Black Panther is set to hit theaters with an initial release date of 12th February 2018 in the United Kingdom. The movie will set off a whole another year in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise and set up the events to Infinity war.
Infinity war is going to be the culmination of more than a decade of superhero movies and will see all our favorite superheroes and vigilantes team up to fight against the Mad Titan himself. Black Panther and his army of warriors will play an important role in fighting against Thanos and his Black Order.
As Thanos moves on Earth to steal the Infinity stones /gems we see the ensemble cast of characters battle their way to prevent the destruction of the planet and mankind.
It is speculated that the last Infinity gem i.e Soul stone is hidden somewhere in the Kingdom of Wakanda under the protection of Black Panther but Thanos’ Black Order will come for it as we have seen in the trailers where Nomad Cap is leading an army of warriors, superheroes, and assassins to save Wakanda from falling apart.
Marvel, as a company, has a long-standing history of creating characters and then slowly developing them over various story arcs, as any good writer does. The newest member of the marvel multiverse to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe and then get his solo feature is Black Panther.
The movie has been directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed) who will be the first Black person ever to direct a Marvel movie till now. He has hinted at skipping traditional origin story of Black Panther as he has already been introduced into the MCU in Captain America: Civil War. Here’s what he has said about the project:
“What’s great is that people have already met Chadwick Boseman in Civil War, so now we get to jump in feet first without having to tell a more traditional origin story. We meet him as his world is changing. Black Panther takes place right after the events of Civil War, so T’Challa’s father has just been killed, he has returned home to Wakanda, and T’Challa has to navigate potentially becoming the new ruler of this nation. He never intended to become the king for years because he figured his dad would be around for a long time. T’Chaka’s death is, in a lot of ways, the catalyst for everything that’s happening in Black Panther.”
The actor Chadwick Boseman had this to say about the movie:
“In this movie, a lot like politics, it’s a little tricky to define who’s a good guy. The film very much plays with those concepts, looking at conflicts and different motivations, and who’s with who. What makes him different from other superheroes first and foremost is he doesn’t see himself as a superhero. He sees himself as a politician. That’s the first thing on his mind when he wakes up in the morning: ‘How am I going to fulfill my duties as king of this place?'”
He added:
“It’s funny, because on one hand, the Marvel movies that I’ve liked the most are the ones that are funny. I love Ant-Man. But for me, most of the time the darker superhero movies are the ones that I gravitate towards, that I love the most. So I’m glad that I’m not in an Ant-Man. I’m glad that the tone of the movie may be a little grittier. I just wanted to establish that from the beginning, that’s what we were doing. That that’s what I intend to do. I feel like we’ll end up in a place that I’ve always wanted to be when I look at superhero movies. Those are the ones I like the most. It’s exciting to do that.”
Black Panther was originally introduced in the Marvel comics as a superhuman vigilante who wore the mantle of a panther to put the fear of God in the criminals he hunted.
Black panther thrives on fear and in his own words has trained all his life to face the unknown. While we know that the movie version of the character, as played by Chadwick Boseman, rocks a cutting-edge Vibranium suit the comic origins of the character are much more humble
Black Panther or T’Challa of Wakanda was introduced in the Marvel comics in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1996) as a hardened vigilante who has trained himself to the peak of human capability for the sole purpose of fighting crime and protect his country after the death of his father. Sound familiar?
That’s because as soon as the character appeared on the pages of comics in the Silver Age loyal fans knew that it was just another attempt by Marvel to cash on Batman’s success (after failed attempts with moon Knight and various other rip-offs).
The character of Black Panther, however, clicked with fans more than ever. Maybe it was the fact that T’CHALLA had true potential or just pure skill of the writer but after his first run, it was clear that Black Panther was here to stay.
T’Challa, as we know him today in the comics or the movie verses is human and only has a herb to enhance his senses and capabilities along with his vibranium mesh armor. But the fact is that this Black Panther garb when originally seen in the character’s solo run was never made out of Vibranium.
Strange, you say? Well I agree.
Why you ask? Because it’s peculiar how the King of the country which is dubbed as the largest producer of Vibranium (Wakanda) never thought to initially utilize this metal when going into combat.
That’s like owning a Fully automatic liquid cooled machine guns and going to the shooting range with a Desert Eagle. It sounds fun but is highly cost ineffective and impractical.
The writers fiddled with the idea for a long time and in the meanwhile, we got a look at these awesome covers of Black Panther with his cloth costume torn up to signify hard-fought battles.
It was not until Priest’s famous run on the Black Panther character that T’CHALLA finally dawned a Vibranium mesh as his Black Panther habit. Priest not only gave T’Challa additional protection but he also weaponized the famous metal (unbreakable and indestructible) in the form of Black Panther’s claws.
The entire premise of Priest’s run on the character was to enhance every bit of Black Panther as much as he could possibly do. This entailed the writer empowering Balck Panther with not only a Vibranium suit but also other enhancements to go with the suit to aid T’Challa in his self-righteous endeavors.
This included ingenious use of T’Challa’s suit like utilizing his vibranium soles to absorb fall impacts (just like Captain America jumping out of a plane and landing on his shield ) kinetic energy absorbing suit to redirect the said energy (like the Flash does with his thrown lightning) into a particle wave.
Along with the Vibranium also came the traditional half cape that Black Panther sported for the foreseeable future and would go on to frame the ideal look of BLACK PANTHER as we know him today.
The official synopsis for the movie is as follows:
“After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people”.
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