BLACK PANTHER
The Abridged Script
By John K. and Chris W.
FADE IN:
V.O. JOHN KANI
Once upon a time, a meteor full of the most powerful metal in the universe crashed in the heart of Africa. This metal was called Vibranium, and despite the fact that it can absorb any force that impacts it, the local tribes with their stone age technology managed to shape it into, well, everything. Weapons, electrical wiring, clothing, you name it. It does your taxes, whitens your teeth, increases sexual virility, walks your dog, and a trillion other things the writers haven’t decided yet. White people used it to make a shield for a guy.
(pause)
Anyway, these tribes banded together to form the nation of Wakanda. They managed to repel European colonists and slave traders, hiding themselves away in the mountains and eventually creating massive holographic shield projections so they wouldn’t show up on Google Earth. These people are protected by the mighty Black Panther, a superhero so goddam empowering to black people he’s kind of a Mary Sue. Are you ready to be empowered?! Cuz I sure as hell am! But first, lets get depressing for a minute.
INT. APARTMENT – THE BAD PART OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, 1992
While some URBAN YOUTHS play basketball outside, gangsters STERLING K. BROWN and YOUNG FOREST WHITAKER plot some gangsteriness.
YOUNG FOREST WHITAKER
Yo man, I just heard exactly two knocks on the door.
STERLING K. BROWN
Two knocks?! Goddam. That’s the special Wakandan code. Let them in.
Two BADASS FEMALE WAKANDAN SPEC OPS AGENTS wearing outfits that are AWESOME but still look KIND OF RIDICULOUS when seen outside a SIMILARLY-STYLED ENVIRONMENT march into the room. They tap their SPEARS on the ground and the LIGHTS GO OUT. A moment later, BLACK PANTHER YOUNG JOHN KANI appears.
YOUNG JOHN KANI
Greetings, brother. I had hoped to find you in better lodgings, yet this “crib” is hardly “pimped” to a degree that befits royalty.
STERLING K. BROWN
Yes, brother and king of mine. I admit I am slumming somewhat. I simply desired to open diplomatic communications with this nation’s prince, and while he is a skilled musician, I discovered to my dismay that he lacks any real authority in their political structure. I then reached out to a recently deposed monarch in the duchy of Bel-Air, but he is less “fresh” than his title would suggest…
YOUNG JOHN KANI
A likely story. For our precious Vibranium has been pilfered by ruthless criminal Andy Serkis, and I have suspicions that you may have abetted him in this atrocity.
STERLING K. BROWN
Who accuses me of such!
YOUNG FOREST WHITAKER
Yo.
STERLING K. BROWN
Well shit.
YOUNG JOHN KANI
Come, brother. Return home to face Wakandan justice. I shall also explain to you what “situational comedies” are.
STERLING K. BROWN
As the “fresh” prince once said, AW HELL NAW!
STERLING tries to SHOOT JOHN, becoming the latest of MANY MANY BAD GUYS to forget that VIBRANIUM ARMOR treats BULLETS like DANDELION FLUFF. JOHN reluctantly skewers him through the CHEST and leaves him to die.
EXT. PRESENT DAY AFRICA
Flying in on his INVISIBLE SPACE JET, new king BOJACK HORSEMAN CHADWICK BOSEMAN prepares to do battle!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
What is the plan of attack today, General?
DANAI GURIRA
Guerrillas have three trucks full of slaves in the jungle below us. They are armed with thirty-year old rifles and rusty machetes and probably have half a high-school education between them, so naturally we’ve kitted you out with enough sci-fi tech to kill the Klingon Empire.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Very well.
DANAI GURIRA
…and?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
And what?
DANAI GURIRA
Where is your snarky comeback? Your patented Charming Marvel Protagonist humor that will undercut every moment of tension or drama?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
The Panther does not snark. As the first black superhero, I feel I must maintain a certain decorum.
