We look at Marvel’s forthcoming superhero film, “Black Panther.” Pictured: Director Ryan Coogler, left, and actor Chadwick Boseman.
Movie about African king with superpowers prompts fervor for advance tickets
For Grace Gipson, the movie opening of “Black Panther” is akin to a national holiday.
The UC Berkeley African American studies doctoral candidate has been watching the superhero movie trailer daily since it debuted months ago. She vows to wear something “Black Panther-related” until the movie opens. And by the time opening weekend is over, Gipson says she will have watched the superhero movie, starring Chadwick Boseman, at least three times.
“It’s going to be a long week,” she says, laughing. “I am already mentally preparing my mind. I’m probably going to rest up the week before because I’m not going to be able to sleep.”
The big-screen arrival of “Black Panther” on Friday, Feb. 16, is generating the kind of excitement reserved for the biggest tentpole movies, such as “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.” It’s the kind of fervor that forces people who would normally wait for the Netflix release of movies to brave theater crowds.
The film, directed by Oakland native Ryan Coogler, is about superhero and African prince T’Challa (Boseman), who deals with the fallout of becoming king after his father’s death. It also introduces audiences to Black Panther’s techno-
logically advanced fictional home of Wakanda.
And for many, that story line makes it more than just a movie.
“It’s the first time in history that a mainstream movie has projected positive images of black people — African people — in the future,” said Karama Horne, a Brooklyn resident who runs theblerdgurl.com, a blog and podcast devoted to highlighting diverse creators and characters in comics and pop culture. “Representation is important. People want to see themselves represented onscreen.”
Ticket sales have shattered Fandango records for superhero movies, surpassing advance sales for 2016’s “Batman v Superman.” Across the country, viewing parties are being organized, with some people dressing up in African garb or cosplaying as one of the movie’s characters.
Nearly 100 GoFundMe campaigns have been started internationally to send young fans to watch the movie at local theaters. The #BlackPanther Challenge campaigns have raised more than $100,000 from supporters, including celebrities such as J.J. Abrams and Snoop Dogg, according to GoFundMe.
Coogler, who spoke to The Chronicle at a “Black Panther” press junket in Los Angeles, was touched by the public reception.
“The coolest part of that to me is that, you know, for a long time, my favorite thing to do was go to the movies and have that kind of community experience,” Coogler said. “People are going to make a day of it . ... That’s heartwarming and humbling.”
The early treatment of black characters in comics was often offensive, from the casual racist depictions of background characters to the blaxploitation of superheroes, including an early version of Marvel’s Luke Cage. Even now, while people have been able to embrace the concept of aliens in a fictional future, getting past the skin color of a superhero has continued to be hard for the mainstream public.
“I’ve had discussions with people about this — like, ‘You can speak Klingon, but you can’t accept the black version of Wally West (from “The Flash”)?’ ” Horne said.
But Marv Wolfman, creator of Marvel’s groundbreaking African American comic book character Blade, is glad to see the tide is changing.
“Black comic book and comic strip characters in the 1940s were drawn as over-the-top, racially insensitive stereotypes,” he said. “Thankfully, by the 1960s, (creators) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were able to be as realistic as possible when they introduced Black Panther in the pages of the Fantastic Four. The Panther was not some comedy relief character, but easily as powerful as any of the Fantastic Four. That was the revolution.”
Wolfman, whose own creation became a movie trilogy starring Wesley Snipes 20 years ago, would later realize his impact on diversity in comics.
“Years later, when the first movie came out, a lot of black friends as well as readers confided to me for the first time how important it was to them that Blade was black,” Wolfman said. “They had never seen anyone quite like him again. I go to many comic conventions, and lots of people continue to say the same today.”
Public outcry over lack of diversity in recent years has helped pave the way for “Black Panther” and more diverse depictions, such as “Luke Cage” on Netflix and “Black Lightning” on the CW.
And unlike the quiet movie reception of “Blade” — released before the age of social media and about a comic book character little known to the general public — momentum for the “Black Panther” movie has been building for more than a year with author Ta-Nehisi Coates penning the Black Panther comic book and the announcement of the movie’s all-star cast with Angela Bassett, Michael B. Jordan and Oscar winners Lupita Nyong’o and Forest Whitaker.
“This is something that we never thought would exist,” Gipson said. “It had been talked about and talked about. But when that (‘Black Panther’) trailer dropped and the date got set, that’s when it got real.”
Horne said she hopes the success of “Black Panther” will mean more projects featuring diverse characters with depth and more inspired efforts to galvanize communities like the #Black Panther Challenge.
“I hope one of these kids grows up to be the next Coogler or the next producer,” she said. “The amount of community support that people have put behind it is absolutely fascinating. I want the momentum to keep going.”