Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966 amidst the Civil Rights Era. As you would probably assume, he was one of the few black characters in popular comic books. Black Panther has been known by Marvel Comic fans for years but prior to 2016, he hasn’t yet appeared in the MCU. In the Spring of 2016, Captain America: Civil War was released and was film that introduced a few new characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU). One of the characters being Prince T’Challa or who is also known as, Black Panther. T’Challa’s chemistry with the other characters and when he took on the Black Panther persona really drew people in. After T’Challa was introduced into the MCU, people were wondering when the next time he was going to be featured, and then Marvel Studios announced that Black Panther will get a solo movie.
The excitement from fans when it was announced that Black Panther was getting his own movie grew as time got closer and closer to the release date. Another factor that made Black Panther popular was the fact that it was going to be the first MCU film to have a black lead and a majority black cast. This drew tons of support from the black community because it’s not everyday that we see a black majority cast in a popular movie franchise. At times, black people sometimes feel as if they aren’t as represented on the movie scale. It was also known that this film would take place in the fictional African country of Wakanda, which is a technology advanced country that is centuries ahead of the rest of world due to Vibranium which is the strongest metal on the planet. Having Wakanda being featured as a technology advanced African country was a breath of fresh air for many people because the media consistently portrays Africa as extremely underdeveloped. As expected, tons of support also comes with some criticism. A group of people, the same group of people that later on criticized Captain Marvel, criticized Black Panther for following the “SWJ agenda”.
Black Panther was seen as a pretty big milestone for not only the black community but for everyone as a whole. It’s not common for popular movies and TV shows to have a black lead and even a majority black cast. It can be said that Black Panther is even seen as inspirational, it shows people (mainly little kids) that no matter what you look like, anyone can be a hero. Growing up, I didn’t have many characters to look at and say “oh wow they look just like me!” Now, I see how my younger cousins see Black Panther and how happy they are to have a popular hero that looks like them.