BLADE/SPAWN/SWEET SWEETBACK
(glare disapprovingly)
CHADWICK kills all the guerrillas easily, but is stopped from killing the last one by undercover secret agent LUPITA NYONG’O.
LUPITA NYONG’O
Do not slay this one, my king and ex-boyfriend. He is merely a child soldier. I mean, you just killed the cast of Beasts of No Nation but eh, can’t save ‘em all.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Greetings, my former love. We have not seen each other since your Oscar win.
LUPITA NYONG’O
I am cashing in, Chadwick. Serious acting is great, but a girl has to eat, and Disney has deep pockets.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Ah yes, the Natalie Portman maneuver. Well, shall we fall back in love now or at the end of the movie when nothing about our relationship dynamic has changed?
LUPITA NYONG’O
At the end, my king. Tradition demands it.
They hop in their SPACESHIP and return to the capital city of ZOOTOPIA.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
That is an unfair comparison, Stage Direction. Certainly, our capital is a colorful and forested CGI metropolis where nature interacts freely with modernity, but you should not compare us so readily to-
DANIEL KALUUYA
(riding a goddam rhinoceros)
Greetings, my king.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Point taken. How fare our borders, Daniel?
DANIEL KALUUYA
They’re fine, like they always are. I have a pretty easy job, actually, what with the holographic projectors shielding our entire nation from sight. I’m starting to think we should go murder the rest of the world to show our dominance.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
That’s stupid. Our ways are peaceful! Now please excuse me while I go cement my rule via a display of ritual combat on a waterfall.
EXT. WATERFALL
The REST OF THE CAST gathers to observe CHADWICK’S CORONATION. Wise spiritual leader FOREST WHITAKER seizes a microphone.
FOREST WHITAKER
Ladiiiiies and gentlemen, welcome to the Rumble in the Jungle for the Wakandan crown! In this corner, weighing in at 160 pounds of pure sexy muscle, the Godfather of Swole, the Great White Hope for Great Black Action Stars, Chaaaadwick Boseman!
CHADWICK enters, shirtless, causing many THEATER SEATS to suddenly resemble the WATERFALL he stands upon.
FOREST WHITAKER
Aaaaand in this corner! Weighing in at 0.75 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnsons, the guy who was called Man-Ape in the comics but that’s racist so now he just sort of barks at everyone, Wiiiinston “The Duke” Duke!
WINSTON DUKE enters, shirtless, barking.
FOREST WHITAKER
Alright, I want a fair intra-tribal bloodbath from you two. No crotch shots, chair hits, and you have to end with a dramatic act of mercy. Agreed? Alright, FIGHT!
CHADWICK and WINSTON wrestle in the water for a bit until CHADWICK gets WINSTON in a headlock. ANGELA BASSETT and LETITIA WRIGHT watch from the cliffside nearby.
ANGELA BASSETT
Ungh, to be a loincloth in that fight right now.
LETITIA WRIGHT
Mom! You’re Chadwick’s mother in this movie!
ANGELA BASSETT
Damn, really?! I could be his sister!
LETITIA WRIGHT
As a tech genius, my research upon the outer world’s “interwebs” has revealed that Americans have a saying about our people and our inability to “crack”.
ANGELA BASSETT
Hm. Insensitive, but a fair assessment in my case.
CHADWICK defeats WINSTON, who retreats, barking, into the mountains.
LATER, CHADWICK goes to meet LETITIA in her APPLE STORE GAGDET LAB.
LETITIA WRIGHT
Well big bro, now that you’re super-double-official king, I guess it’s time for you to dictate policy, open new diplomatic channels with allies, and -
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
No, sister. Since the world shall never know the glory of Idris Elba as James Bond, I must fill the Black 007 void. Bequeath various Chekov’s Gadgets upon me that I might track down Andy Serkis. Because apparently I need Jetsons technology to fight a pasty British man whose superpower is not having an arm.
LETITIA WRIGHT
‘Kay. I made you a new Panther suit. It’s exactly the same as the old Panther suit except now we have two of them, just in case a villain wants to steal the other one for a climactic showdown. Oh, and sometimes it can release pent-up kinetic energy in the form of a huge concussive blast.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
When does it do that?
