I would make it about Huey P. Newton, Kicking Captin Cracka's Ass! 
Writer's Circle: How would YOU write Marvel's Black Panther movie? UPDATE:What about the sequel?
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FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oscars So White? Black Panther to the Rescue.
Marvel screenwriter Joe Robert Cole on why we desperately need a black superhero.
Unlike many of his peers at Marvel, Black Panther screenwriter Joe Robert Cole didn't grow up a comic-book superfan, but he did have a soft spot for superheroes and a passion for storytelling. Fresh out of college at the University of California-Berkeley, Cole got his first gig writing for ATL, a 2006 film starring rapper TI and based loosely on the romance between producer Dallas Austin and singer T'Boz of the R&B group TLC. He went on to write and direct 2011's Amber Lake, an eerie indie film about three half-sisters who turn on one another when questioned by the police about their father's mysterious death. Most recently, he wrote an episode of FX's acclaimed series American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson.
"When I was a kid, I would change superheroes' names: Instead of James Bond, I was James Black."
Now, Cole, a product of Marvel's two-year in-house writing program, is hard at work on the studio's latest megaflick-to-be. The movie's comic-book counterpart ran several volumes from the late '70s to 2010, replacing the unfortunately titled 1960s comic Jungle Action, which featured the Black Panther, the genre's first black superhero. The story revolves around warrior king T'Challa (Black Panther), who hails from the technologically advanced, fictional African kingdom of Wakanda—which has never been colonized, unlike the other countries on the continent.
The latest iteration of the Black Panther comic book, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is due to launch in April. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) has signed on to direct the movie, which is slated for release in July 2018. Playing T'Challa will be Chadwick Boseman, who makes his big-screen debut as Black Panther in this summer's Captain America: Civil War. Boseman also portrayed Jackie Robinson and James Brown in their respective biopics, and he plays the legal heavyweight Thurgood Marshall in the upcoming Marshall. I caught up with Cole, the Black Panther screenwriter, to talk about diversity in Tinseltown, and why we desperately need black superheroes.
Mother Jones: What were you doing before you started writing scripts?
Joe Robert Cole: I figured out I wanted to tell stories in college. I'm an only child who moved around a lot growing up, and I really feel like it prepared me to be a storyteller—to make up stories and pretend to be every hero from every movie and TV show as a kid. So it was a natural progression.
MJ: You've only written and directed one film, plus a little bit for TV. Were you surprised when you were approached to do Black Panther?
JC: 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.
Joe Robert Cole IMDB
MJ: What does it mean to you to be writing a black superhero?
JC: 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.
MJ: Ta-Nehisi writes that he sees T'Challa's blackness as an opportunity to explore some of the history of the African continent and the myths that are unknowns in the Western consciousness—unlike, say, the Greek myths. What kinds of themes do you want to explore in the film?
JC: We're in the process of figuring many of those things out. I think approaching the movie from a perspective that is rooted in the cultures of the continent is important.
MJ: In the comic books, Black Panther fought off a colonizer in Wakanda. He fought the Klan. He fought against apartheid in South Africa. Bringing the Panther into the present day, I'm curious how the recent activism around the treatment of black people by police might inform your story or your development of T'Challa as a character.
JC: Personally—and Ryan [Coogler] and Nate Moore, the executive producer—we all are cognizant of what's going on in the world, in black communities, and in our country. We are aware of the importance of that, and the platform this movie provides us with. But I can't give you the specifics.
MJ: Is Ta-Nehisi involved in the thought process for the movie?
JC: No. I'm a huge fan. It's great that he's writing the comic. But they're separate entities.
MJ: You're African American but your character is African. In what ways do you expect that you will and won't relate to him?
JC: 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.
MJ: In the comic, Wakanda is one of the planet's most technologically advanced nations. How do portray that level of technology without "Westernizing" the country's culture?
JC: 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.
MJ: Let's talk a bit about diversity in Hollywood. There's pretty clear gender discrimination in TV and film. What has been your own experience vis-a-vis people of color, and black people especially?
Hollywood's diversity problem "will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top."
JC: Historically, opportunity has been afforded to a limited pool of people, excluding people of color and women. That doesn't diminish the talent or hard work of the people within that pool, but it does narrow the field of stories that have been told, and of the creative ideas and perspectives out there. And this problem compounds itself by limiting the number of people in the pipeline to attain the experience to do larger movies or get jobs so they can familiarize themselves with a studio head and get the opportunity to deliver and impress—or maybe direct a smaller movie. It will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top.
MJ: It sounds like Marvel's writing program helped you get a foot in the door.
JC: It familiarized Marvel with my work and with me as a person. Being able to interact with [studio president] Kevin Feige and have him know who I am and know me as a person, and be able to then sit down and have a conversation about story with someone who's familiar and comfortable is invaluable.
MJ: Do you see a role for yourself in creating more roles for people of color? As Viola Davis points out, there aren't many.
JC: I've had a conversation with her about this, actually. Yes, absolutely. I had two smaller scripts that I had written with full black casts. And people loved the scripts, but nobody would fund them. Those roles and stories are out there. But unless you have the money to finance movies on your own, you're beholden to others, and that is a very big limiting factor.
MJ: Why do you think the money people shy away from a black cast? Do they see it as too niche?
JC: Well, TV does a better job. In film, the justification has been that movies focused on stories or featuring people of color don't make money. But with the success of Straight Outta Compton and Creed, and shows like Empire and How to Get Away With Murder, I think that's becoming a harder argument for companies and studios to make—to the point where it is viewed more of an excuse than reality at times.
MJ: At the extreme, you have movies like 2014's Exodus: Gods and Kings with all white leads. Last year we had Stonewall, about the 1969 Stonewall Riots—the producers cast a handsome white guy as the lead when the leader of the riots was a black trans woman. This month, Gods of Egypt comes out—with all white leads. Why, in this day and age, do casting directors continue to cast white actors to play characters of color?
JC: Not enough diverse voices in the room. The individuals who made those movies may not have malicious intent—they just don't know. There wasn't that person going, "This isn't acceptable. This is disrespectful. This isn't accurate." I wish I had been in the room. I would have put Chancellor Williams' The Destruction of Black Civilization on the table. [Laughs.] "Read this book and then let's discuss it." Because then we can figure out a happy medium.
"The justification has been that movies focused on people of color don't make money. But…that's becoming a harder argument for studios to make."
MJ: Do you think that's also related to the fear that a diverse cast will turn off some moviegoers?
JC: Yes, of course. When you start talking about movies of that size, they're trying to sell globally to foreign markets. So there is an economic question that can't be ignored, and that's a fair discussion to have. But maybe it's not the time to make that movie if you can't depict people accurately.
MJ: Is there any reason to fear that some people might dismiss Black Panther as something for black audiences?
JC: I don't think so. There is a huge fan base for the Black Panther comic and for Marvel as a whole. And I think there is great anticipation across the board for the movie. I think that's how Marvel is approaching it and I know that's how I'm approaching it. I imagine Ryan feels the same way.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/20...s-so-white-black-panther-film-joe-robert-cole
After watching Utopia, I can't help but to think, that could easily be turned into the best comic book movie ever... I like the notion of hero's turning into villains and the whole not being able to trust no one...
In the BP movie they can take off with him being betrayed by Iron man and him being labeled a villain... I would throw in a few illuminatt shit from Utopia, maybe a killer virus unleashed by someone from Starks industry, some rouge worker or a hydra mole... Where the food GMO food sent to Africa is tainted to reduce the population there..
