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Black Panther - Pre-release Thread

JD

JD

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I did see an old thread for this about the director, but I figured since that one was pretty dead, I'd go ahead and start a general pre-release thread.
What we know so far:
Release Date: February 8, 2018
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Joe Robert Cole and Ryan Coogler
Confirmed Cast: Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther
Michael B. Jordan maybe as unknown villain

It has also been reported that Lupita Nyong'o is in talks to play T'Challa's love interest.
Kevin Feige has said that 90% of the cast is African or African-American.

I'm a little surprised to hear about Jordan possibly playing the villain, I had assumed after Age of Ultron that Klaue would be the villain.
I guess the 90% African or African-American thing makes seeing seeing all of Cap's team in the movie unlikely. I guess we could see Cap maybe or Falcon but probably not the whole team.
EDITED TO CORRECT OLD RELEASE DATE
 
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I just figured since we saw the character in CW, and since news was coming on a pretty regular basis now, it would be a good time to start it.
 
Somebody needs to update Wikipedia then, because the article says that Marvel announced it would come out on that date back in 2014. Was it pushed back?
 
dodge said:
Actually a bit more than that. ;)
That November 2017 date in the OP is Thor:Ragnarok's release date, Black Panther doesn't come out till 2018.
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To be honest I wish they'd flip the two movies, especially after T'Challa's very well-received debut in CW. Kind of a strike while the iron's hot type of thing.
 
Klaw isn't that interesting a villain and not a great foil for T'Challa, so I can understand why they would use someone else as Black Panther's antagonist in the first film. In fact, Klaw was only a primary Panther villain because he killed T'Chaka in the comics, but since that won't be the case in the movie universe, he'll be an even more inconsequential character.

Maybe the movie could open with T'Challa hunting Klaw down for his actions in Age of Ultron, but I can't imagine Klaw being a movie-length adversary for the Panther.

Skywalker said:
To be honest I wish they'd flip the two movies, especially after T'Challa's very well-received debut in CW. Kind of a strike while the iron's hot type of thing.
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Yeah, I was kind of pissed when they first announced the delay and now, after seeing Civil War and seeing movie audiences respond to him, it makes even less sense to have delayed his solo movie. At this point, I'm just happy that they're doing the character justice on the big screen and that we're getting a Black Panther movie (eventually).

I'm glad Christopher Priest got a "thanks to" credit in the Civil War movie. After Jack Kirby, Priest is the most important creator to develop and work on the Black Panther character in his long history.

I think I saw Don MacGregor's name, too, in the closing credits, but I don't think I saw Reginald Hudlin's. If they include Shuri in the solo movie (as the rumors are suggesting), hopefully Hudlin will at least get a "thanks" credit there.
 
Sto-Vo-Kory said:
Klaw isn't that interesting a villain and not a great foil for T'Challa, so I can understand why they would use someone else as Black Panther's antagonist in the first film.
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Except that the MCU isn't known for having interesting villains. Even villains who are rich and complex in the comics, like Ronan the Accuser, have been reduced to one-dimensional plot devices in the films. So "not interesting" isn't really a dealbreaker for them. And I can't believe they'd cast Andy Serkis in the role and set his origin in motion by chopping his hand off if they didn't plan to do more with him.
 
I edited the first post to correct the release date. Thanks for letting me know about that.
 
Christopher said:
Except that the MCU isn't known for having interesting villains. Even villains who are rich and complex in the comics, like Ronan the Accuser, have been reduced to one-dimensional plot devices in the films. So "not interesting" isn't really a dealbreaker for them. And I can't believe they'd cast Andy Serkis in the role and set his origin in motion by chopping his hand off if they didn't plan to do more with him.
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I wasn't suggesting they abandon Klaw completely. They probably will do something with the character, but it'll most likely be something like Crossbones in Civil War or Batroc in Winter Soldier. From my earlier post, I suggested:

Sto-Vo-Kory said:
Maybe the movie could open with T'Challa hunting Klaw down for his actions in Age of Ultron...
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^Yeah, I saw that, but again, I find it hard to believe they'd waste Andy Serkis on such a small part. Sure, he had a small part in AoU, but presumably for the same reason that Martin Freeman did in CW and Samuel L. Jackson did in Iron Man -- because he's going to have a larger role later.
 
Given that Serkis is known primarily for CGI roles, I always hoped that they would do something akin to the comics and turn him into some sort of CGI solid-sound creature.
 
Turtletrekker said:
Given that Serkis is known primarily for CGI roles, I always hoped that they would do something akin to the comics and turn him into some sort of CGI solid-sound creature.
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Most actors don't like to be typecast. Serkis is known for his performance capture roles because he's an amazingly good actor whose talent shines through the tech. So I'd say he's entitled to do on-camera roles too. (Besides, "solid sound" is a monumentally stupid concept. Sound is a vibration passing through a material, not a material in its own right.)
 
Christopher said:
^Yeah, I saw that, but again, I find it hard to believe they'd waste Andy Serkis on such a small part. Sure, he had a small part in AoU, but presumably for the same reason that Martin Freeman did in CW and Samuel L. Jackson did in Iron Man -- because he's going to have a larger role later.
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You may be right. Maybe they'll take the Ulysses Klaw character in a new and more interesting direction than the comics, like Mandarin in Iron Man 3.

Speaking of Freeman, if they include Everett Ross in the Black Panther movie (which I'm presuming they will), I hope they dial back his dickish-ness some. Everett came across as a gigantic douche-bag in Civil War.

While not always the most likable of characters, Christopher Priest gave him a unique voice, strong point of view, and a sense of humor -- all of which made him a great foil for the intense and no-nonsense T'Challa in the comics.

I realize Freeman was only in the film for a few scenes and not given much to do, but his Everett Ross came off as more caricature than authentic persona in his screen time. Hopefully it was just a matter of the movie being too full to properly service his character and not a taste of the Ross to come in Black Panther.
 
Sto-Vo-Kory said:
I realize Freeman was only in the film for a few scenes and not given much to do, but his Everett Ross came off as more caricature than authentic persona in his screen time.
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Yeah. It's the only thing I've seen where Martin Freeman didn't totally steal his scenes. This is a guy who's normally the most fascinating actor in the shot even when he's just listening and reacting. (Heck, perhaps especially then.) In Civil War, though, he just seemed extraneous. (And it's so weird that there were two unrelated characters named Ross in the same faction, Thunderbolt and Everett. Especially since they had somewhat overlapping story functions, so they could've easily enough conflated both Rosses into a single Ross.)
 
I have been wondering if the two characters were related! I at first assumed so. But no mention of it in the film and none I could find online. Seemed like an odd choice to give him the same name if they are not.
 
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