LETITIA WRIGHT
Whenever you make that crossed-arms Wakandan salute that no one is supposed to notice we stole from Plan 9 From Outer Space. So basically whenever you remember to. Also, I made you a sexy car. It will be useful in case you need to… drive somewhere. Okay, did Disney just have half a James Bond script lying around?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Sister, as I said, we honor James Bond’s influence, but I hardly see how this could be construed as-
INT. THE CASINO FROM SKYFALL
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Yeah, okay, I see it. Hell, all we need is a color-swapped Felix Leiter and we’re basically just-
MARTIN FREEMAN
Hey, folks. Remember me? That guy who was in Civil War for like ten seconds?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Oh, for the love of Bastet. Martin, no offense, but I’m here with Seal Team Xhosa, and you’re a Tolkien white guy. You can’t take Andy back to SHIELD or wherever.
MARTIN FREEMAN
Actually, I work for the plain old CIA, because that exists in this universe I guess. And I’m here to abduct Andy Serkis like you abducted that Tolkien joke from Reddit. Now please, stand aside. You can’t violate South Korean autonomy with this extra-judicial kidnapping. That’s OUR thing!
But ANDY spots them!
ANDY SERKIS
Hello, lovies! Anyone care to give me a hand?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Ugh, just shoot me with your sci-fi bullshit arm, please.
ANDY SERKIS
Can do!
ANDY shoots him with a BLAST of ENERGY from his ROBOT ARM!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Okay, now can we see your REAL power? That basically just tussled my curls and I’m not even in my Panther suit yet.
ANDY SERKIS
Fuck.
ANDY escapes in a CAR and CHADWICK gives CHASE! They speed through the streets of KOREA in a scene that’s so fucking COOL you won’t even notice it’s ripped off from the 2009 G.I. JOE movie! Eventually, ANDY is captured and taken to a BLACK SITE for interrogation.
ANDY SERKIS
What do you know about Wakanda?
MARTIN FREEMAN
I know their king’s a superhero with access to sci-fi technology. Actually, doesn’t EVERYONE know that? He took off his mask in front of like fifty people in Civil War, someone probably got a Snapchat.
ANDY SERKIS
Well, little did you know, Wakanda is actually a super-advanced civilization hiding its wonders from the world! Which probably explains how their king can afford all that gear, in case you were wondering.
MARTIN FREEMAN
Wow. So Wakanda’s basically how North Korea portrays itself in propaganda videos?
ANDY SERKIS
This is uncomfortable. Where’s Wallace at?
It turns out Wallace is HERE! And he got FUCKING RIPPED! Young spec ops bad guy MICHAEL B. JORDAN bursts through the WALL and whisks ANDY away!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Damn! For all our amazing skills and technology, we could not foresee their fiendish tactics of blowing up a wall and driving away in a van!
DANAI GURIRA
My king, Martin has been shot!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Then let us all escort him immediately back to Wakanda so he can be healed!
DANAI GURIRA
…couldn’t like two of us stay here and chase Andy for a bit?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
It is too late. That van can probably go 50 miles per hour on good streets if it hasn’t rained. They are long gone. Let us all return home so we can comfort this guy we barely know.
Stepping over the PROBABLY-STILL-DYING BODIES of MARTIN’s COWORKERS, they leave.
EXT. AIRFIELD
ANDY and MICHAEL load their gear into their plane.
ANDY SERKIS
Well, Mike, I must say, you and I have a fascinating dynamic as far as villains go. Me, more experienced and batshit crazy, and you, full of fierce, youthful anger and superior fighting skills. I think this could really be the thing that makes Marvel villains stop sucking!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Yeah, about that.
(shoots Andy)
ANDY SERKIS
What the fuck, Mikey?! We have a good thing here! Come on, I’ve had like fifteen minutes of screentime buried in two three-hour movies! Let me at least stay for the climax!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
As a great man once said, AW HELL NAW!