B.P. could go off on Iron man or some Shield agents, even killing a few... Then in term send some Avengers or Inhumans to deal with B.P.
Only to find out it was one of B.P. people behind the killing, due to them wanting to go back to the old ways of Africa and thinking that there are too many people living there to go back to the old ways..
B.P. could be then labeled as a sell out to his people and get attack, only for Hydra to attack them as soon as he is weakened..
Man I could go on and on, but yeah that how I would do it..
In the BP movie they can take off with him being betrayed by Iron man and him being labeled a villain... I would throw in a few illuminatt shit from Utopia, maybe a killer virus unleashed by someone from Starks industry, some rouge worker or a hydra mole... Where the food GMO food sent to Africa is tainted to reduce the population there..
B.P. could go off on Iron man or some Shield agents, even killing a few... Then in term send some Avengers or Inhumans to deal with B.P.
Only to find out it was one of B.P. people behind the killing, due to them wanting to go back to the old ways of Africa and thinking that there are too many people living there to go back to the old ways..
B.P. could be then labeled as a sell out to his people and get attack, only for Hydra to attack them as soon as he is weakened..
Man I could go on and on, but yeah that how I would do it..
Colin Powell. If you want to say something to what i said, ok. But posting an an article ....nah.Oscars So White? Black Panther to the Rescue.
Marvel screenwriter Joe Robert Cole on why we desperately need a black superhero.
Unlike many of his peers at Marvel, Black Panther screenwriter Joe Robert Cole didn't grow up a comic-book superfan, but he did have a soft spot for superheroes and a passion for storytelling. Fresh out of college at the University of California-Berkeley, Cole got his first gig writing for ATL, a 2006 film starring rapper TI and based loosely on the romance between producer Dallas Austin and singer T'Boz of the R&B group TLC. He went on to write and direct 2011's Amber Lake, an eerie indie film about three half-sisters who turn on one another when questioned by the police about their father's mysterious death. Most recently, he wrote an episode of FX's acclaimed series American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson.
"When I was a kid, I would change superheroes' names: Instead of James Bond, I was James Black."
Now, Cole, a product of Marvel's two-year in-house writing program, is hard at work on the studio's latest megaflick-to-be. The movie's comic-book counterpart ran several volumes from the late '70s to 2010, replacing the unfortunately titled 1960s comic Jungle Action, which featured the Black Panther, the genre's first black superhero. The story revolves around warrior king T'Challa (Black Panther), who hails from the technologically advanced, fictional African kingdom of Wakanda—which has never been colonized, unlike the other countries on the continent.
The latest iteration of the Black Panther comic book, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is due to launch in April. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) has signed on to direct the movie, which is slated for release in July 2018. Playing T'Challa will be Chadwick Boseman, who makes his big-screen debut as Black Panther in this summer's Captain America: Civil War. Boseman also portrayed Jackie Robinson and James Brown in their respective biopics, and he plays the legal heavyweight Thurgood Marshall in the upcoming Marshall. I caught up with Cole, the Black Panther screenwriter, to talk about diversity in Tinseltown, and why we desperately need black superheroes.
Mother Jones: What were you doing before you started writing scripts?
Joe Robert Cole: I figured out I wanted to tell stories in college. I'm an only child who moved around a lot growing up, and I really feel like it prepared me to be a storyteller—to make up stories and pretend to be every hero from every movie and TV show as a kid. So it was a natural progression.
MJ: You've only written and directed one film, plus a little bit for TV. Were you surprised when you were approached to do Black Panther?
JC: 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.
Joe Robert Cole IMDB
MJ: What does it mean to you to be writing a black superhero?
JC: 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.
MJ: Ta-Nehisi writes that he sees T'Challa's blackness as an opportunity to explore some of the history of the African continent and the myths that are unknowns in the Western consciousness—unlike, say, the Greek myths. What kinds of themes do you want to explore in the film?
JC: We're in the process of figuring many of those things out. I think approaching the movie from a perspective that is rooted in the cultures of the continent is important.
MJ: In the comic books, Black Panther fought off a colonizer in Wakanda. He fought the Klan. He fought against apartheid in South Africa. Bringing the Panther into the present day, I'm curious how the recent activism around the treatment of black people by police might inform your story or your development of T'Challa as a character.
JC: Personally—and Ryan [Coogler] and Nate Moore, the executive producer—we all are cognizant of what's going on in the world, in black communities, and in our country. We are aware of the importance of that, and the platform this movie provides us with. But I can't give you the specifics.
MJ: Is Ta-Nehisi involved in the thought process for the movie?
JC: No. I'm a huge fan. It's great that he's writing the comic. But they're separate entities.
MJ: You're African American but your character is African. In what ways do you expect that you will and won't relate to him?
JC: 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.
MJ: In the comic, Wakanda is one of the planet's most technologically advanced nations. How do portray that level of technology without "Westernizing" the country's culture?
JC: 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.
MJ: Let's talk a bit about diversity in Hollywood. There's pretty clear gender discrimination in TV and film. What has been your own experience vis-a-vis people of color, and black people especially?
Hollywood's diversity problem "will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top."
JC: Historically, opportunity has been afforded to a limited pool of people, excluding people of color and women. That doesn't diminish the talent or hard work of the people within that pool, but it does narrow the field of stories that have been told, and of the creative ideas and perspectives out there. And this problem compounds itself by limiting the number of people in the pipeline to attain the experience to do larger movies or get jobs so they can familiarize themselves with a studio head and get the opportunity to deliver and impress—or maybe direct a smaller movie. It will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top.
MJ: It sounds like Marvel's writing program helped you get a foot in the door.
JC: It familiarized Marvel with my work and with me as a person. Being able to interact with [studio president] Kevin Feige and have him know who I am and know me as a person, and be able to then sit down and have a conversation about story with someone who's familiar and comfortable is invaluable.
MJ: Do you see a role for yourself in creating more roles for people of color? As Viola Davis points out, there aren't many.
JC: I've had a conversation with her about this, actually. Yes, absolutely. I had two smaller scripts that I had written with full black casts. And people loved the scripts, but nobody would fund them. Those roles and stories are out there. But unless you have the money to finance movies on your own, you're beholden to others, and that is a very big limiting factor.
MJ: Why do you think the money people shy away from a black cast? Do they see it as too niche?
JC: Well, TV does a better job. In film, the justification has been that movies focused on stories or featuring people of color don't make money. But with the success of Straight Outta Compton and Creed, and shows like Empire and How to Get Away With Murder, I think that's becoming a harder argument for companies and studios to make—to the point where it is viewed more of an excuse than reality at times.
MJ: At the extreme, you have movies like 2014's Exodus: Gods and Kings with all white leads. Last year we had Stonewall, about the 1969 Stonewall Riots—the producers cast a handsome white guy as the lead when the leader of the riots was a black trans woman. This month, Gods of Egypt comes out—with all white leads. Why, in this day and age, do casting directors continue to cast white actors to play characters of color?
JC: Not enough diverse voices in the room. The individuals who made those movies may not have malicious intent—they just don't know. There wasn't that person going, "This isn't acceptable. This is disrespectful. This isn't accurate." I wish I had been in the room. I would have put Chancellor Williams' The Destruction of Black Civilization on the table. [Laughs.] "Read this book and then let's discuss it." Because then we can figure out a happy medium.
"The justification has been that movies focused on people of color don't make money. But…that's becoming a harder argument for studios to make."
