Black Panther Appreciation VII: "Return of the King"

[Mr MajestiK]

How is "star power" even an issue here? Were Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth big names before their movies dropped? All Hemsworth was really known for in the U.S. was being in Star Trek for two minutes before getting blown up.

fair point, which is why I've been personally focusing on Marvel's commitment to seeing any possible Black Panther life feature through to its logical fruition moreso than who ever they choose to play the titular role.

Having said that, it's my belief that a lot of the speculation that takes place in this thread is simply down to the eagerness that most BP enthusiasts bring to the debate/discussion arena which is in no way dissimalr to that which would apply to any other body of fans where their favored character is in the frame.

[Huthaifa]

Star power is a concern when it come to movies with an AA lead.I wish we all played on the same level of field, but we dont.I totally agree with Free Man about Evans and HemsworthThe fact that both movies succeeded as well, as they did has a lot to do with how great Marvel/Disney promoted those films and then back it up with a quality product.

The "Black" Super Hero movie has a harder road. Steel,Hancock,Meteor Man,and Blank Man are the novelty super hero tales we have gotten. Blade was the only quality effort given(IMHO). A BP movie has to follow the road of Blade. A serious take on a character that cant be misconstrued as what if SpiderMan/Batman/Superman were Black.

MM, I think much like Iron Man, you can get away with keeping the mask on during the action scenes.

[Mr MajestiK]

Star power is a concern when it come to movies with an AA lead.I wish we all played on the same level of field, but we dont.I totally agree with Free Man about Evans and HemsworthThe fact that both movies succeeded as well, as they did has a lot to do with how great Marvel/Disney promoted those films and then back it up with a quality product.

The "Black" Super Hero movie has a harder road. Steel,Hancock,Meteor Man,and Blank Man are the novelty super hero tales we have gotten. Blade was the only quality effort given(IMHO). A BP movie has to follow the road of Blade. A serious take on a character that cant be misconstrued as what if SpiderMan/Batman/Superman were Black.

MM, I think much like Iron Man, you can get away with keeping the mask on during the action scenes.

Very solid post friend Huthaifa especially as regards the need for any BP movie to follow the solid template provided by the first and second Blade movies respectively.

If Disney/Marvel are seriously commited to delivering quality product, they can't afford to shortchange the character of T'Challa, the larger than life futuristic concept of Wakanda or the long term fans of both.

Watering down either one or both of foundational platforms of the BP mythos would be ill advised and would lead to a cinematic disaster on par with the John Carter flick. (which was pretty damn good but poorly marketed.)

[FLEX HECTIC]

Star quality comes into play for Black Panther because he is well... Black!


Unlike other white male characters Black Panther is behind the 8 ball because his sales are less than stellar.

What is essentially being asked is for executives to ignore all the cancellations, deconstructions, limbo and lame premises and somehow believe that any current black actor will carry this movie to opening day box office success.

Easy to visualize Captain America and Thor being modest or decently succesful but Black Panther comes with a bright red asterisk next to his name.

Picture yourself in those meetings when things go way south after major inquisitions are made on everything Black Panther.

Now fast forward to a black actor being named to play him and all the promo stuff that comes with it.

Will the white majority fanboy base tear him a new one when they finally get at him for questioning under the interrogation spotlight?

Some of us have experienced the minor thread closings and code talk online but what happens when this goes public and the good ole boys get the rope out?

All these potential actors are thinking Hollywood and career boost when this role could also very well be the death to their career if it bombs or they compromise the character badly on screen.

The Black Panther movie cannot afford Catwoman movie type comparisons.

[Mr MajestiK]

Star quality comes into play for Black Panther because he is well... Black!


Unlike other white male characters Black Panther is behind the 8 ball because his sales are less than stellar.

What is essentially being asked is for executives to ignore all the cancellations, deconstructions, limbo and lame premises and somehow believe that any current black actor will carry this movie to opening day box office success.

Easy to visualize Captain America and Thor being modest or decently succesful but Black Panther comes with a bright red asterisk next to his name.

Picture yourself in those meetings when things go way south after major inquisitions are made on everything Black Panther.

Now fast forward to a black actor being named to play him and all the promo stuff that comes with it.

Will the white majority fanboy base tear him a new one when they finally get at him for questioning under the interrogation spotlight?

Some of us have experienced the minor thread closings and code talk online but what happens when this goes public and the good ole boys get the rope out?

All these potential actors are thinking Hollywood and career boost when this role could also very well be the death to their career if it bombs or they compromise the character badly on screen.

The Black Panther movie cannot afford Catwoman movie type comparisons.

And that's the essential crux of the matter.

Marvel editorial and some writers have done their utmost to sabotage the character over the years while the writers such as Priest, McDuffie and Liss have all had the excellent work they've done on the character sabotaged by Marvel editorial as well.

It's a lose-lose scenario whichever way you look at it. :smh:

[Free-Man]

Will the white majority fanboy base tear him a new one when they finally get at him for questioning under the interrogation spotlight?