MICHAEL kills ANDY and also his own GIRLFRIEND because he DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK.
INT. WAKANDAN COUNCIL ROOM
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
…and if we increase grain yields by 15% we can probably offset the deficit from the new high school theater program. Bastet H. Christ, kinging is boring.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
(kicking in the door and dropping Andy’s body on the table like Errol Flynn with a deer)
‘Sup, bitches.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
By what right does this disturbingly sexy American interrupt our sacred budget meeting/office birthday party for lip-plate guy?!
LIP-PLATE GUY
This was for me?! You shouldn’t have!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
By right of I’m your cousin, cousin! Behold! My special Wakandan lip tattoo!
ANGELA BASSETT
By the blessed rains down in Africa! His birth certificate is valid! He is of Wakandan blood!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Damn straight. I was one of those younglings on the basketball court in Oakland at the start of the movie. Sterling K. Brown was my pops! Your daddy killed my daddy, ChadBo! I demand satisfaction!
ANGELA BASSETT
That is pure folly! My son would never agree to-
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
I accept.
ANGELA BASSETT
I am regretting this more than that time I played a circus freak with three tits.
EXT. WATERFALL
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
As an act of courtesy, I have extracted from my bloodstream the magic Wakandan super-drugs that make me a devastating fighter. We shall be equals now.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Yeah, I been meaning to ask about that. Where the hell’d those drugs come from?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Vibranium.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
And what exactly do they do?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Everything.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Because-
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Because Vibranium, yes.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Aw hell yeah, I’m getting me some of that.
They fight with SPEARS this time. CHADWICK wins for a bit, but then he starts LOSING because REASONS. MICHAEL moves in for the killing blow!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
And now to claim my rightful crown! For I am… KILLMONGER!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
(swallowing a laugh)
Is that your villain name? Dude, there are other jungle cats. Be Leopard Man or something, I mean, fuck. Do you “mong” kills often?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
Okay fuck y’all.
He THRUSTS!
FOREST WHITAKER
(diving in the way)
GET DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT!
FOREST is STABBED to death!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
(pause)
Ooookay, that was useful. Welp, since my only real cultural understanding of Africa while growing up came from The Lion King, I figured this was appropriate. LONG LIVE THE KING!
MICHAEL punts CHADWICK off the waterfall and OH MY GOD HES TOTALLY DEAD YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY NO WAY HE LIVED THROUGH THAT CAN YOU READ THE SARCASM IN THESE ALL CAPS STAGE DIRECTIONS IF YOU CAN’T YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVEN’T VISITED THIS SITE LATELY AND SHOULD BE ASHAMED.
INT. WAKANDAN THRONE ROOM
LUPITA and DANAI meet to discuss their next move.
LUPITA NYONG’O
So, what shall we do, Danai? Michael wishes to use our Wakandan technology to visit horrible vengeance against white oppressors the world over. And I must admit, after seeing 2 Broke Girls I agree the white race has a lot to answer for, but this simply isn’t the way!
DANAI GURIRA
I am sorry, sister-in-arms. I am sworn to uphold Wakandan law. Even the stupid parts, like how the unquestioned ruler can be replaced at any time by someone who beats him at waterfall wrestling.
LUPITA NYONG’O
Well at least you acknowledge how bullshit this is. I am taking the royal family and fleeing into the mountains. Have fun with your genocide.
DANAI GURIRA
It beats more Walking Dead!
LUPITA, ANGELA, and LETITIA escape the city and find the tribe of WINSTON DUKE.
ANGELA BASSETT
Winston, we beseech you. Please aid us in our violent coup to seize power in our totalitarian regime. We promise we’re the good guys in this.
WINSTON DUKE
(barking)
LUPITA NYONG’O
What’s that, Winston? You say you won’t help us directly? You say we’re total hypocrites for leading an egalitarian society but somehow not opening diplomatic relations with your people in these freezing mountaintops for like a thousand years?