MJ: Do you think that's also related to the fear that a diverse cast will turn off some moviegoers?
JC: Yes, of course. When you start talking about movies of that size, they're trying to sell globally to foreign markets. So there is an economic question that can't be ignored, and that's a fair discussion to have. But maybe it's not the time to make that movie if you can't depict people accurately.
MJ: Is there any reason to fear that some people might dismiss Black Panther as something for black audiences?
JC: I don't think so. There is a huge fan base for the Black Panther comic and for Marvel as a whole. And I think there is great anticipation across the board for the movie. I think that's how Marvel is approaching it and I know that's how I'm approaching it. I imagine Ryan feels the same way.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/20...s-so-white-black-panther-film-joe-robert-cole
I posted the article because its an interview with the writer of the movie who is giving insight on the writing of the movie and the importance of the characterization of Black Panther. Its good shit in that article
Note if I were Marvel, I would reboot Namor and make him a inhuman and would introduce him in the B.P. movie make him one of the people who are part of the Illuminati or people trying to reduce the population, to avoid a future war that a a psychic predict if we keep on doing what we are doing in the world..
Instead of having a nation underwater, I would make Namor a by product of a secret enhanced human group (the invaders) during the war where all members were believed to be killed and Namor captured and his cells cloned by Hydra creating a bunch of submariner killers.. Only for them to escape and live under the sea away from humans..
The only reason why Namor comes out, is because he still have human ties and once then realizes that global warming is causing the water to over heat killing his people..
This is why he joins the illuminati and eventually the same Hydra people who captured him in the first place..
I'll read it sometime. Thanks man.
Its out...cop it.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Annotates His Black Panther Debut
After months of waiting, one of the most hotly anticipated comic books of recent years has arrived: Black Panther No. 1, as authored by superstar nonfiction writer and longtime geek Ta-Nehisi Coates. Publisher Marvel Comics announced in September that Coates — writer of the acclaimedBetween the World and Me — would be penning the monthly comics series, with artwork from veteran penciler Brian Stelfreeze. The specifics of the narrative were kept under wraps, but one thing was certain: A lot of people who were fans of Coates and not necessarily fans of comics would be picking up this issue.
Now that it’s here, you might be surprised at how steeped it is in references to past Black Panther stories. In an interview from his home in Paris, Coates says he just wanted “to tell a really, really good story,” and given his love of Marvel's rich history, he drew on a lot of what had gone before. So in order to clarify anything that might be confusing, we asked Coates to help us annotate the issue, page by page. If something isn’t annotated here, that’s because it’s explained within the issue or is a new concept or character with no preexisting background information. Let the continuity-mining begin!
Page 1
WakandaLet's start with the setting, since almost everything in the issue flows from there. Wakanda is a fictional, technologically advanced African nation that was never taken over by European colonialists. It's recently been through some hardships, which will be enumerated later. “The country's been devastated a few times," says Coates. "This is a country whose identity was,We've never been conquered. We're Wakanda the invincible, Wakanda the unbreakable. The fact of the matter is, over the past few years, you've seen Wakanda broken several times, and so the question is, What is Wakanda now?”
T’Challa/Black Panther
Our protagonist. The character first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1966 and has been a mainstay ever since, often using his genius intellect and fighting prowess alongside other Marvel superheroes. The role and costume of the Black Panther is one given to Wakanda's monarchs. "He's the king of Wakanda. I think in past portrayals, he's been portrayed as very proud of what Wakanda is and a very, very proud man. My T'Challa is probably less proud and probably has less of that arrogance with him, and that's probably because I always found the pride and the arrogance distancing.”
After temporarily losing the throne to his sister (we’ll get into that below), a Wakandan god made him the first “King of the Dead,” a mystical role that allowed him to commune with his ancestors. He still has that role, but is once again the ruler of Wakanda, too. He’s had a rough few years. “He still has confidence. He's not a broken dude. He's still very, very clear on what he's capable of and what he's doing, but I think he's much more interested in what it means to be a king. I think he's much more interested in why he's a king. I think he's much more interested in whether he shouldbe a king. I think he's much more interested in what his relationship to Wakanda actually should be.”
T’Chaka (left background figure, above)
T’Challa’s late father, the previous king of Wakanda and previous holder of the Black Panther mantle, appears in the first panel. It's a re-creation of a scene from a recent Black Panther story. “T’Challa basically has the ability to communicate with his ancestors, all people who have been Black Panthers before. There's a very, very moving conversation between T’Challa and his ancestors in which they urge him to really do whatever he has to do to protect Wakanda, however immoral it is. This comes to the point where he's basically told to destroy another planet to save Earth. He says he'll do it under the influence of his ancestors, but when time comes to do it, he can't. He can't bring himself to do it. Because he can't, he's kicked out. His father basically says, ‘You're not my son.’ His ancestry is severed. I thought that had to be pretty painful."
Namor (middle figure, above)
The ruler of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and a longtime Marvel anti-hero. While under the influence of alien intelligence, he flooded Wakanda, killing many. But afterward, T’Challa worked with him on a secret team of superpowered individuals. “The second panel is from a moment when T'Challa is discovered to actually be cooperating with Namor, who is a complete enemy of Wakanda for having flooded the country. This enemy of Wakanda is the person that he ends up talking to. He says, ‘You've spent your life building a perfect kingdom, and now you've been cast out.’ The notion is that he's been pushed out again.”
The Dora Milaje (right figure, above)
Wakanda’s elite, all-female squadron of royal bodyguards. They appear in yet another flashback. “The third panel is a moment that precedes [the Namor moment], and it is when the Dora Milaje reject him. That’s when it's discovered that, in fact, he's been working with Namor, and they say, ‘You have lost your way, my king. You have lost your soul.’ So he's king now, right, but he's experienced this rejection.”
“I've always seen the Dora Milaje as a bit problematic, and that's going to divide me from most fans of the Black Panther. One of them is taken from every tribe in Wakanda and brought in, and T'Challa has the option of taking one of them as a wife. [I don’t like] the idea of these scantily clad bodyguards for this dude who's the king and the notion that he doesn't abuse that or that this is okay. I wanted to do something different. I try to see them as independent people and not people who we see strictly through the gaze of the male comic-book fans.”
Page 2
The Great Mound
“The Great Mound is a mountain where all the vibranium is, and vibranium is the resource that gives Wakanda much of its wealth.”
Page 4
Wakandan language
Unlike Klingon or Dothraki, there’s no official version of the fictional Wakandan language. In this story, we mostly see it translated into English, but there are a few words Coates wanted to play around with in untranslated form. It resembles real languages, but don’t bother trying to find literal translations of the Wakandan terms. “I could have created a Wakandan language from scratch, but the idea is that Wakandan, as represented to the reader, pulls from a variety of African languages. [The language is] imagined as an amalgam. I think there's a little bit of Hausa in there. There might be some Swahili in there. There might be a little bit of Shona in there.”
Page 7
Excerpt from page 15 of Black Panther No. 1. Photo: Brian Stelfreeze/Marvel Entertainment
The Golden City
“The Golden City is the capital of Wakanda. This is Washington and New York. This is the Paris of Wakanda. It will probably not have that name by issue 13. Neither will the Great Mound. All that stuff's going to be Africanized.”
Aneka
“She’s the captain of a group of Dora Milaje. She eventually became the leader of this group called the Midnight Angels. It's supposed to be an even more crack group of Dora Milaje.”
