Marvel’s Black Panther has broken records at the box office with an unbelievable $218 million over the four day Presidents’ Day weekend. The studio has hit on a successful formula with director Ryan Coogler’s independent yet attached Wakanda, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje, and of course, Chadwick Boseman as the king himself. The universal accolades are rolling in along with the box office dollars, but one thing is clear: It’s time to move the MCU in different directions. It is time to give other marginalized creators the director’s and writer’s chair and space to share their culture in front of and behind the camera.
Marvel’s already making more plans to continue this trend. From Captain Marvel in 2019 to the potential for a female-led film thanks to the urging of Tessa Thompson. (Can we make a plea for her to consider stepping into the director’s chair? She wouldn’t be the first actor turned director!) The MCU is ripe for reimagining.
Film critic and influencer Rebecca Theodore-Vanchon recently tweeted that what the MCU needs is color, and we couldn’t agree more. The path to Marvel’s future success is the elevation of Marvel’s most recent and most beloved characters -the majority of whom are POC (or could easily be made into POC). The success of Black Panther proves that it is time for these characters to make their break into the broader MCU universe. In this article, I break down just what Marvel can craft in between Captain Marvel and a potential female-team to keep garnering that box office success while crafting some brand new stories for audiences to enjoy.
The path to success isn’t easy, but in the wake of Black Panther hopefully, Marvel is shuffling around its current film slate to make room for a slew of new characters who need to be seen on camera. Audiences are ready, and as Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) said, it is time for these characters to reign supreme.