WINSTON DUKE
(barking)
LUPITA NYONG’O
What’s that, Winston? What are you trying to say? That you pulled Chadwick out of the river!? And you kept him alive through the magic of “burying him in like an inch of snow”??
WINSTON DUKE
(howls)
(pants)
LUPITA NYONG’O
Hmm, if I’m understanding this, we can use the secret Vibranium herbal supplement to bring Chadwick back to life and give him superpowers and then lead an attack on Michael’s regime by praying Danai and her army of all-female badasses will have a Face-Heel Turn at the last possible moment which Winston would be happy to hop in when things look their hairiest. Am I getting that right?
WINSTON DUKE
(yips)
LUPITA NYONG’O
Good boy, Winston. Let’s get Chad trippin’.
CHADWICK is fed the HERBAL SUPPLEMENT and has a vision of himself in the PSYCHADELIC SERENGETI. His dead father, JOHN KANI, appears before him.
JOHN KANI
Son! It is good to see you! Join me and your ancestors as we frolic in the fields of the spiritual African afterlife! It’s pretty awesome, except for all the spiritual NatGeo documentary crews…
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
No, father! I have decided that you and our ancestors were wrong! We can no longer abandon our brothers and sisters to squalor outside Wakanda’s borders! It was pure cruelty to slay Michael’s father and abandon him to the “hood”. Too many black youths grow into violent young men in such a way. For while Michael’s tactics are beyond the pale, his grievances are valid! The sins of our oppressors do not excuse our own!!
JOHN KANI
Chadwick, every king must make hard decisions. Yours will come in time. I ask you again: join me, and let us frolic in the wilderness as Panther Spirits. At least until Spirit Climate Change depletes the Spirit Gazelle population and we must forage nearer to Spirit Human settlements.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
I cannot, father. For sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti… I know that I must do what’s right.
JOHN KANI
(snorts)
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
What?
JOHN KANI
Nothing. I’ll tell you when you die someday.
CHADWICK AWAKENS!
EXT. FIELDS OF CLIMACTIC BATTLE
CHADWICK and WAKANDA’S WARRIORS prepare to face MICHAEL and his MILITANT LOYALISTS.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Alright folks, here’s the plan. Lady-warriors, tap your spears on the ground. Something different happens every time you do that, maybe you’ll hit on the “win battle” configuration.
LADY WARRIOR
(taps spear on ground)
(sprouts a mustache)
I’ll keep trying.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Letitia, Angela. I need you two to keep being badass. Nothing specific, just be in the background fighting mooks. It won’t affect much but it’ll look inspiring as hell.
LETITIA WRIGHT
I have laser gauntlets all of a sudden!
DANIEL KALUUYA
(riding a goddam rhinocerous again)
Hold, former allies! I have decided Michael’s one-nation jihad against the rest of the world is what’s best for our people! Flee now, or me, Scrumptious here, and my army of loyalists with magic blankets shall attack!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Dude, we were best friends like two days ago. Did someone reprogram your brain or something?!
DANIEL KALUUYA
(vacant smile)
(old white guy voice)
Why, whatever do you mean?
The FIGHT commences! It is PRETTY AWESOME even if it does look an awful lot like the climax of PHANTOM MENACE at times! Eventually, DANIEL is confronted by DANAI.
DANIEL KALUUYA
Greetings, my love. Surely you cannot slay me.
DANAI GURIRA
Wait, we’re lovers?! Wow, I thought Chadwick and Lupita were underdeveloped. Anyway, get off your high-rhinoceros, you’re sleeping in the doghouse tonight.
DANIEL KALUUYA
No. To the bitter end I will-
DANAI GURIRA
(snaps a Snapchat with the flash on)
DANIEL KALUUYA
(nose bleeding)
I have been a complete idiot today.