Shuri
T’Challa’s late sister. After an assassination attempt on T’Challa, she became Queen of Wakanda and another, simultaneously operating Black Panther. But in a recent story, she was killed and T’Challa returned to the throne. “Their relationship was broken at the point that she died. Basically, she was pissed off at him. There were various times where T'Challa would try to counsel her to not go to war with Atlantis; she did it anyway. When she found out T'Challa was scheming with Namor, she basically cast him out.”
Ramonda (the robed woman)
One of the late T'Chaka's wives and mother of Shuri, but not T'Challa. “Ramonda is T'Challa's mother, although not his birth mother. But she's the woman he considers to be his mother. She married T'Challa's father. She had a very important role; she basically ruled in his stead. She's been an adviser. She's an elder there.”
Kimoyo
“Kimoyo is something that my predecessor, [past Black Panther writer] Christopher Priest, came up with. He had a Kimoyo Card, which is almost like this smartphone-in-a-card that Black Panther used. We changed it a little bit and turned it into a band that all Wakandans have, and they do different things depending on who the Wakandan is. Obviously, if you're king, yours does a lot more.”
Page 10
N’Yami/T’Challa’s mother
She was one of T’Chaka’s wives, and she died in childbirth.
Death of T’Chaka
He refused to grant first-world economies access to Wakanda's vibranium, and a cabal of powerful operatives had him assassinated.
Page 11
Soul-Stalker technology
“T'Challa has heightened senses. That's one of his powers, but I think it's one that hasn't been used as much as it could be. I definitely wanted to use more of that, but I thought one way you could do it is, what if all of those things came together and allowed for another sense, a heightened sense taken together with something bigger than that, something almost spiritual? It's like a sixth sense.”
Page 12
Excerpt from page 15 of Black Panther No. 1. Photo: Brian Stelfreeze/Marvel Entertainment
“Invasion”Though Wakanda prides itself on never being invaded by colonial powers, it was recently invaded and crushed by a sinister group of intergalactic supervillains called the Black Order. One of them killed Shuri. They’ve since been run out, but the psychological damage was done.
“Flood”
The aforementioned flooding at the hands of Namor.
“Infiltration”
Longtime Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom recently engineered an unsuccessful but very public coup within Wakanda.
“Regicide”
The death of Shuri.
Page 15
Niganda
“Niganda is a country that neighbors Wakanda, and they have not been as fortunate in history as Wakanda has. [Black Panther nemesis] Killmonger [in a recent story] tried to organize the Nigandans to basically overthrow T'Challa and take over Wakanda. It's a poorer country.”
If you’re looking for further reading, Coates recommends the story that is “most immediate” to his run with the character: writer Jonathan Hickman’s
33-issue series New Avengers, which ran from 2013 to 2015 and prominently featured many of the events referenced in this first issue. And if you like or don’t like this issue, Coates has a helpful guide on who to blame: “Listen, if this sucks, it's me; and if it's great, it's Brian [Stelfreeze]. Even though I'm joking, I kind of mean that, because Brian, he's just made this look so beautiful.”
http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-annotated.html
After months of waiting, one of the most hotly anticipated comic books of recent years has arrived: Black Panther No. 1, as authored by superstar nonfiction writer and longtime geek Ta-Nehisi Coates. Publisher Marvel Comics announced in September that Coates — writer of the acclaimedBetween the World and Me — would be penning the monthly comics series, with artwork from veteran penciler Brian Stelfreeze. The specifics of the narrative were kept under wraps, but one thing was certain: A lot of people who were fans of Coates and not necessarily fans of comics would be picking up this issue.
Now that it’s here, you might be surprised at how steeped it is in references to past Black Panther stories. In an interview from his home in Paris, Coates says he just wanted “to tell a really, really good story,” and given his love of Marvel's rich history, he drew on a lot of what had gone before. So in order to clarify anything that might be confusing, we asked Coates to help us annotate the issue, page by page. If something isn’t annotated here, that’s because it’s explained within the issue or is a new concept or character with no preexisting background information. Let the continuity-mining begin!
Page 1
WakandaLet's start with the setting, since almost everything in the issue flows from there. Wakanda is a fictional, technologically advanced African nation that was never taken over by European colonialists. It's recently been through some hardships, which will be enumerated later. “The country's been devastated a few times," says Coates. "This is a country whose identity was,We've never been conquered. We're Wakanda the invincible, Wakanda the unbreakable. The fact of the matter is, over the past few years, you've seen Wakanda broken several times, and so the question is, What is Wakanda now?”
T’Challa/Black Panther
Our protagonist. The character first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1966 and has been a mainstay ever since, often using his genius intellect and fighting prowess alongside other Marvel superheroes. The role and costume of the Black Panther is one given to Wakanda's monarchs. "He's the king of Wakanda. I think in past portrayals, he's been portrayed as very proud of what Wakanda is and a very, very proud man. My T'Challa is probably less proud and probably has less of that arrogance with him, and that's probably because I always found the pride and the arrogance distancing.”
After temporarily losing the throne to his sister (we’ll get into that below), a Wakandan god made him the first “King of the Dead,” a mystical role that allowed him to commune with his ancestors. He still has that role, but is once again the ruler of Wakanda, too. He’s had a rough few years. “He still has confidence. He's not a broken dude. He's still very, very clear on what he's capable of and what he's doing, but I think he's much more interested in what it means to be a king. I think he's much more interested in why he's a king. I think he's much more interested in whether he shouldbe a king. I think he's much more interested in what his relationship to Wakanda actually should be.”
T’Chaka (left background figure, above)
T’Challa’s late father, the previous king of Wakanda and previous holder of the Black Panther mantle, appears in the first panel. It's a re-creation of a scene from a recent Black Panther story. “T’Challa basically has the ability to communicate with his ancestors, all people who have been Black Panthers before. There's a very, very moving conversation between T’Challa and his ancestors in which they urge him to really do whatever he has to do to protect Wakanda, however immoral it is. This comes to the point where he's basically told to destroy another planet to save Earth. He says he'll do it under the influence of his ancestors, but when time comes to do it, he can't. He can't bring himself to do it. Because he can't, he's kicked out. His father basically says, ‘You're not my son.’ His ancestry is severed. I thought that had to be pretty painful."
Namor (middle figure, above)
The ruler of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and a longtime Marvel anti-hero. While under the influence of alien intelligence, he flooded Wakanda, killing many. But afterward, T’Challa worked with him on a secret team of superpowered individuals. “The second panel is from a moment when T'Challa is discovered to actually be cooperating with Namor, who is a complete enemy of Wakanda for having flooded the country. This enemy of Wakanda is the person that he ends up talking to. He says, ‘You've spent your life building a perfect kingdom, and now you've been cast out.’ The notion is that he's been pushed out again.”
The Dora Milaje (right figure, above)
Wakanda’s elite, all-female squadron of royal bodyguards. They appear in yet another flashback. “The third panel is a moment that precedes [the Namor moment], and it is when the Dora Milaje reject him. That’s when it's discovered that, in fact, he's been working with Namor, and they say, ‘You have lost your way, my king. You have lost your soul.’ So he's king now, right, but he's experienced this rejection.”
“I've always seen the Dora Milaje as a bit problematic, and that's going to divide me from most fans of the Black Panther. One of them is taken from every tribe in Wakanda and brought in, and T'Challa has the option of taking one of them as a wife. [I don’t like] the idea of these scantily clad bodyguards for this dude who's the king and the notion that he doesn't abuse that or that this is okay. I wanted to do something different. I try to see them as independent people and not people who we see strictly through the gaze of the male comic-book fans.”
