. Priest himself went to a primary school in a Jewish neighborhood in New York City, where, he writes, “I had absolutely no sense of racism being directed at me… If I had a beef with another boy, it was about whatever it was about—race played absolutely no role… At least half of my friends were white. Right up through middle school, my girlfriend was a little Jewish girl.”
Fabrice Sapolsky, CEO and Founder of FairSquare Comics — which aims to “promote and give more exposure to immigrants, minorities and under-represented creators of the word” — hopes that Cole will not be the last comic character to represent an understanding of Jewish ethnicity beyond the “Ashke-narrative trope.”
“It is the right time for these kinds of stories to emerge,” said Sapolsky, who recently published a book starring an Asian-Jewish protagonist. He said he is also releasing a title soon that features a Black-Jewish heroine.
Cole’s journey has continued in a new series written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, over a dozen years after his first appearance (or 1-2 years in “Marvel time”). In the Coates narrative, T’challa convinces Cole to come out of superhero retirement and move to Wakanda. T’challa offers to train and outfit him not as The Black Panther or The White Tiger, but as an entirely new hero, simply known as Kevin Cole. In the most recent issues, he defends Wakanda alongside a veritable who’s-who of Black Marvel superheroes.
“One of the prime directives at Marvel has always been to create characters that resemble the world and people we know, that are around us,” Mike Marts, Priest’s editor on “Black Panther,” said about the groundbreaking representation that a Black-Jewish hero represents. “So making Kevin half-Jewish was most likely a result of collaboration between us (Marvel) and Priest… to create a character that our readers could identify with and relate to.”
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From UK to the Balkans, Europe Faces Wave of Antisemitic Attacks at Jewish Sites
A person holds a sign near the scene where four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A growing wave of antisemitic attacks has swept across Europe in recent weeks, with a string of incidents targeting Jewish sites in multiple countries underscoring an increasingly hostile climate and a rise in targeted violence against Jewish communities.
On Wednesday, London police arrested two suspects following an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in the north of the British capital, in the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents that have deepened alarm and unease among Jews across the country.
According to British authorities, two individuals wearing dark clothing and balaclavas approached Finchley Reform Synagogue in north London late Tuesday night and threw a brick and two bottles suspected of containing petrol at the building.
Authorities confirmed no damage or injuries were reported after neither of the bottles ignited. Working in coordination with Counter Terrorism Policing London, local police have launched an investigation, treating the incident as an antisemitic hate crime.
Cantor Zöe Jacobs, a leader at the synagogue, strongly condemned the attack, calling it a deeply troubling attempt to target the Jewish community and a stark reminder of the growing climate of hostility and fear across the United Kingdom.
“This is clearly an attempt to intimidate the British Jewish community, but we will not be deterred by these cowardly acts. Instead, we will continue to prioritize building bridges across the wider Barnet community,” Jacobs said in a statement.
This latest incident followed an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in London last month, amid a broader upsurge in antisemitism over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in the area, assured the community that increased patrols in the Finchley area will continue, alongside ongoing monitoring and preventative measures.
“I hope the swift action by officers today to identify and arrest two people provides some reassurance and demonstrates how seriously we take attacks of this nature,” Williams said in a statement.
Meanwhile, more than a thousand miles away, North Macedonia’s only synagogue was targeted in a separate attempted arson attack in Skopje, the country’s capital, on Sunday night. The attack is believed to be the country’s first antisemitic incident since World War II.
According to local media reports, the Beth Yaakov Synagogue — the country’s only functioning Jewish house of worship, consecrated in 2000 — was targeted by two unknown individuals who threw firebombs at the building, leaving the synagogue’s door and courtyard scorched by fire.
Police reported that surveillance footage showed two suspects climbing a fence, pouring fuel, and throwing a firebomb before fleeing, with investigators later recovering a fuel canister at the scene but so far failing to identify those responsible.
Pepo Levi, the president of the local Jewish community, strongly condemned the attack, calling it a disturbing act of violence and an alarming escalation in targeted hostility.
