Black Panther

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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In 1998 as then-publisher of Marvel Comics I helped launch Marvel Knights, a project designed to revitalize four fallen-by-the-wayside superhero characters — Daredevil, The Punisher, The Inhumans, and Black Panther. A Daredevil movie came out of it. Now, twenty years later, Black Panther has his own movie.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 100% rating.

Entertainment Tonight calls it “The most anticipated Marvel movie … ever!”

It’s another Marvel blockbuster, f’sure.

Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack “The King” Kirby, the comic world’s most celebrated writer and artist, Black Panther was the first black superhero in mainstream comics.

Wesley Snipes had long wanted to star in a movie version, but his association with Marvel’s “Blade” made that problematic. So Chadwick Boseman (“42,” “Get on Up”) was tapped to wear the costume.

The “Black Panther” is currently amazing audiences at Tropic Cinema.

Directed by Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station,” “Creed”), this is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

A Marvel Studios exec described the film as “a big, operatic family drama centered around a world of international espionage.”

Following the events in “Captain America: Civil War,” we find T’Challa (Boseman) returning home to the African kingdom of Wakanda, a verdant Eden with scenic landscapes, magnificent waterfalls, and blue skies filled with spaceships that resemble tribal masks.

As king of Wakanda, T’Challa holds the title of Black Panther and has a fancy form-fitting black costume to prove it.

However, T’Challa finds his sovereignty challenged by Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), an Afrikaner arms dealer with a weaponized arm, and his dangerous henchman, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan).

Killmonger’s James Bond-ish name should be a hint about the action to come, jumping around the world from Wakanda to South Korea and back again. During these travels, we witness car chases and rhino stampedes and hand-to-hand battles galore. One even takes place in a casino royale.

Klaue’s global threat compels T’Challa to team up with a CIA agent (Martin Freedman) and call on the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s all-female special forces.

Among the supporting characters are Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa’s former lover and a member of the Dora Milaje; Ramonda (Angela Bassett) as T’Challa’s mother; a female general (Danai Gurira) acting as the king’s bodyguard; his baby sister (Letitia Wright) who provides gadgets à la James Bond’s Q; and Zuri (Forest Whitaker) who comes across as an African version of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Also, legendary creator Stan Lee makes his traditional cameo appearance. Fanboys can easily spot Stan against the largely black cast.

While anchored in MCU continuity, much of the film’s gravitas comes from the never-before-explored-onscreen fictional country of Wakanda. A militaristic monarchy that somehow comes off as being fair and democratic, Wakanda has never been conquered or known the ravages of colonialism. Far from being “a third world country,” it is replete with techno-wizardry and an economy based on a secret sound-absorbing element called vibranium. Thatch-covered skyscrapers rise against the jungle backdrop.

Yet the film’s themes attempt to reflect the cultures of Africa. While most Wakandans seem to speak English, the country’s official language is based on Xhosa, a Nguni Bantu tongue with click consonants.

Screenwriter Joe Robert Cole noted that all the countries in Africa have “different histories, mythologies, and cultures so what we tried to do was hone in on some of the history, some of the cultural influences and then extrapolate out in our technology … we wanted to root it in reality first and then build out from there.”

Black Panther manages to ignore racial divides, appearing as a role model to black youth while proving acceptable as a superhero to families of all ethnicities.

A few years back Black Panther ranked #51 on IGN’s list of the “Top 100 Comic Books Heroes.” It will be interesting to see if the character moves up the popularity scale following this blockbuster movie.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com