Marvel's Iconic Black Panther May Be Coming to a Theater Near You
In 1966, when race relations in America had reached a boiling point, Marvel’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Black Panther, the first black comic book hero. He made his debut in Fantastic Four No. 52, shortly before the official founding of the Black Panther Party. “Out of costume, the Black Panther was an African prince named T’Challa who led the fictional country of Wakanda,” wrote Sean Howe in Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. “Not a Dark Continent noble savage, but a scientific genius who impressed even the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards.”
For years now, comics fans have clamored for the Black Panther to star in his own movie, and Marvel has acknowledged it needs a more diverse lineup of heroes. Earlier this month, Chadwick Boseman, the lead actor in James Brown biopic Get On Up, seemed to suggest that a Black Panther movie was finally in the works. Asked at a promotional event if he might play Marvel’s iconic black superhero in a forthcoming movie, Boseman said, “Ahhh, I don’t know anything about that … until the contract is signed, I don’t know.”
This set the geek blogosphere ablaze. Marvel has yet to confirm that it is making a Black Panther film. Now it seemed that Boseman had broken both the news of its existence and its star. It was an exciting day for Marvel fans, particularly those who hunger for a movie about the first mass-marketed black superhero. There are also rumors that the Black Panther may make his debut in next summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
There was more Panther-related excitement yesterday when Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios (DIS), discussed a possible Black Panther film. In an interview with ING, Feige guardedly acknowledged that Marvel was exploring both a potential Black Panther film and a movie about the female incarnation of Captain Marvel:
“They’re both characters that we like, that development work has been done, it’s continuing to be done on, and certainly it’s the question I get asked more than anything else, more than Iron Man 4, more than Avengers 3. That’s sort of the first time that’s really happened to us, so I think that makes a difference. I think that’s something we have to pay attention to.”
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-19/shouldnt-marvels-black-panther-be-coming-to-theaters-soon
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