Black Panther is out and it satisfies every bit of the hype that has been all around the world. The movie easily hits the Top 3 Marvel movie spots and was surely the best Superhero origin story beating Iron Man. Black Panther was nothing we have ever seen before. It was just sheer perfection. The movie had everything, it had emotion, it had heart, it had humor, it had drama, it had mind-blowing action, and all over, it had a great plot.
Ryan Coogler and team tried to explain each and every aspect they touched in the best way possible. Every cast member was on top of their game delivering exactly what was intended by the directors and the writers. Overall, the movie has received massive positive reception from its core audience and comic book lovers in general. The critics are also unanimous in praising the movie, which is why movie is breaking record after record now.
Ryan promised that the plot will not revolve around how Black Panther came into being as he had already been introduced into the MCU in Captain America: Civil War where he lost his father in a massive explosion at UN building, rather it focused on the aftermath of events of Civil War when T’Challa was anointed as King of Wakanda.
Here is what he said before the release of the movie:
“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.”
He said to EW on being asked about the journey of Black Panther:
“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?'”
Still, the movie missed one or two big plot points that fans were expecting to see get solved in the movie.
The movie does not reveal the 6th Infinity Stone, which is the soul gem, and this was one of the highly anticipated story points for Black Panther, but instead, the purpose of the Infinity Stone that was expected to show up in the movie was replaced entirely by Vibranium. Wakanda hides in the shadows in order to protect its immense reserves of Viranium to fall into the wrong hands.
And instead of this, People actually thought that Wakanda was hiding the infinite power of the soul gem. But the Soul Gem was not even hinted or teased in the movie, not even in post-credits which would have set up Avengers Infinity War pretty nicely. For a lot of people, it was a let down of sorts.
Another big thing that people expected to see was the whereabouts of Captain America and Bucky Barnes in the movie. Since T’Challa helped Bucky and Cap in the end of Civil War, as he brought them to Wakanda, the movie totally skips them out. It was made clear by Sebastian Stan, the actor who plays Bucky that he does not have a full-fledged role in the movie.
However, there was a reference to Bucky Barnes made by Shuri during the movie that explained that Bucky is still in his cryo-sleep and healing his scrambled brain. Later towards the end of the movie, we see Bucky wake up and get ready for Infinity War.
But this still does not explain the whereabouts of Captain America. Captain America could have helped T’Challa very well in the movie, as when T’Challa was overthrown from the Wakandan throne, T’Challa survived miraculously and wanted to take the mantle back from Erik Killmonger. At this point, he was very short-handed as he did not have a lot of people helping him against Killmonger and W’Kabi’s tribe. Cap could have helped T’Challa overthrow Killmonger with ease, but where was he?
Well, that has been explained by the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic that came out half a month ago. In that comic, it was explained that after T’Challa helped Bucky and Cap in Civil War, Cap leaves Bucky in Wakanda after putting him into cryo-sleep, and he then goes to free Falcon and the rest of his fellow teammates from the raft. Clint retires yet again, goes back to his family, Wanda reunites with Vision and the two start living together, Scott Lang goes back to his daughter, and Cap and Falcon reunite with Black Widow, form a strike team and work against smaller International threats.
This is why there was no mention of Cap in Black Panther, and why we see Cap, Falcon, and Widow together in the Infinity War trailers. In Black Panther, T’Challa could not have called Captain for help because he was far away on his own missions, and the threat that Killmonger posed on Wakanda was very immediate, which is why T’Challa had to strike alone with whatever he has in his arsenal, that being Shuri, Nakia, and Everett Ross.
Also, calling in Cap or using Bucky in the movie would have shifted the focus from Black Panther and it no longer would have been the perfect solo movie it turned out to be. Directed by Ryan Coogler from a script he wrote with Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue, Winston Duke as M’Baku and Forest Whitaker as Zuri. The film is out in the theatres, go check it out.
This movie is not just a comic book movie but has a strong social message particularly concerning the Black community. It is rare to see a superhero movie rising above explosions and big action sequences to highlight a sensitive issue of segregation and oppression of Blacks for centuries. The actor Chadwick Boseman plays the lead had something amazing to say about this, he said:
“I feel the energy. The movie opens people’s minds up. You can talk about it all you want, you can have it in a comic book, you can even do an animated series, but when you see real people doing it, it changes something inside of you. It’s a big deal because there’s not just Black people or people of African descent that want to see it, I think everybody wants to see it. That’s the beautiful thing. I truly believe there are more people who want to see it than don’t want to see it, especially after being here.”
Here is the synopsis released by Marvel studios for the movie:
“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”.
Don’t Miss: Major Marvel Character Returns From The Dead After 30 YEARS!!!