“This act represents a serious attack not only on our community’s safety, but also on the principles of religious freedom, dignity, and peaceful coexistence that we have upheld for generations,” Levi said in a statement.
With a total population of around 1.8 million people, North Macedonia is home to approximately 200 Jews, nearly all based in Skopje. Before the Holocaust, the country was home to nearly 8,000 Jews — with around 3,000 in Skopje — and five synagogues in Bitola.
Synagogues have increasingly been targeted in acts of vandalism and violence amid a broader surge in antisemitism worldwide, with a mounting wave of incidents reported from Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia.
In northern Romania, a Jewish cemetery and final resting place of Rabbi Hillel Pollak, a disciple of the Chatam Sofer and author of Kodesh Hillulim, was vandalized by unknown perpetrators this week.
According to local media reports, 14 gravestones were toppled at the cemetery in the city of Reghin in the Transylvania region, with no suspects identified or arrested so far.
The European Jewish Congress strongly condemned the incident, calling it a disturbing act of vandalism and part of a worrying pattern of attacks on Jewish heritage sites across Europe.
“This desecration is part of a broader pattern of antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish heritage sites across Europe. Attacks on cemeteries not only damage property but also show a profound disrespect for memory, history and the dignity of the deceased,” the statement read.
A Jewish cemetery in Reghin, northern Romania, has been vandalised, with 14 gravestones toppled by unknown perpetrators.
The site includes the grave of Rabbi Hillel Pollak, a prominent historical figure. Romanian authorities have opened an investigation and no suspects have been… pic.twitter.com/oc5k2pmR3R
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) April 15, 2026
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Israeli Legal Group Files ICC Complaint Against Spain’s Sánchez Over Alleged Dual-Use Weapons Exports to Iran
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference after attending a special summit of European Union leaders to discuss transatlantic relations, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
An Israeli legal advocacy group has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court seeking an investigation into Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over allegations that Spain supplied weapons-related materials to Iran’s Islamist regime, potentially implicating him in alleged war crimes.
Filed by Shurat HaDin, an Israel-based non-governmental organization that pursues terrorism-related cases, the lawsuit claims Spain supplied “equipment and components used by Iran’s regime and its proxy forces for military purposes” amid widening regional escalation across the Middle East.
According to data from Spain’s Ministry of Trade, the Spanish government exported more than €1.3 million worth of dual-use materials to Iran in 2024 and the first half of 2025, including explosive components, laboratory reagents, and specialized control software.
Since Sánchez took office in 2018, official data indicates Spain has authorized roughly $7 million in dual-use exports to Iran with potential military and nuclear applications, and machinery shipments alone reached about $80 million in 2024.
Shurat HaDin argues such exports occurred despite a “well-documented” pattern of Iranian support for terrorist groups across the region, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
Under international law, states or entities that supply essential components enabling the operation of weapons systems may be held liable for aiding and abetting war crimes, even when those items are formally classified as dual-use goods.
“These materials are not innocent industrial products, but critical components that enable explosive devices to function, and they were transferred in circumstances where their use for attacks against civilians was foreseeable and reasonable,” Shurat HaDin said in a statement.
Spain’s Prime Minister is now facing a complaint at the International Criminal Court.
Shurat HaDin has filed an ICC complaint against Pedro Sánchez, alleging Spain enabled the transfer of dual-use components to Iran worth €1.3 million.
These dual-use components are not… pic.twitter.com/dJVilxR6Y6
— Shurat HaDin – שורת הדין (@ShuratHaDin) April 15, 2026
The Israeli organization also pointed to a recent Iranian propaganda campaign depicting a missile aimed at “US-Israeli assets” alongside a message thanking the Spanish leader, citing it as further evidence of what it describes as growing political alignment between the two countries.
With regional tensions continuing to escalate, Shurat HaDin is calling on the ICC to open a formal investigation and issue an arrest warrant against Sánchez, as well as to examine the involvement of other officials in export decisions.
This lawsuit comes amid already strained relations between Israel and Spain that began with the war in Gaza and have deepened through the conflict with Iran and wider regional escalation.
From unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state to repeatedly branding the war in Gaza a “genocide,” Madrid has been pursuing a fierce anti-Israel campaign aimed at undermining and isolating the Jewish state on the international stage.
In one of its most controversial recent moves, the Spanish government announced last week the reopening of its embassy in Tehran, just a few weeks after it permanently withdrew its ambassador from Israel.
Sánchez has publicly condemned Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the widening regional escalation tied to the Iran conflict, renewing calls for the European Union to suspend its association agreement with Israel and urging an end to “impunity for [Israel’s] criminal actions.”
The Spanish leader also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of breaching basic humanitarian norms, saying his “contempt for life and international law is intolerable.”
Last week, Israel expelled Spain from the United States’ Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, a hub established to coordinate humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, in response to Madrid’s increasingly anti-Israel stance and continued hostility toward the Jewish state.
Despite being a NATO ally, Spain had also recently closed its airspace to US aircraft involved in what officials described as a “reckless and illegal confrontation,” and barred Washington from using its bases for military operations against the Iranian regime.
As the local Jewish community continues to face an increasingly hostile climate and targeted violence, Sánchez has drawn mounting criticism from political opponents and Jewish leaders who accuse his rhetoric of fueling antisemitic hostility across the country.
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JD Vance Argues Against the Pope’s Calls for Peace As Iran’s LEGO AI Videos Stoke America’s Religious Divisions
An Iranian propaganda video attacks President Donald Trump in response to social media postings critical of the Pope and regarded as insensitive to Christians. Photo: Screenshot.
Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in August 2019 at age 35 criticzed Pope Leo’s call for peace between the United States and Iran, another example of growing religious disagreements among Christians which Iranian propagandists have sought to exacerbate in new propaganda videos.
On Thursday at an event organized in Georgia by conservative activist group Turning Point USA, Vance said when asked about the head of his church disagreeing with President Donald Trump’s policies, “I do think we have to remember that each of us has our own role. I’m the Vice President of the United States. The fundamental way I understand my role is I’m trying to take the lessons, the moral truths that are rooted in Christianity and I’m trying to apply to a whole host of complicated real world scenarios.” Tepid applause broke out in response with Vance then thanking the crowd.
The Vice President’s comments came in the days following social media postings from Trump which included a broadside against Pope Leo and an AI-generated image depicting the Commander-in-Chief wearing white and red flowing robes as he placed one of his glowing hands on the head of a sick man. Trump later removed the image following the criticism of longtime Christian members of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Iran took advantage of the social media kerfuffle, on Wednesday the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan posted an AI animation which took the original image and modified it to mock Trump.
Another propaganda video released by a pro-Iran group this week also responded to Trump’s social media postings about the Pope and the Jesus image, again deploying the AI-generated animation style depicting the president and other American officials as LEGO characters while a soundtrack delivers rhyming insults.
The Occupy Democrats Facebook group which has 11 million followers celebrated another pro-Iran propaganda video that has started circulating online.
While the president’s opponents on the progressive left may enjoy Iran’s jabs at Trump, the video’s themes casting him as an enemy of Christianity seek to exacerbate pre-existing intra-theological conflicts among the MAGA base.
This year, other recent Catholic converts — notably far-right podcaster Candace Owens and her supporter Carrie Prejean Boller, the former beauty queen contestant ejected from a White House Religious Liberty Panel on antisemitism following her questioning about Christian Zionism — have also advanced positions counter to Catholic teachings.
Prejean Boller claims that Zionism and Catholicism are incompatible, writing on X after her dismissal from the panel that “I will continue to stand against Zionist supremacy in America. I’m a proud Catholic. I, in no way will be forced to embrace Zionism as a fulfillment of biblical prophesy [sic]. I am a free American. Not a slave to a foreign nation.”
In response to her actions, the group Catholics for Catholics awarded Prejean Boller a “Catholic Champion” award at its gala, an event also featuring Owens and Joe Kent, the recently-resigned director of the National Counterterrorism Center who has suggested that Israel controls America’s foreign policy and may have have had a hand in the Sept. 10, 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA chief Charlie Kirk.