I don’t want to believe there is a human being alive, millennial or not who does not know the Black Panther. To fulfill all righteousness however, Black Panther is an African Hero, Legend and King who wears a black panther suit made out of vibranium (I wish that fully describes him or the movie). Yesterday, Marvel Cinematic Universe released the second official trailer for the Black Panther movie set to be released in February of 2018 (aka not soon enough), and it had some of us in tears.
Black Panther (the movie this time, not the person) story occurs post Captain America: Civil War, and it takes place in Wakanda, the technologically advanced (and vibranium-rich) African nation. In the Marvel comics Wakanda is a nation far more technologically advanced than anywhere else on Earth. Here T’Challa is now king of Wakanda following the death of his father – T’Chaka but there’s no time for orientation. Threats from inside Wakanda and out have little sympathy that he’s a newcomer both to the throne and the Avengers; it’s time for T’Challa to figure out, in the words of fighter Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), “what kind of king [he is] going to be.”
There’s Michael B. Jordan (T’Challa’s Wakandan rival Erik Killmonger), who in the little we have seen of him has brought thoughtful intricacy to every action sequence in this new movie. In one frame, we see him with his shirt off with innumerable scarifications on his skin, and we see him another where he transforms into his golden Jaguar suit (that comes out from his body), giving an explanation for the scars all over him. The Golden Jaguar armor looks like it may have been re-purposed from a previous Black Panther costume, and it will presumably give T’Challa a much harder fight. The fights, scenery, costumes, characters and storyline seen are as beautiful as can be.
Following the first trailer, both have successfully shown us many wonderful gadgets of Wakanda and Wakanda itself, an aircraft flown by a Wakandan using just her hands, Black Panthers suits, the tracker bombs he throws, his formidable foes, his family, and a car with controls made of just light, the holographic shield that is used to hide its true nature from the prying eyes of other countries, and very importantly, Djalia, the ethereal plane of Wakandan memory. Basically, it allows T’Challa to literally commune with the past.
February 16 cannot possibly get here soon enough as I am honestly concerned with is possibly Marvels biggest production yet and with its first ever black protagonist.