Details about the Black Panther film have mostly involved casting so far. We’ve gotten to see everyone from Michael B. Jordan to Lupita Nyong’o talk about the film. It’s assembled a stellar line up of characters and actors, but according to Slashfilm, we may have finally gotten some hints in regards to what the film itself might entail.
Joe Robert Cole cut his teeth writing the FX miniseries The People vs. O.J .Simpson: American Crime Story. He’s currently writing the Black Panther movie with Director Ryan Coogler. Cole says the film will take place just after Civil War, and that it will develop both the character of T’Challa and the country Wakanda, almost a character in itself.
“First I think Chadwick did a phenomenal job in Civil War in setting the tone for him being a king and being the nobility.” Cole said, “At the end I thought his turn was fantastic, how he rose above his own vengeance. I think that was a great introduction to him.”
Fans of Civil War will remember that while Captain America and Iron Man were consumed with their own identity, Black Panther declared he would not be consumed by vengeance, a new take in the Marvel Universe on a very old plot device. Cole then added:
“Our standalone movie will begin shortly after Civil War ends. So we’ll be able to see him mourning and him starting to take command as king of his own nation. Lots of things are going to occur within regards to that. The country will be under threat from inside and out so we’ll learn what Wakanda is, that nation, as the most technologically advanced nation on the planet. Also, as Wakanda’s rise to prominence happens, it will affect the MCU moving forward which is really exciting.”
Cole worked within Marvel’s writer program, the same program that led to writer Nicole Perlman writing the first draft of Guardians of the Galaxy. With his return, he hopes to infuse Wakanda with real African culture even though Wakanda is a fictional country on the continent. Cole wants to work to give Wakanda the same Marvel Universe grounded feel that the rest of it’s cinematic properties have, with positive results.
“Africa is such a huge nation,There are so many countries, each of them with different histories, mythologies, and cultures but what we tried to do was hone in on some of the history, some of the cultural influences and then extrapolate out in our technology, extrapolate out in how we see Wakanda and the different parts of the country and the culture of the country as well. So we wanted to root it in reality first and then build out from there, so we’d feel pretty authentic and grounded.”
Cole was originally also attached to write the Inhumans film, but with the property in question and bumped from Marvel’s release slate, Cole has no idea about the status of the project:
“I don’t know if inhumans is on the slate.” he said, “For some reason everyone thinks I’m writing inhumans, or that I have written inhumans. There is no inhumans script yet, so I’m not sure how we’ll be moving forward with it.”
The promise of a grounded movie depicting an African American Hero is a part of Marvel’s continued push towards diversity, one that’s met with an incredible response.
From the trending hashtag #BlackPantherSoLit, the film has become a much anticipated creation and an obvious future blockbuster. It can only have positive implications going forward. The question remains, what do you think true believers? Excited to hear about Wakanda? What could it mean by Wakanda entering the world stage moving forward? Only time will tell.
Black Panther is slated for release February 16, 2018.