T'Challa is the first biological son of T'Chaka, King of Wakanda. His birth killed his mother, N'Yami, and his adopted older brother, Hunter, blamed him for her death. His second mother, Ramonda, left the family when T'Challa was only eight, and when he was in his teens, his father T'Chaka was murdered by Klaw over the rare metal Vibranium , that has it’s purest version located in the African Country of Wakanda. He started training himself with one purpose in mind, to take revenge. Klaw was later driven away after almost being killed by T’Challa, though Mr. Fantastic prevented him from doing so. As a young man, T'Challa traveled to America and Europe for school, and came back to perform his duties in his tribe to become a man to lead the country. After beating the then current Black Panther and taking an herb to link him to Bast, the Panther God, the herb also enhanced him which made him almost superhuman as T'Challa became the new Black Panther, leader of the Panther Clan, and King of Wakanda. This made his adopted older brother hate him even more, and in turn became the leader of the Wakandan secret police, the Hatut Zeraze, and was called the White Wolf.

As one of his first acts as King, T'Challa threw the Hatut Zeraze out of the country in an effort to establish his country as a global leader in technology. Being King continued to bring up new difficulties when a tribal war commenced in Wakanda. T'Challa was forced to take sides in the war, choosing Dora Milaje over the Jabari Tribe for his secret service agents as well as his harem. The more Wakanda became a technological global power, the more T'Challa realized the threats of the outside world. While developing nuclear weaponry inside Wakanda, he began to invite super-powered people to his country, beginning with the Fantastic Four, as well as infiltrate groups like the Avengers in an effort to test the limitations of their abilities. Although once he found out what kind of people they were, T'Challa saw them as allies as well as friends. Even so, he only allowed most members of the Avengers to know him as Luke Charles, an American teacher romantically involved with a singer named Monica Lynne.

For the next few years, T'Challa lived two lives, one in America as a teacher, and one in Wakanda as King. The many threats to his Kingdom continued, including the Supremacists of Azania, Solomon Prey, Moses Magnum, the Soul-Strangler, Kiber the Cruel, Wind Eagle, Baron Macabre, and even the Ku Klux Klan. On a mission to recover King Solomon's Frogs, T'Challa met a future version of himself who was telepathic and fatally sick. Attempting to change this future, he broke up with Monica Lynne and kept his future body in cryostasis. Wakanda almost went to war with Atlantis, during an incident on Kiber Island, and T'Challa found out that his stepmother had not left his family, but was kidnapped and made into a domestic slave by Anton Pretorius. A known white supremacist, who sexually assaulted her daily. It was soon after her discovery that T'challa rescued her and joined the Knights of Pendragon. Where he learned that he had a Pendragon Spirit within himself. With the help of Black Axe and Afrikaa, he exposed the efforts of Cardinal Technology to escalate the civil war in Mohannda.

Empowered by the demon Mephisto, Reverend Achebe led a coup on Wakanda backed by Xcon, an alliance of rogue intelligence agents and the Russian mafia. In exchange for Mephisto's abandoning Achebe and leaving Wakanda in peace, T'Challa sold his soul to him, knowing that his unity with the Panther God and its link to the spirits of past Panther Clan leaders would ruin Mephisto’s plans. Demanding sanctions against America over the Xcon coup, T’Challa linked the United States to it and presented evidence to the United Nations. Nakia attempted to kill Monica Lynne and was replaced in the Dora Milaje with Queen Divine Justice. Distraught and alone, Nakia was captured, tortured and almost killed by Achebe before Killmonger rebuilt her into Malice. Killmonger also attempted to wipe out Wakanda’s economy, so T’Challa was forced to nationalize all foreign companies. This resulted in Tony Stark having controlling interest in the Wakandan Design Group.

