2016 is the year of the superheroes, especially with Marvel as the frontrunner for the cinematic world, but now anticipation is rising for a new hero: The Black Panther.
As of recently Marvel and DC comics have enjoyed seeing many superhero characters come to life on the silver screen such as, Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and of course Batman. Many fans of the comics universe have noticed that the movies seem to revolve around the same central characters, until Guardians was released, many of the superhero movies were reboots or continuations of previous successful movies. But fans are in for a new story about a not so mainstream hero, that of T’Challa king of Wakanda, otherwise known as the Black Panther.
The character himself is the first black superhero in American comics and will actually make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in Captain America: Civil War. At first it wasn’t sure how much of a role the hero would play in the move considering the main plotline is about the battle between title character Captain America and Iron Man. It’s now reported that the Wakandan hero will be playing a rather large role in the movie and fans will not only be introduced to him but also his home country. However how much of the hero is seen in the movie isn’t clear since the Russo brothers aren’t allowed to reveal much, even though the movie is completed. But the Captain America movie is just the short introduction of the hero into the MCU because the hero has been confirmed for his own standalone movie coming in 2018.
Within this week news broke that Ryan Coogler will be directing the Black Panther movie and fans rejoiced. Coogler proved his skills with his critically acclaimed debut “Fruitvale Station” and now with the release of “Creed”, in which Sylvestor Stallone won a Golden Globe for his supporting role. The producer of the film, Kevin Fiege, already has many praises for the young director who is the first black director for a Marvel Studios production. The film will also be the first from the Studios that will present a mainly black cast since the country of the character is set in Africa. Coogler will be working with Chadwick Boseman who is confirmed to be playing the Wakandan hero in both Captain America and Black Panther. The director has already handed over directorial rights for the Creed sequel and opted to take a producer’s role since he will be investing his time for the new project.
Ryan Coogler will be writing with Joe Robert Cole and will already have a starting point due to the Captain America movie, however Coogler has gone on record to state he will be implanting his usual personal angle to T’Challa’s character as well. This all ties together with the story’s “geopolitical action adventure” feel as reported by Fiege in CinemaBlend. The story will be setting up for the new Avengers: Infinity War Pt. 1 movie that will be coming out months after the “Black Panther”.The movie will be coming to theaters February 16th, 2018, but the long wait isn’t deterring any fan. Once news hit that Ryan Coogler will be directing, fans on social media like twitter exploded declaring their excitement for the work of “genius” Ryan Coogler.
Coogler has already built quite the excitement, which only makes Marvel happy, but the true excitement will hit once we’re closer to the movie’s release date.
