How the Turntables Have ... Turned: Marvel Does the Meme With the Debut of a White Black Panther

One of Hollywood's favorite pastimes in recent years has been race-swapping and gender-swapping iconic characters from movies, comics, and even history. We've seen black Cleopatra, an upcoming female Aslan, the utterly forgettable and unfunny lady Ghostbusters, and so many more. And let's not forget Hamilton, which said, 'What if all of the founding fathers weren't actually evil old white guys, but virtuous men of color?'

Disney, famous destroyer of all things beloved, has been one of the leading perpetrators of these crimes against our childhoods with their failed race-swapped Little Mermaid and the dumpster fire of Snow White that was so bad, they had to rewrite how the character got the name. (How'd that movie work out?) Disney's not done with this, of course, as the new Fantastic Four movie will include a female Silver Surfer.

The only consistent feature of all of these swaps is that they only go in one direction. There are never black or Latino characters who are made white, and never a female character who's suddenly a dude.

It's gotten so ridiculous at Disney that it spawned one of the most popular memes on the Internet: What if Black Panther, Marvel's iconic protector of Wakanda, was a white guy? The memes usually feature Ryan Gosling as the superhero to underscore the point (because Gosling may be the whitest dude possible). X users had so much fun with reversing the swaps that #RemakeADisneyClassic became a hugely popular hashtag a couple of years ago.

But if there's one thing we know about the Year of Our Lord 2025, it is that anything can happen, because we live in the absolute craziest of timelines.

Warning: What you are about to read is not a joke, it is not a parody, and it's not April Fool's Day.

This week, Marvel did the unthinkable. They steered into the skid and brought the meme to life.

Ladies and gentlemen: Meet the new Black Panther, white man Ketema.

This is not a parody! No Trump jokes!
Black Panther gets RACE SWAPPED? T'Challa's White son to rule Wakanda!

Link to the full video below
👇👇 pic.twitter.com/2JkJoC8Ld3
— Bounding Into Comics (@BoundingComics) June 4, 2025

The wokies told us that these are fictional characters, and that no one should care that much about things that aren't real. Meanwhile, the meme lords started swapping skin colors of black figures/characters to make fun of the trend.
The wokies laughed and said they wouldn't care.
But now Marvel has gone and actually introduced a new Black Panther named Ketema who is the son of the original Black Panther, King T'Challa. In the comic (spoiler incoming), he challenges his father in tribal combat for the throne and defeats him.
See if you notice anything about Ketema:

Ain't no way Black Panther has a white Aryan son who just became the leader of Wakanda 💀 https://t.co/q9Hca4WZ2T pic.twitter.com/dcFs5MPZQg
— Endymion (@EndymionYT) June 4, 2025

Oh ... yes way. As Ian Malcolm might say, 'Those crazy sons of b*****s. They did it. They actually did it.'

As Not The Bee also reported, the very same people who said that skin color doesn't matter (when it was only going in one direction) are now having apoplectic fits of rage the one time it has gone the other way

A white Black Panther in the comics?! What the f*** is Marvel doing pic.twitter.com/WTvtz5ad5a
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) June 4, 2025

white skinned africans aren’t natives

Black Panther is a a native africa hence why his skin color matters

This is the equivalent of taking a Native American but is depicted as a white person.
— Br0dy (@_DannySpider3_) June 5, 2025

LOL. That doesn't sound very 'inclusive' now, does it?

Neglecting the historical context behind black panther and participating in racial stereotypes is evident by your desire to make it seem as if white is clean and black is dirty

Colonialism continues to do wonders on Nigerians https://t.co/fpwuKR9qTD
— Prince 🐘 (@PrinceJumbo) June 6, 2025

Ahh. Suddenly, historical context matters.

There were plenty more hypocritical protestations such as this (and we don't even want to tell you how much people lost their minds on BlueCry; you can read more of the Not The Bee article for a sampling of those profane outbursts).

But the far more entertaining reactions were those who just couldn't get enough of the hilarious irony.

First DOGE took our reparations and now Marvel is taking our hero.
😭😭😭
— Immor Tanzit (She/Her/Yeye) (@ImmortanZit) June 5, 2025

LOL. (Yes, that is a parody account.)

I am confused. I am torn between crying myself in to hysterics or collapsing in debilitating laughter till my spleen explodes.
— Large Prime Numbers (@Large_Prime_Num) June 5, 2025

Both? 'Both' sounds good.

pic.twitter.com/M9wFInaLA1
— BritishFalconer (@britishtwit74) June 5, 2025

WhiteKanda Forever!
— Johnny Whiplash 🇺🇸 (@SnakeKingLA96) June 6, 2025

BAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

pic.twitter.com/Cd0U3sw6Fh
— Alejandro (@Galador0) June 6, 2025

Black Panther is now White https://t.co/YG28ecvSSR pic.twitter.com/QjAZpt5qQE
— Kian ✟ 🇮🇪 (@KianjRyan) June 4, 2025

Maybe the best part of the story is that Ketema was created by one of the most iconic writers of the Black Panther superhero, Christopher Priest, a black man.

Christopher Priest is coming back to Marvel Comics to write Black Panther.

Twist: Priest is a black man who hates being typecast into being "the guy who writes black people because he's black."

IMMEDIATELY TURNS THE PANTHER WHITE. HOLY S**T. pic.twitter.com/oEVyV6E96p
— Micah Curtis (@MicahCurtis85) June 4, 2025

Of course, the new Black Panther was just introduced, and many people expect that there might be a twist to the character's arc coming up.

White Black Panther
Something that was supposed to be a joke calling out corporate and lazy race swappings of established characters, Marvel literally made it real

(yes I am aware that it will be revealed that the white Black Panther is pure evil, cause of course he is) pic.twitter.com/9OfbFJrxLI
— Ritan Man (@ManRitan) June 5, 2025

I get the overwhelming feeling that this is a long game rug pull situation
while at first it might look on the up and up
somehow its going to end up being "white guy bad" pic.twitter.com/rmmenHe7Xi
— ClippedCoin (@ClippedCoin) June 4, 2025

It only goes one direction with Disney… so if they are making him white, it’s gotta be a bait n switch and he’ll be the ‘evil’ Black Panther.

Bookmark it. pic.twitter.com/iEkzrbzJYs
— The One (@B3gin2B3li3v3) June 5, 2025

This is a possibility. We shall see.

It's also true that comic book sales are in the toilet (and still falling) in recent years because of all of the wokeness that companies like DC and Marvel have injected into nearly every title. So, another strong possibility is that this is just an attempt to get anyone to buy a comic again.

No matter what happens, we are enjoying the hilarious irony. After all, T'Challa has even said that the Black Panther is 'just a mantle,' right?

All we know is that Ryan Gosling had better get his agent on the phone.