Page 2
The Great Mound
“The Great Mound is a mountain where all the vibranium is, and vibranium is the resource that gives Wakanda much of its wealth.”
Page 4
Wakandan language
Unlike Klingon or Dothraki, there’s no official version of the fictional Wakandan language. In this story, we mostly see it translated into English, but there are a few words Coates wanted to play around with in untranslated form. It resembles real languages, but don’t bother trying to find literal translations of the Wakandan terms. “I could have created a Wakandan language from scratch, but the idea is that Wakandan, as represented to the reader, pulls from a variety of African languages. [The language is] imagined as an amalgam. I think there's a little bit of Hausa in there. There might be some Swahili in there. There might be a little bit of Shona in there.”
Page 7
Excerpt from page 15 of Black Panther No. 1. Photo: Brian Stelfreeze/Marvel Entertainment
The Golden City
“The Golden City is the capital of Wakanda. This is Washington and New York. This is the Paris of Wakanda. It will probably not have that name by issue 13. Neither will the Great Mound. All that stuff's going to be Africanized.”
Aneka
“She’s the captain of a group of Dora Milaje. She eventually became the leader of this group called the Midnight Angels. It's supposed to be an even more crack group of Dora Milaje.”
Shuri
T’Challa’s late sister. After an assassination attempt on T’Challa, she became Queen of Wakanda and another, simultaneously operating Black Panther. But in a recent story, she was killed and T’Challa returned to the throne. “Their relationship was broken at the point that she died. Basically, she was pissed off at him. There were various times where T'Challa would try to counsel her to not go to war with Atlantis; she did it anyway. When she found out T'Challa was scheming with Namor, she basically cast him out.”
Ramonda (the robed woman)
One of the late T'Chaka's wives and mother of Shuri, but not T'Challa. “Ramonda is T'Challa's mother, although not his birth mother. But she's the woman he considers to be his mother. She married T'Challa's father. She had a very important role; she basically ruled in his stead. She's been an adviser. She's an elder there.”
Kimoyo
“Kimoyo is something that my predecessor, [past Black Panther writer] Christopher Priest, came up with. He had a Kimoyo Card, which is almost like this smartphone-in-a-card that Black Panther used. We changed it a little bit and turned it into a band that all Wakandans have, and they do different things depending on who the Wakandan is. Obviously, if you're king, yours does a lot more.”
Page 10
N’Yami/T’Challa’s mother
She was one of T’Chaka’s wives, and she died in childbirth.
Death of T’Chaka
He refused to grant first-world economies access to Wakanda's vibranium, and a cabal of powerful operatives had him assassinated.
Page 11
Soul-Stalker technology
“T'Challa has heightened senses. That's one of his powers, but I think it's one that hasn't been used as much as it could be. I definitely wanted to use more of that, but I thought one way you could do it is, what if all of those things came together and allowed for another sense, a heightened sense taken together with something bigger than that, something almost spiritual? It's like a sixth sense.”
Page 12
Excerpt from page 15 of Black Panther No. 1. Photo: Brian Stelfreeze/Marvel Entertainment
“Invasion”Though Wakanda prides itself on never being invaded by colonial powers, it was recently invaded and crushed by a sinister group of intergalactic supervillains called the Black Order. One of them killed Shuri. They’ve since been run out, but the psychological damage was done.
“Flood”
The aforementioned flooding at the hands of Namor.
“Infiltration”
Longtime Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom recently engineered an unsuccessful but very public coup within Wakanda.
“Regicide”
The death of Shuri.
Page 15
Niganda
“Niganda is a country that neighbors Wakanda, and they have not been as fortunate in history as Wakanda has. [Black Panther nemesis] Killmonger [in a recent story] tried to organize the Nigandans to basically overthrow T'Challa and take over Wakanda. It's a poorer country.”
If you’re looking for further reading, Coates recommends the story that is “most immediate” to his run with the character: writer Jonathan Hickman’s
33-issue series New Avengers, which ran from 2013 to 2015 and prominently featured many of the events referenced in this first issue. And if you like or don’t like this issue, Coates has a helpful guide on who to blame: “Listen, if this sucks, it's me; and if it's great, it's Brian [Stelfreeze]. Even though I'm joking, I kind of mean that, because Brian, he's just made this look so beautiful.”
http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-annotated.html
How was the first issue???
It was cool except the lesbian part. So far they kept in stride with the history. I didn't like that he was in the city of the dead again.
Oscars So White? Black Panther to the Rescue.
Marvel screenwriter Joe Robert Cole on why we desperately need a black superhero.
Unlike many of his peers at Marvel, Black Panther screenwriter Joe Robert Cole didn't grow up a comic-book superfan, but he did have a soft spot for superheroes and a passion for storytelling. Fresh out of college at the University of California-Berkeley, Cole got his first gig writing for ATL, a 2006 film starring rapper TI and based loosely on the romance between producer Dallas Austin and singer T'Boz of the R&B group TLC. He went on to write and direct 2011's Amber Lake, an eerie indie film about three half-sisters who turn on one another when questioned by the police about their father's mysterious death. Most recently, he wrote an episode of FX's acclaimed series American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson.
"When I was a kid, I would change superheroes' names: Instead of James Bond, I was James Black."
Now, Cole, a product of Marvel's two-year in-house writing program, is hard at work on the studio's latest megaflick-to-be. The movie's comic-book counterpart ran several volumes from the late '70s to 2010, replacing the unfortunately titled 1960s comic Jungle Action, which featured the Black Panther, the genre's first black superhero. The story revolves around warrior king T'Challa (Black Panther), who hails from the technologically advanced, fictional African kingdom of Wakanda—which has never been colonized, unlike the other countries on the continent.
The latest iteration of the Black Panther comic book, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is due to launch in April. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) has signed on to direct the movie, which is slated for release in July 2018. Playing T'Challa will be Chadwick Boseman, who makes his big-screen debut as Black Panther in this summer's Captain America: Civil War. Boseman also portrayed Jackie Robinson and James Brown in their respective biopics, and he plays the legal heavyweight Thurgood Marshall in the upcoming Marshall. I caught up with Cole, the Black Panther screenwriter, to talk about diversity in Tinseltown, and why we desperately need black superheroes.
Mother Jones: What were you doing before you started writing scripts?
Joe Robert Cole: I figured out I wanted to tell stories in college. I'm an only child who moved around a lot growing up, and I really feel like it prepared me to be a storyteller—to make up stories and pretend to be every hero from every movie and TV show as a kid. So it was a natural progression.
MJ: You've only written and directed one film, plus a little bit for TV. Were you surprised when you were approached to do Black Panther?
JC: 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.
Joe Robert Cole IMDB
MJ: What does it mean to you to be writing a black superhero?
JC: 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.
MJ: Ta-Nehisi writes that he sees T'Challa's blackness as an opportunity to explore some of the history of the African continent and the myths that are unknowns in the Western consciousness—unlike, say, the Greek myths. What kinds of themes do you want to explore in the film?
JC: We're in the process of figuring many of those things out. I think approaching the movie from a perspective that is rooted in the cultures of the continent is important.
MJ: In the comic books, Black Panther fought off a colonizer in Wakanda. He fought the Klan. He fought against apartheid in South Africa. Bringing the Panther into the present day, I'm curious how the recent activism around the treatment of black people by police might inform your story or your development of T'Challa as a character.
