THE BUZZ ABOUT BLACK PANTHER
There’s a Black Panther party going on all around the country.
Superhero fans, movie fans and especially connoisseurs of black culture—American and African— are eagerly awaiting the debut of Marvel’s “Black Panther” movie starring comic books’ first black superhero with an enthusiasm not often seen in American cinema.
“Black Panther” viewing parties are being scheduled around the country for its February release, smack dab in the middle of Black History Month. Clothing lines are being designed around the bright colors and Afrofuturism styles of Wakanda. And Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar was just named to produce the soundtrack.
And people are already calling the still-unseen movie one of the most important of 2018, despite the fact that the character has only appeared once on the silver screen and until now, has not occupied the same pantheon as stalwarts like Superman, Batman and Spiderman.
“Black Panther,” starring Chadwick Boseman as the eponymous superhero, opens on Feb. 16, picking up the adventures of the newly crowned African king and superhero who debuted in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” Existing in the same shared universe as Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America and Spiderman, the Black Panther’s adventures center around his futuristic hidden homeland of Wakanda, considered to be the most technologically advanced nation on Marvel’s earth. In the new movie, T’Challa, the Black Panther’s real name, must battle long-time adversaries with the aid of his all-female bodyguards and a CIA agent to maintain control of his country and prevent world war.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, it also has an all-star cast including Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Sterling K. Brown and more.
For many people, the Black Panther movie isn’t just a movie; it’s a symbol of change.
“‘Black Panther’ is just going to be really special. ... I don’t plug into film anticipation. But I can feel it. A lot of my friends have asked me to go to the premiere! Everyone in my network is excited about it, and you can feel it when they’re not,” Daniel Kaluuya, the “Get Out” star who also is featured in “Black Panther,” said.
The internet explodes each time a new trailer, poster or piece of artwork debuts from the movie, sparking hash tags like# Black-Panther So Lit and# Welcome-To Wakanda. T-witter declared that Black Panther was one of the most tweeted-about movies of 2017, and the only movie on the list that hadn’t premiered yet.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the minds behind Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther holds a unique position in comic book history as the first black superhero.