Is it 2018 yet?
Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War debuted to critical and financial success and a large part of that was the introduction of Spider-Man and Black Panther. The King of Wakanda is beloved by seasoned comic fans and now his solo film will showcase him to general audiences. The highly anticipated production boasts incredible talent both behind and infront of the camera. Ryan Coogler is co-writing and directing Black Panther, which will be a reunion with Creed and Fruitvale Station star, Michael B. Jordan. Furthermore, the casting of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) turned heads. Now Hall H was once again served as the place for great reveals.
The inspired casting choices now have character names to go along with them, with the name reveals come an idea of possible story elements. Each character has their own historically complex relationship with the Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, the King of Wakanda. In an effort to not spoil the movie’s narrative in any way we will only briefly cover each character.
Walking Dead‘s Danai Gurira will be playing a character belonging to a sect of women, “The Adorned Ones,” who act as bodyguards to the King of Wakanda while also serving as marriage prospects. Each woman comes from a tribe in the fictional country and over the years the group has been disbanded, reformed, expanded, and even rebellious. Gurira will being portraying the group’s leader, Okoye, while Lupita Nyong’o will play another member of “The Adorned Ones,” Nakia.
The Wakandan warriors will likely be competing love interests for T’Challa as they have been a love triangle in the past. But it will be interesting to see where Marvel Studios takes these proven characters as the cinematic universe has not handcuffed itself to any traditional cannon from the comics.
Michael B. Jordan is poised to possibly be the film’s villain, Erik Killmonger. Again, in an effort not to spoil anything we will just say that Killmonger holds resentment towards T’Challa and the royal lineage. Though it is important to note that Killmonger also shares a history with Ulysses Klaw who was introduced into the cinematic universe by Andy Serkis in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
As is evident in his bombastic appearance in Civil War, T’Challa is a capable adversary, however, he is a compelling and conflicted character. A King bound by duty but also a young man stuck between the traditions of his reclusive people and lure of the outside world. During all major events in Marvel comics it is interesting to see how Black Panther responds and it was no different in the Civil War film. With award-winning and well-known talent surrounding the project it seems as if Black Panther will add greatly to the unstoppable Marvel Studios juggernaut.
Excited for Black Panther? Love/Hate the casting choices? Let us know in the comments below!
Marvel’s Black Panther will be released February 16th, 2018.