After the economy was once again stabilized, T’Challa fought Killmonger in ritual combat and was almost killed, but lost the Black Panther title instead of his life. Moon Knight and Brother Voodoo mystically nursed T’Challa back to health while Killmonger attempted to join the Avengers as the newest Black Panther. Soon after, Deadpool and other mercenaries attacked Wakanda on the behalf of Achebe, and the Avengers were forced to respond. While they were in Wakanda, Killmonger was supposedly killed and T’Challa was re-established as Black Panther. The criminal Nightshade resurrected the fabled Chinese monster Chiantang the Black Dragon to use against T'Challa back in New York. Black Dragon had a mind-controlled Iron Fist attack Black Panther. Panther managed to defeat Iron fist, however the assault caused the fatal sickness the future Panther had originally predicted. Nightshade, meanwhile, managed to revive the future Panther.

At the same time, the White Wolf took over Xcon and killed most of its leaders. The previous Xcon leadership had used King Solomon's Frogs to replace the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister with brainwashed future counterparts, allowing the company to overthrow both countries. Hunter continued with this plan and exacted revenge on Tony Stark for his buy-out of Wakandan Design Group. Afraid for Tony, T’Challa sent him a message by using financial finagling to seize control of Stark Enterprises and simultaneously annex a small Canadian island in Lake Superior. This prompted the U.S. and Canadian leaders to meet to discuss this crisis. The coordination of these leaders allowed Panther and his allies, including the future Panther, to invade the White House and foil Xcon's plot, thereby un-brainwashing the duplicate leaders and returning them to their own times.

As the Panther returned to Wakanda, the future Panther fell into a coma and was placed back into stasis until he was killed by Man-Ape. Man-Ape had then been freed by Divine Justice in hopes of freeing her tribe. After all of this, the original T'Challa became unstable and constantly hallucinating. He attacked the Jabari tribe with the intent of wiping them out; but almost accidentally killed Divine Justice. This caused him to come to his senses and stop the battle. Unable to face almost killing a woman he loved, the Panther went into hiding in New York and handed over Wakanda to his council.

A policeman named Kasper Cole adopted an abandoned Panther costume and sought out T'Challa for training and guidance. This incident gave T'Challa the strength to fight for his health, his nation and his world. Killmonger was revived later and challenged T'Challa's rule, an issue which remains unresolved. At the same time, T'Challa went back to the Avengers, who battled Scorpio, and unmasked U.S. Defense Secretary Dell Rusk as the evil Red Skull. The team was disbanded after the Scarlet Witch had a mental breakdown.

T'Challa had a somewhat brief romance in his teens with Ororo Munroe. After the fall of M'Butu, Erich Paine's facility released mutant animals, fruit of his experiments, and T'Challa took action against it. As he had knocked out Paine and was looking for a way to nullify his mimicking powers, the X-Men came and refused to listen T'Challa while he was ordering them to back off in order to avoid their powers to be mimicked. During this adventure, T'Challa tried to reconnect with his former lover Ororo. He helped reunite her with her surviving family members in Africa. As well as introducing her to her long lost grandparents in America. Where shortly after, T'challa proposed to Ororo. The two were soon married in a large Wakandan ceremony, and then headed off on a diplomatic world tour for their honeymoon.

They visited nations like Latveria, the Blue Area of the Moon, and Atlantis as well as America. There, the nation was gripped by the events of the Civil War, and while visiting the White House, the authorities attempted to force Ororo to sign on to the Superhuman Registration Act despite her status as a ruling dignitary. This resulted in the royal couple choosing to side with Captain America and the Secret Avengers in the war. At the conclusion of the superhero Civil War the Wakanda embassy in New York was destroyed, leaving T'Challa without a home while in the city. At the same time Reed and Sue Richards decided to “take a break” from the Fantastic Four, leaving an opening on the team. T'Challa and Ororo accepted Richards' offer to stay in the Baxter Building and along with the Thing and the Human Torch formed a new Fantastic Four. During their time with the team, they encountered Galactus and defeated his heralds Silver Surfer and Stardust, traveled to alternate realities, fought a new Frightful Four, and saved Eternity from dying with the help of Doctor Strange. They also stayed and fought alongside the entire Fantastic Four against the Hulk and his Warbound. Though they fought hard, they were eventually defeated along with many others. It was after this event that T'Challa and Ororo decided they had been away from their duties long enough bidding farewell to their allies and departed on good terms.