JC: Personally—and Ryan [Coogler] and Nate Moore, the executive producer—we all are cognizant of what's going on in the world, in black communities, and in our country. We are aware of the importance of that, and the platform this movie provides us with. But I can't give you the specifics.
MJ: Is Ta-Nehisi involved in the thought process for the movie?
JC: No. I'm a huge fan. It's great that he's writing the comic. But they're separate entities.
MJ: You're African American but your character is African. In what ways do you expect that you will and won't relate to him?
JC: 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.
MJ: In the comic, Wakanda is one of the planet's most technologically advanced nations. How do portray that level of technology without "Westernizing" the country's culture?
JC: 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.
MJ: Let's talk a bit about diversity in Hollywood. There's pretty clear gender discrimination in TV and film. What has been your own experience vis-a-vis people of color, and black people especially?
Hollywood's diversity problem "will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top."
JC: Historically, opportunity has been afforded to a limited pool of people, excluding people of color and women. That doesn't diminish the talent or hard work of the people within that pool, but it does narrow the field of stories that have been told, and of the creative ideas and perspectives out there. And this problem compounds itself by limiting the number of people in the pipeline to attain the experience to do larger movies or get jobs so they can familiarize themselves with a studio head and get the opportunity to deliver and impress—or maybe direct a smaller movie. It will take a considerable amount of time to rectify. It's very difficult because it starts at the top.
MJ: It sounds like Marvel's writing program helped you get a foot in the door.
JC: It familiarized Marvel with my work and with me as a person. Being able to interact with [studio president] Kevin Feige and have him know who I am and know me as a person, and be able to then sit down and have a conversation about story with someone who's familiar and comfortable is invaluable.
MJ: Do you see a role for yourself in creating more roles for people of color? As Viola Davis points out, there aren't many.
JC: I've had a conversation with her about this, actually. Yes, absolutely. I had two smaller scripts that I had written with full black casts. And people loved the scripts, but nobody would fund them. Those roles and stories are out there. But unless you have the money to finance movies on your own, you're beholden to others, and that is a very big limiting factor.
MJ: Why do you think the money people shy away from a black cast? Do they see it as too niche?
JC: Well, TV does a better job. In film, the justification has been that movies focused on stories or featuring people of color don't make money. But with the success of Straight Outta Compton and Creed, and shows like Empire and How to Get Away With Murder, I think that's becoming a harder argument for companies and studios to make—to the point where it is viewed more of an excuse than reality at times.
MJ: At the extreme, you have movies like 2014's Exodus: Gods and Kings with all white leads. Last year we had Stonewall, about the 1969 Stonewall Riots—the producers cast a handsome white guy as the lead when the leader of the riots was a black trans woman. This month, Gods of Egypt comes out—with all white leads. Why, in this day and age, do casting directors continue to cast white actors to play characters of color?
JC: Not enough diverse voices in the room. The individuals who made those movies may not have malicious intent—they just don't know. There wasn't that person going, "This isn't acceptable. This is disrespectful. This isn't accurate." I wish I had been in the room. I would have put Chancellor Williams' The Destruction of Black Civilization on the table. [Laughs.] "Read this book and then let's discuss it." Because then we can figure out a happy medium.
"The justification has been that movies focused on people of color don't make money. But…that's becoming a harder argument for studios to make."
MJ: Do you think that's also related to the fear that a diverse cast will turn off some moviegoers?
JC: Yes, of course. When you start talking about movies of that size, they're trying to sell globally to foreign markets. So there is an economic question that can't be ignored, and that's a fair discussion to have. But maybe it's not the time to make that movie if you can't depict people accurately.
MJ: Is there any reason to fear that some people might dismiss Black Panther as something for black audiences?
JC: I don't think so. There is a huge fan base for the Black Panther comic and for Marvel as a whole. And I think there is great anticipation across the board for the movie. I think that's how Marvel is approaching it and I know that's how I'm approaching it. I imagine Ryan feels the same way.
http://www.motherjones.com/media/20...s-so-white-black-panther-film-joe-robert-cole
Normally, I'd say this was too motherfucking much reading but this dude is shouting his blackness. Props.
Captain America: Civil War features two major additions to the spandex-clad carnival of Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes, and the movie doesn’t dwell much on their origins or superpowers. One of them doesn’t really require such explanations, because he’s Spider-Man, and who doesn’t already get Spider-Man’s spiel at this point? But you might leave with more questions than answers when it comes to the other guy: T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, handsomely played by Chadwick Boseman.
He’s a man of few words and his background is kept deliberately vague in the film. But he has a long history in the world of Marvel Comics, so if you need some clarification on who he is and why you should care, we’ve answered a handful of potentially burning questions. Some of the explanations might not end up panning out for the movie version of Black Panther, so consider these educated guesses. Very mild spoilers below.
Can you give me a quick rundown of Black Panther’s whole deal?
Sure. His name is T’Challa (one name, like Madonna) and he’s the king of an African nation called Wakanda. He’s also the current holder of the title of “Black Panther,” a mantle bestowed on Wakanda’s greatest warrior in every generation. He’s a genius-level intellect, a highly skilled hand-to-hand fighter, and a slightly haughty dude.
What are his powers?
The most important are that that he’s an incredibly fit and well-trained combatant, he’s blindingly intelligent, and he has access to technology like a bulletproof catsuit made of an extremely rare mineral called vibranium. In that way, he’s kinda like a Marvel version of Batman. But in the comics he’s not exactly like Batman, because he technically has some superpowers: He can commune with an ancient panther god (yeah, that power hasn't aged so well) and every Black Panther is initiated into his role by eating a heart-shaped herb (stick with me here) that gives him superhuman strength, speed, senses, and endurance. We don’t get any mention of these abilities in Civil War, but he does seem to be able to run as fast as the Super-Soldier-Serum-enhanced Captain America, so it’s possible that he’s augmented in one way or another.
What the hell is Wakanda?
It doesn’t really exist, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s a small country in East Africa, right near Uganda. It’s extremely technologically advanced and has never been conquered by a European power. It’s also very wealthy, possessing a huge natural deposit of the aforementioned vibranium, which can be fashioned into near-indestructible tools (Captain America’s shield being one of them). It’s somewhat reclusive, but isn’t a North Korea-esque hermit state. Its system of government is a hereditary monarchy, one that’s generally depicted as benevolent. T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, is the king at the beginning of the movie, but diesearly on.
What’s Black Panther’s motivation for being a hero?
First and foremost, he has a duty to protect the people of Wakanda. But beyond that, he’s just a generally good fellow who doesn’t cotton to injustice. In the movie, he’s pretty angry about his dad getting killed, but it’s implied that he was already suiting up and fighting evil well before that.
Does he have anything to do with the Black Panther Party?
Absolutely not. In a bizarre coincidence, the character debuted just a few months before the declaration of the Black Panther Party in 1966. In fact, for a brief period in the 1970s, Marvel changed the character’s name to “Black Leopard” to avoid confusion, but quickly went back to the original moniker. It’s just one of those weird historical overlaps with zero real significance, like all that stuff about Lincoln and Kennedy.
Is he mega-famous? Am I an idiot for not knowing much about him?
You’re definitely not an idiot, as he’s never become a household name like, say, Captain America or the Hulk. Other than starring in on obscure and short-lived BET cartoon, he hasn’t had much exposure outside the printed page. Even within the world of comics, he’s been a B- or C-tier character for most of his existence — beloved, but rarely the talk of the town.
