Last night, we got our first Teaser Trailer for Marvel’s “Black Panther.” This is a film many fans have been looking forward to since we were first introduced to the character in “Captain America: Civil War.” After the death of Prince T'Challa’s father, he inherits not only the throne--but the title of the Black Panther. He is a superhero who must be a political leader and a crime-fighting bad ass? And he is Black so sign me up!
The City of Gold--Wakanda
We open with the interrogation of the guy who doesn’t like cuttlefish: Ulysses Klaue, played by Andy Serkis.
It took me a second to recall the character, but here’s a brief reminder for those confused by my fish reference. In “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” he was a black market arms dealer who worked out of an old boat in South Africa. His specialty is weapons, rare or illegal chemicals, and claims his one fear in life is cuttlefish. He made a deal with Ultron and the Maximoff twins to give them Wakanda vibranium for Ultron’s synthetic human body.
Ulysses informs the man in front of him that there’s a part of Wakanda that is mystical, yet hidden away from the public eye. He says that it hides the legendary “El Dorado," which considering the culture change, should probably be translated from Spanish to Swahili.
Since he had previously obtained an element that could help make a synthetic life-form, the city must hold powerful secrets. Just getting a glimpse at the futuristic-tribal aesthetic gets me hyped!
'It’s hard for a good man to be a king'
The fact that we are getting an African superhero is one (amazing) thing, but to see him backed by other black actors and actresses?
I’m more excited than when I saw the scene in “Civil War” where the three black supporting characters are all on screen at the same time! In the back of my mind, however, I couldn’t help commenting that there were still only two female heroes, both of which were Caucasian. Here we see a multitude of powerful black women, something we desperately need to see more of in films! I mentioned in my "Wonder Woman" review how great it was seeing an Israeli woman taking the lead, and this further validates that diversity can and has sold tickets!
Despite his fabulous entourage, T’Challa himself seems to have a lot on his plate. I love the idea of a world leader living a superhero double life. There’s always a conflict with superheroes naturally wanting to work outside the law (we’ve got at least two movies detailing so), but for the law and the vigilante to be one and the same? I hope this will bring a fresh take on the moral and objective questioning of one’s super-self. I say “fresh” since this is a dilemma almost every superhero faces as the job description itself states: “with great power comes great responsibility”. But the pressure of political power could add a new element not yet touched upon and could raise the stakes from a vague/small group of people to an entire nation.
And am I the only one making world historical comparisons to a Caucasian man (Ulysses) breaking in and taking advantage of the people and resources of an African village? Would Marvel dare tackle racism and the controversial mantra of manifest destiny? Probably not, but hey-- that’s none of my business (sips tea). Actually--this is my job, so these speculations and observations are at least somewhat valid, right? Overall I wish we could’ve seen more from this trailer. But nowadays, four or five different trailers is arbitrary, which means the vague teaser trailer that doesn’t tell you the plot is a given. It does tease some good elements, but it will be hard to tell if it will be good until a newer, updated trailer is released. But for the prosperity of a rare black superhero film, I remain optimistic!
