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Black Panther is already purring along.
Be prepared: Black Panther is coming.
The film follows Marvel’s first-ever black superhero T’Challa, aka Black Panther (played by Marshall’s Chadwick Boseman) as he battles old enemies including Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) in order to take his rightful place as king of the fantastical African land of Wakanda.
To get you up to speed, here’s everything we know about the action-packed film:
It hits theaters this year.
Black Panther, which runs for 134 minutes, is set to premiere Feb. 16.
It’s directed by Ryan Coogler.
Coogler is best known for writing and directing the Oscar-nominated boxing drama — and Rocky spinoff — Creed, which also starred Jordan.
It has a stellar cast.
In addition to Jordan and Boseman, Black Panther’s allies Nakia and Okoye are played by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira, respectively.
Martin Freeman ( Sherlock), Daniel Kaluuya ( Get Out), Andy Serkis ( Lord of the Rings) and Angela Bassett ( What’s Love Got To Do With It) also star.
The music should be pretty great, too.
Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar and SZA dropped All the Stars Jan. 4, a dreamy collaboration that will appear on the Panther soundtrack.
Marvel announced that Lamar will also curate and produce Black Panther: The Album along with Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith. The album, set to drop Feb. 9, will feature 14 songs.
The Internet went crazy over it.
To say the introduction of Marvel’s first black superhero film was exciting is an understatement. Fans were overjoyed with the idea of making the cinematic comic-book universe more diverse, and Coogler said he felt the same while speaking at Comic-Con last year.
“As a black comic-book fan, I couldn’t help but to be excited about that,” Coogler said. “It’s really overwhelming to think about, honestly, but I’m really excited about us opening up the world a little more.”
Fans also rejoiced when Coogler was officially named the superhero film’s director.
It’s already set Marvel presale records.
Of course the Internet loved it, but did that translate into sales? Big time.
Panther became the best-selling Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on Fandango in terms of presales after its first 24 hours Wednesday, overtaking previous top-seller Captain America: Civil War.
Nyong’o shared on Twitter that even she is having trouble nabbing a ticket.
The trailer is thrilling.
The trailer, which highlights the beautiful, technologically advanced land of Wakanda and shows us glimpses of battle, gets us pumped for the film.