DANIEL surrenders!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Well that takes care of the Blanket Brigade. But there are still more warriors to-
WINSTON DUKE
(charging over the hillside with dozens of soldiers)
(barking)
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Well, that takes care of the warriors. But wait! A single spaceship full of Wakandan weaponry is flying towards the border! If it escapes, all is lost!
LUPITA NYONG’O
I know someone says this in every movie but, couldn’t we just call the Avengers and have them take out that one ship? I’m pretty sure it won’t impact the empowering message of our film if we just ask for-
MARTIN FREEMAN
(flying in on a huge eagle)
I’m helping!
(destroys the ship)
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Thank you, white ally! Now to finish Michael!
CHADWICK and PANTHER-SUIT-WEARING MICHAEL have a CATFIGHT that lands them both on the SCI-FI TRAIN TRACKS inside the VIBRANIUM MINE.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Hmm, if I remember that extremely clumsy foreshadowing from earlier in the film, I know these train tracks have a special sonic ray that makes Vibranium go all loopy. This could give me just the edge I need!
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
You can’t win, homes. I’m the coolest goddam villain Marvel has pumped out in years! Who you gonna fight in the sequel? Kraven the Hunter? Motherfucking Stilt Man?!
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Dammit, you’re right. We can’t waste two charismatic villains in one movie. Alright, go escape and I’ll just-
But CHADWICK accidentally taps his SPEAR on the ground.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
(spear sprouting from his chest out of nowhere)
…man. Y’all need better instructions on your magic spears.
As an act of SYMPATHY, CHADWICK takes the DYING MICHAEL up to the CLIFFSIDE so they can watch the SUNSET together.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Perhaps we could still heal you, Michael. I mean, that thing’s stuck like eight inches into your chest but Vibranium literally solves everything.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN
And live in bondage, as my ancestors did on the plantations of old? As a great man once said…
(coughs)
Aw… hell… naw…
(dies)
EXT. OAKLAND, PRESENT DAY
CHADWICK and LETITIA stand on the BASKETBALL COURT where young MICHAEL once lost his innocence.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Sister, I have decided, Wakanda must open up our gifts to the world. No longer shall we live in comfort while our brothers and sisters suffer in poverty as Michael once did.
LETITIA WRIGHT
Awesome! So when do we start selling spaceships?
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Whoa, hold your rhinos, girl. We’re already sharing a cinematic universe with Jessica Jones and Punisher, dropping laser guns and gravity trains everywhere will stretch believability to the breaking point. Let’s just start with a rec center, yeah? Talk to me again after Infinity War about the real shit.
END?
OF COURSE IT ISN’T THE END! YOU WANT POST-CREDITS SCENES?! YOU GOT POST-CREDITS SCENES!
INT. UNITED NATIONS
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
And if you’ll look at my chart here, you’ll see a 0.5% increase in Wakandan trade with the EU will bolster both economies, especially if we factor in steel tariffs from the United States. Now, in the service of diplomacy, we’re willing to eat the post-inflation shipping costs of textiles, but if we can renegotiate livestock and automobile exchange rates, I think you’ll find us amenable to-
OKAY THAT ONE WAS KIND OF A BUST BUT GUESS WHAT, WE GOT POST-CREDITS NUMBER TWO COMING RIIIIIIGHT UP!
EXT. WAKANDAN FIELD
SEBASTIAN STAN
(pause)
This is nice.
OKAY, MAYBE YOU CAN SKIP THE POST-CREDITS SCENES THIS TIME AROUND.
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Marvel Studios' Black Panther won't be the first black superhero comic book adaptation that has ever been made (what with Blade, Spawn, and even Steel for that matter having been produced back in the 1990s), but it shall be the first one released in the modern age of the superhero movie genre - not to mention, the first one headlined by an African superhero, at that. Chadwick Boseman of 42 and Get on Up fame will first portray T'Challa/Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War this May, before getting his own solo movie in 2018, as directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) and scripted by Joe Robert Cole, a graduate of Marvel Studios' own in-house writing program.
