Heroes, villains at Comic-Con
Stars to costumed fans, wow moments abound, starting with ‘Panther’ reveals.
Black Panther, the Flash, Batman and replicants all get their close-ups, and the cosplayers abound.
After making a historic splash on the Hall H stage last year, the “Black Panther” squad returned to Comic-Con International in San Diego on Saturday with dazzling new footage that brought the room to its feet and left the 6,500-strong audience with one song buzzing in their heads.
This time it wasn’t Run the Jewels, whose “Legend Has It” soundtracked the first trailer for “Black Panther” this summer.
Director Ryan Coogler and his stars debuted an extended fight scene set in a casino before the reel segued into a montage set to Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA” — the perfect track to mirror T’Challa’s journey from Wakandan king to superhero.
The lyrics, after all, are uniquely suited to “Black Panther”: “I got, I got, I got, I got / Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA ...”
“He comes from a long lineage of kings, of royalty,” Chadwick Boseman said of his on-screen alter ego, still energized from the panel’s rapturous reception. “You’re talking about a world that would exist if the Egyptians were never conquered, if Sumeria was never conquered and was allowed to progress — that’s what Wakanda is.”
Coogler, also a K-Dot fan, concurred.
“The lyrics are amazing — a lot of Kendrick’s are,” said the director, who also co-wrote “Black Panther” with Joe Robert Cole. “It’s actually oddly literal for our trailer’s purposes — I think a lot of the cultural things we’re dealing with in Wakanda are in the zeitgeist in the African American community.”
The footage that wowed the Comic-Con crowd, which Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige promised hadn’t yet been seen anywhere else, opens on T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, and his right-hand operatives Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Okoye (Danai Gurira).
On the trail of Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), the trio infiltrates a sumptuously appointed casino, where they’re promptly engaged in dazzling hand-tohand combat.
“Black Panther” opens Feb. 16.