That said, he has a long and vital history: He was the first black superhero in mainstream comics, he’s been the subject of some highly political stories (for more on that, read Evan Narcisse’s excellent rundown at Kotaku), and he has a devoted and vocal fan base.
Why are people so psyched about him being in this movie?One reason is that he’s just a fun character, so people are happy to see him get his first appearance on the big screen. But identity politics also come into play here. Although the MCU has a handful of black characters, none of them have been the leads of their own solo outings. When Marvel announced in 2014 that Black Panther was entering the MCU and getting his own movie, it was a big step forward in terms of representation for people of color in this multi-billion-dollar franchise. After years of waiting, people are finally getting to see a person of color who will soon head up his own big-budget Marvel epic.
Solo movie! No kidding! When does it come out and who’s directing it?
It’s currently slated to come out in February of 2018 and Creed director Ryan Coogler is helming it.
Is he gonna be an actual member of the Avengers?
He has been in the comics, but the ending of Civil War suggests he’s more interested in tending to business in Wakanda than joining an American super-crew.
If I wanted to read some good Black Panther comics, where should I start?
Read this collection of the first 17 issues of writer Christopher Priest’s long run with the character, which began in the late 1990s. It’s funny, thrilling, and packs a political punch. If you want something more recent but a little hard for a novice to follow, check out the beginning of writer Jonathan Hickman’s run on the series New Avengers, which prominently features T’Challa. And if you want to read the most talked-about series in comics today, buy the just-released first issue of the newest Black Panther series, which is being written by none other than journalist and MacArthur genius grant recipient Ta-Nehisi Coates (but read our primer on it first).
http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/civil-war-black-panther-explainer.html
Black Panther's language: Where Civil War found the words of Wakanda
Black Panther … speaks!
But how, exactly?
As the hero king of Wakanda makes his leap from the comic book pages to the big screen in Captain America: Civil War, the question wasn’t so much what he would say, but which words he should use.
Apart from a handful of terms, T’Challa’s fictional African nation had no differentiated language in the Marvel canon. But its people wouldn’t exactly be speaking English, since part of Wakanda’s lore was that the technologically advanced land had never been conquered.
Chadwick Boseman’s character does speak English throughout the movie to other English-speakers, of course. He’s a statesman, and presumably knows many other languages, too. But for intimate scenes between T’Challa, the prince of Wakanda, and his father, King T’Chaka, directors Joe and Anthony Russo felt the two men should communicate in a native tongue, one that rose up from the continent itself, free of interference from outsiders.
“The language we used for Wakandan is called Xhosa,” Joe Russo tells EW. “John Kani, the actor who plays T’Challa’s father in the movie, speaks the language and taught it to Chadwick. It’s spoken by 7.6 million people in South Africa.”
Xhosa just clicked.
Literally – it’s known as “the clicking language” for its assortment of verbal pops. The name “Xhosa” itself begins with what’s known as the “x click,” or the “horse-riding click,” as explained here:
One of the language’s most noteworthy native speakers was Nelson Mandela, a descendant of the Thembu tribe of the Xhosa people. That means now one of Africa’s most beloved make-believe leaders will forever communicate in the language of one of its most historic real-life ones.
Black Panther … speaks!
But how, exactly?
As the hero king of Wakanda makes his leap from the comic book pages to the big screen in Captain America: Civil War, the question wasn’t so much what he would say, but which words he should use.
Apart from a handful of terms, T’Challa’s fictional African nation had no differentiated language in the Marvel canon. But its people wouldn’t exactly be speaking English, since part of Wakanda’s lore was that the technologically advanced land had never been conquered.
Chadwick Boseman’s character does speak English throughout the movie to other English-speakers, of course. He’s a statesman, and presumably knows many other languages, too. But for intimate scenes between T’Challa, the prince of Wakanda, and his father, King T’Chaka, directors Joe and Anthony Russo felt the two men should communicate in a native tongue, one that rose up from the continent itself, free of interference from outsiders.
“The language we used for Wakandan is called Xhosa,” Joe Russo tells EW. “John Kani, the actor who plays T’Challa’s father in the movie, speaks the language and taught it to Chadwick. It’s spoken by 7.6 million people in South Africa.”
Xhosa just clicked.
Literally – it’s known as “the clicking language” for its assortment of verbal pops. The name “Xhosa” itself begins with what’s known as the “x click,” or the “horse-riding click,” as explained here:
One of the language’s most noteworthy native speakers was Nelson Mandela, a descendant of the Thembu tribe of the Xhosa people. That means now one of Africa’s most beloved make-believe leaders will forever communicate in the language of one of its most historic real-life ones.
Looking forward to reading this
Captain America: Civil War features two major additions to the spandex-clad carnival of Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes, and the movie doesn’t dwell much on their origins or superpowers. One of them doesn’t really require such explanations, because he’s Spider-Man, and who doesn’t already get Spider-Man’s spiel at this point? But you might leave with more questions than answers when it comes to the other guy: T’Challa, a.k.a. Black Panther, handsomely played by Chadwick Boseman.
He’s a man of few words and his background is kept deliberately vague in the film. But he has a long history in the world of Marvel Comics, so if you need some clarification on who he is and why you should care, we’ve answered a handful of potentially burning questions. Some of the explanations might not end up panning out for the movie version of Black Panther, so consider these educated guesses. Very mild spoilers below.
Can you give me a quick rundown of Black Panther’s whole deal?
Sure. His name is T’Challa (one name, like Madonna) and he’s the king of an African nation called Wakanda. He’s also the current holder of the title of “Black Panther,” a mantle bestowed on Wakanda’s greatest warrior in every generation. He’s a genius-level intellect, a highly skilled hand-to-hand fighter, and a slightly haughty dude.
What are his powers?
The most important are that that he’s an incredibly fit and well-trained combatant, he’s blindingly intelligent, and he has access to technology like a bulletproof catsuit made of an extremely rare mineral called vibranium. In that way, he’s kinda like a Marvel version of Batman. But in the comics he’s not exactly like Batman, because he technically has some superpowers: He can commune with an ancient panther god (yeah, that power hasn't aged so well) and every Black Panther is initiated into his role by eating a heart-shaped herb (stick with me here) that gives him superhuman strength, speed, senses, and endurance. We don’t get any mention of these abilities in Civil War, but he does seem to be able to run as fast as the Super-Soldier-Serum-enhanced Captain America, so it’s possible that he’s augmented in one way or another.
What the hell is Wakanda?
It doesn’t really exist, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s a small country in East Africa, right near Uganda. It’s extremely technologically advanced and has never been conquered by a European power. It’s also very wealthy, possessing a huge natural deposit of the aforementioned vibranium, which can be fashioned into near-indestructible tools (Captain America’s shield being one of them). It’s somewhat reclusive, but isn’t a North Korea-esque hermit state. Its system of government is a hereditary monarchy, one that’s generally depicted as benevolent. T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, is the king at the beginning of the movie, but diesearly on.
What’s Black Panther’s motivation for being a hero?
First and foremost, he has a duty to protect the people of Wakanda. But beyond that, he’s just a generally good fellow who doesn’t cotton to injustice. In the movie, he’s pretty angry about his dad getting killed, but it’s implied that he was already suiting up and fighting evil well before that.
Does he have anything to do with the Black Panther Party?
