by Monica Hayes
Almost 20 years after Blade introduced audiences to Marvel’s first Black superhero on the big screen, the first Black superhero ever written finally gets his due, and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is nothing short of phenomenal.
Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to Wakanda after the assassination of his father, King T’Chaka (John Kani). With the throne now his to claim, T’Challa must prove himself through ancient rituals and face any challengers from the royal tribes. As the new king and the Black Panther, he’s charged with protecting Wakanda’s greatest secret, Vibranium, the alien metal that made this hidden African nation the most technologically advanced place on Earth.
Meanwhile, at a British museum, black market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and the mysterious Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), steal an ancient Vibranium artifact. This brazen theft brings Klaue back on Wakanda’s radar after years on the run, and T’Challa vows to capture him and bring him to justice. Joined by fierce Dora Milaje general Okoye (Danai Gurira) and undercover spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa’s mission leads them to an underground casino in Korea, but when Killmonger intervenes to free Klaue, he sets off a chain of events that threatens to upend Wakanda forever.
Starting with Iron Man in 2008, Black Panther is the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but until now, none of these massive blockbusters had a Black lead. Yes, Blade paved the way, but this is the first Black hero to headline an MCU juggernaut, and to see this story done right, with the full weight of Marvel behind it, is a triumph years in the making.
For fans, the stakes were sky-high: the script had to respect the source material, the casting needed to be perfect, and the film had to stand shoulder to shoulder with the seventeen hits before it. Coogler, already acclaimed for Fruitvale Station and Creed, rises to the challenge brilliantly. He gives us just enough backstory, from the meteorite that brought Vibranium to Wakanda, to the way the nation cloaked itself in secrecy to protect its people from colonial exploitation, without ever losing sight of the present-day stakes. Wakanda is a vibrant, fully realized world hiding in plain sight, and it’s stunning to behold.
The cast delivers across the board. Boseman brings a quiet strength to T’Challa, a king torn between tradition and a changing world. He stood out in Civil War with only a few scenes, but here he cements himself as a true MCU hero. Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger is one of Marvel’s best villains to date, human, wounded, and painfully relatable. Jordan infuses him with so much rage and twisted purpose that you almost root for him, even as you want to see him stopped. He’s not some cosmic overlord or alien tyrant; he’s the bitter product of real-world injustice and abandonment, and his anger is heartbreakingly believable.
But the film’s greatness doesn’t stop with its two male leads. The women of Wakanda steal every scene. Gurira’s Okoye is equal parts fierce warrior and moral compass; Nyong’o’s Nakia is compassionate, independent, and brave. And Letitia Wright is a revelation as Shuri, T’Challa’s genius sister, think James Bond’s Q, but way cooler. Her tech-savvy inventions and snarky banter make her an instant fan favorite.
Yes, Black Panther sets up Avengers: Infinity War, but it’s strong enough to stand on its own. Even if you’ve never seen an MCU film, you won’t be lost; Coogler’s storytelling is that sharp. Add in jaw-dropping costumes, exhilarating action, a killer soundtrack, and a vision of Afrofuturism unlike anything Hollywood’s ever produced, and you get an MCU entry that raises the bar for what these blockbusters can be.
With Black Panther, Ryan Coogler joins the ranks of directors like Scorsese and Spielberg, visionary filmmakers whose stories resonate far beyond the screen. The film is gorgeous, the acting is superb, and the world-building is spectacular. If this is the new standard for superhero cinema, then the future is very bright indeed.
Grade: A