Naturally, at a time when the issue of diversification and proper representation within the film industry - be it in terms of the race/gender of characters depicted onscreen, the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the people who are working behind the camera on movies today - is a hot discussion topic, Black Panther comes loaded with big expectations from people that go well beyond the usual comic book movie-loving crowd. Rest assured, Cole says he's all too aware of that, too.
Cole, during an interview with Mother Jones, discussed his experience developing Black Panther thus far. When asked if he was surprised when he landed the job of writing Black Panther, Cole answered:
No. Having gone through the [Marvel] writer program, I knew Black Panther was in the pipeline and I knew they were big fans of my writing. But I had to compete with the other writers who were put up for it—no one hands out jobs.
Marvel's in-house program has also given rise to such screenwriters as Nicole Perlman, who wrote the original script draft for Guardians of the Galaxy and did script doctoring for the first Thor solo film; she has since moved on to co-writing the script for Captain Marvel, which will be Marvel Studios' first movie headlined solely by a female superhero character - following not long after Ant-Man and the Wasp, at that. Much like Captain Marvel is a rare case of a female superhero film being written by a woman (two women, actually), Black Panther is the rare case of a black superhero movie both written and directed by black storytellers - a matter of significance that Cole noted, during his interview with Mother Jones:
Black Panther is a historic opportunity to be a part of something important and special, particularly at a time when African Americans are affirming their identities while dealing with vilification and dehumanization. The image of a black hero on this scale is just really exciting. When I was a kid, I would change superheroes' names: Instead of James Bond, I was James Black. Instead of Batman, I was Blackman. And I have a three-year-old son. My son will be five when Black Panther comes out. That puts it all into perspective for me.
Beyond its pop cultural impact, Cole added that he, Coogler, and Black Panther producer Nate Moore 'are cognizant of what's going on in the world, in black communities, and in our country' - and said that the film shall address that in some fashion, much as the upcoming Marvel/Netflix series Luke Cage looks to do during its first season (going by leaked set photos and comments from cast/crew members, at the least). Of course, whereas Luke Cage is an African-American character and his TV show is poised to examine hot-topic issues concerning the African-American population right now, Black Panther is an African character and his solo film has been described by no less an authority than Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige as something closer to a geopolitical thriller than anything else. There should be significant differences between these upcoming MCU installments (and the subject matter they examine), for the same reasons.
Cole likewise noted in the Mother Jones interview that while his and Coogler's perspectives as black storytellers should help the pair as they continue to develop Black Panther (something that Coogler has spoken about too), they still have to do their fair share of research for the project. Case in point, when asked how he may and may not relate to the African superhero T'Challa, Cole answered:
That's a really good question. I write characters focusing on them as human beings, and then you wrap them within a culture. So I think I can connect with him as a person with brown skin who's viewed differently by the world. In terms of his culture, we're thinking about where we are locating Wakanda within the continent, and what the people and history of that region are like. It's a process of investigation to help inform the story at this point. But we are going to be engaged with consultants who are experts on the continent and on African history and politics.
In addition, Cole touched briefly on the challenge that he, Coogler, and their collaborators face, when it comes to creating the scientifically-advanced nation of Wakanda in Black Panther, but at the same time keeping it rooted in actual historical African culture (read: not 'westernizing' the fictional setting):
That's one of the many questions that excite me. I think you try to extrapolate from the early civilizations and cultures of the continent, kind of looking for unique ways they set themselves apart from Western civilizations, and then pursue those avenues technologically and see where that takes you.
All things considered, Black Panther has the potential to be a highly notable addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe - not only thanks to the rich comic book mythology behind the film, but the caliber of talent involved (on both sides of the camera, here) and the care that Cole indicates is being taken to do right by the movie's namesake. Filmgoers won't have to wait too much longer to get their first look at T'Challa on the big screen either, as Civil War (at the time of writing this) shall kickoff Phase 3 of the MCU - and pave the way for the introduction of several new MCU characters over the next few years - in a matter of a few months.
Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.
Source: Mother Jones [via CBM]