Absolutely not. In a bizarre coincidence, the character debuted just a few months before the declaration of the Black Panther Party in 1966. In fact, for a brief period in the 1970s, Marvel changed the character’s name to “Black Leopard” to avoid confusion, but quickly went back to the original moniker. It’s just one of those weird historical overlaps with zero real significance, like all that stuff about Lincoln and Kennedy.
Is he mega-famous? Am I an idiot for not knowing much about him?
You’re definitely not an idiot, as he’s never become a household name like, say, Captain America or the Hulk. Other than starring in on obscure and short-lived BET cartoon, he hasn’t had much exposure outside the printed page. Even within the world of comics, he’s been a B- or C-tier character for most of his existence — beloved, but rarely the talk of the town.
That said, he has a long and vital history: He was the first black superhero in mainstream comics, he’s been the subject of some highly political stories (for more on that, read Evan Narcisse’s excellent rundown at Kotaku), and he has a devoted and vocal fan base.
Why are people so psyched about him being in this movie?One reason is that he’s just a fun character, so people are happy to see him get his first appearance on the big screen. But identity politics also come into play here. Although the MCU has a handful of black characters, none of them have been the leads of their own solo outings. When Marvel announced in 2014 that Black Panther was entering the MCU and getting his own movie, it was a big step forward in terms of representation for people of color in this multi-billion-dollar franchise. After years of waiting, people are finally getting to see a person of color who will soon head up his own big-budget Marvel epic.
Solo movie! No kidding! When does it come out and who’s directing it?
It’s currently slated to come out in February of 2018 and Creed director Ryan Coogler is helming it.
Is he gonna be an actual member of the Avengers?
He has been in the comics, but the ending of Civil War suggests he’s more interested in tending to business in Wakanda than joining an American super-crew.
If I wanted to read some good Black Panther comics, where should I start?
Read this collection of the first 17 issues of writer Christopher Priest’s long run with the character, which began in the late 1990s. It’s funny, thrilling, and packs a political punch. If you want something more recent but a little hard for a novice to follow, check out the beginning of writer Jonathan Hickman’s run on the series New Avengers, which prominently features T’Challa. And if you want to read the most talked-about series in comics today, buy the just-released first issue of the newest Black Panther series, which is being written by none other than journalist and MacArthur genius grant recipient Ta-Nehisi Coates (but read our primer on it first).
http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/civil-war-black-panther-explainer.html
While all eyes seem fixated on Steve Rogers and Tony Stark in the upcomingCaptain America: Civil War, we cannot forget the new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe who will soon arrive as well. One of the most intriguing new additions to the MCU in Civil War is Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa a.k.a Black Panther. As the first ever silver screen incarnation the Wakandan, it’s a landmark moment for a character considered to be the first black superhero. Although his first solo film won’t hit theaters until 2018, that didn’t stop director Ryan Coogler from leaving his mark on the Black Panther we will see in Civil War.
During a recent interview with io9, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige admitted that Ryan Coogler had the opportunity to contribute to the Civil War creative process. He said:
Ryan came in and watched the movie. We did a little bit of additional photography here and there and Ryan did a pass at a couple of those scenes. So there’s a line or two that Panther says in the movie that Ryan contributed to. [Civil War screenwriters] Chris [Markus] and Steve [McFeely] absorbed it into their draft, put their spin on it and words to it, but Ryan has started to be involved in earlier cuts of this movie.
Although Captain America: Civil War very much remains a product of the Russo brothers as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Ryan Coogler found himself able to add some minor contributions to the character of Black Panther. It seems like Markus and McFeely responded well to his contributions, because they eventually "absorbed" his ideas and implemented them into the film – albeit with their own take on them.
It’s worth noting that Ryan Coogler’s contribution – however minor – to Civil War will go a long way towards establishing T’Challa with mainstream audiences. While Marvel has already done a phenomenal job of making the MCU films feel fairly cohesive, Ryan Coogler’s freshman effort on the first solo Black Panther film will feel even more familiar to fans because the director will have already had a hand in an earlier on-screen incarnation of the character. That may seem like a minor detail, but it’s one that will allow Black Panther to hit the ground running in his 2018 adventure.
All that being said, it also probably helped that Ryan Coogler has proven that he isn’t exactly a hack. Over the last few years, he has proven himself as an incredibly reliable filmmaker and screenwriter. Between Fruitvale Station, and last year’sCreed, Coogler has established that he has a firm grasp on the type of voice required for the first black superhero. Black Panther director or not, referring to him probably seemed like a no-brainer.
We will just have to wait and see what sort of effect Ryan Coogler's contributions to Black Panther have on audiences when Captain America: Civil War comes out. The film will hit theaters on May 6; be sure to stay tuned for more details!
http://io9.gizmodo.com/black-panther-director-ryan-coogler-helped-with-the-cha-1770267450
fam hearing BP speak my mother tongue in a big summer blockbuster shit had me emotional in the damn theater
fam hearing BP speak my mother tongue in a big summer blockbuster shit had me emotional in the damn theater
They should of mentioned that T'Challa is the only trillionaire in comics
The main component of Captain America’s famous shield (it has a bit of adamantium mixed in), vibranium is an extremely rare and durable metal found in Wakanda. According to Fantastic Four #607, this rarity comes with a hefty price tag — $10,000 per gram.
An Apple watch made two troy ounces of vibranium would then cost around $620,000. You could buy 478 new Macbooks for that money.
http://nerdist.com/unnecessary-information-a-vibranium-apple-watch-would-cost-600000/
Marvel Launches Black Panther Video Series Featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates & Music By Run The Jewels
Marvel Comics continues presenting its new breakout movie superhero Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). As part of the character’s cinematic debut in the commercially successful film Captain America: Civil War, Marvel is launching a monthly video series to present the world of Black Panther to a whole new audience.
The “A Nation Under Our Feet” vignette features animated comics and commentary from National Book Award-winning writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. In addition, the first episode includes a musical score from critically acclaimed Hip Hop group Run The Jewels.
“With the Black Panther capturing the hearts and minds of fans around the world, we are making an all-out press for their eyes and ears,” says Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Axel Alonso. “And who better to make our opening statement than the sonically groundbreaking duo, El-P and Killer Mike – a.k.a. Run the Jewels?”
Black Panther #2 is available at Marvel Digital Comic Shop and at all local comic book retailers.
Marvel Comics continues presenting its new breakout movie superhero Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). As part of the character’s cinematic debut in the commercially successful film Captain America: Civil War, Marvel is launching a monthly video series to present the world of Black Panther to a whole new audience.
The “A Nation Under Our Feet” vignette features animated comics and commentary from National Book Award-winning writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. In addition, the first episode includes a musical score from critically acclaimed Hip Hop group Run The Jewels.
“With the Black Panther capturing the hearts and minds of fans around the world, we are making an all-out press for their eyes and ears,” says Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Axel Alonso. “And who better to make our opening statement than the sonically groundbreaking duo, El-P and Killer Mike – a.k.a. Run the Jewels?”
Black Panther #2 is available at Marvel Digital Comic Shop and at all local comic book retailers.
Black Panther/His Fighting Style/Wakanda/Vibranium & Adamantium - All Explained! (videos)
Marvel Comics: Black Panther's Fighting Style Explained
Marvel Comics: Black Panther/Wakanda Explained
Marvel Comics: Vibranium & Adamantium Explained
Marvel Comics: Black Panther's Fighting Style Explained
Marvel Comics: Black Panther/Wakanda Explained
Marvel Comics: Vibranium & Adamantium Explained