Comic book fans make up a very small portion of the audience, though. What fanboys want and what the general audience is actually interested in aren't always the same thing. As for his poor sales, yeah, Black Panther has never been a huge seller, but then again neither was Blade and he went on to have three financially successful flicks. And I assure you, very few people in the mainstream audience gave a crap about Thor and Loki before that movie came out too.

And are these "good ole boys" the same ones calling to boycott Thor and the Avengers because of the race changes to Heimdall and Nick Fury?

[FLEX HECTIC]

Heimdall and Nick Fury are no where near the majesty that is Black Panther.


We are not talking small appearances here or there we are talking about a hero with attributes of a king, scientist, warrior, polymath strategist, inventor and married to quite a special lady too.

This has so many subconscious level messages that it will cause emotional feelings from "The Good Ole Boys" who til this day still hate and block on the character.

I believe an ish storm will come down when this thing finally goes into production and I hope the actor is prepared for it as the futuristic thinking Black Panther would be!

[Free-Man]

Okay? And if that's the case it'll be like every other black lead movie that a sub-set of racist whites refuse to see. *SHRUGS*
And I doubt there will be that much controversy. Most people don't know enough about him to be shocked and offended by the idea of a black superhero king getting his own movie.

[Genki Sudo]

But it won't stop them from complaining about it, browsing various other forums during the great "which hero should be in Avengers 2" debate it was really easy to notice anytime T'Challa's name came up people got nervous and came up with any excuse that tapped danced around that line of saying racist with the #1 response being "we already have Sam Jackson in the movie"

[marvell2100]

Star power is a concern when it come to movies with an AA lead.I wish we all played on the same level of field, but we dont.I totally agree with Free Man about Evans and HemsworthThe fact that both movies succeeded as well, as they did has a lot to do with how great Marvel/Disney promoted those films and then back it up with a quality product.

The "Black" Super Hero movie has a harder road. Steel,Hancock,Meteor Man,and Blank Man are the novelty super hero tales we have gotten. Blade was the only quality effort given(IMHO). A BP movie has to follow the road of Blade. A serious take on a character that cant be misconstrued as what if SpiderMan/Batman/Superman were Black.

MM, I think much like Iron Man, you can get away with keeping the mask on during the action scenes.

True, since there is a very limited pool of well known AA actors to choose from. There are even fewer up and coming actors and actresses. The most important thing for a BP movie is going to be a strong script. And the actor they choose is going to have to be very convincing to pull off the role of an enigmatic figure.

Another thing, can we count on Marvel to use some of Priest's material in this movie? This is probably the biggest and best source for an actor to reseach the role. I wish they would but I doubt it.

[MykhaelKhan]

Although I do think it will important to find the right actor for the role, I always here people act as if there is a shortage of actors who can play the role. I've heard everything from "They're all too old" to "most black actors arent that good". Granted black actors don't get much spotlight these days but there are plenty of black actors who given the chance could do the role justice.

But I do agree with a lot what was said, but here are some things that I think that we as fans can expect.

1. Non BP fans will critizie regardless of who they pick to play him.
2. There is a good chance that the script will suck
3. Both conscience and unconscience racial bias will effect the performance of the movie.
4. Fox news or SOME entity will cause a stur about the the name alone (black Panther)

[Huthaifa]

Personally, I am not worried about the negative press at all. Its exist for every endeavor. I think the keys to success for this movie is the following.

1)Make it an Avengers Movie. Sam Jackson needs to be in it. Robert Downey and/or Chris Evans need to make cameos

2)You need somebody to job. Wrestling rules always apply:). I say have a BP VS HULK fight.Its a great chance to see all of the tools that BP has to display.Wakandan military,Dora Milaje, and so forth.

3)Use Hudlin's version of the death of TChaka and not Stan's.

4)This needs BET and G4 backing.

[dbcb314]

http://www.formspring.me/TomBrevoort...17543834828678

[skyvolt2000]

Okay? And if that's the case it'll be like every other black lead movie that a sub-set of racist whites refuse to see. *SHRUGS*
And I doubt there will be that much controversy. Most people don't know enough about him to be shocked and offended by the idea of a black superhero king getting his own movie.

Not only will they not see it, they will go out of their way to make sure it BOMBS. Remember Malcolm X? There is a reason why they say CHECK YOUR MOVIE STUB WHEN YOU GO TO SEE A BLACK FILM.

Next look at the title Black Panther-how many folks will trash this film because they think it's about the political group? Despite the ads for the film?

How many movie theaters will show it? Remember theaters bid on these film months-years in advance. Lets say this film was set for a 2013 July release. I think most theaters will pass it up for anything else. Especially if something bigger is coming out. This film would have to be sold as a straight up led in to Avengers 2-you don't watch it-you will miss something.

True, since there is a very limited pool of well known AA actors to choose from. There are even fewer up and coming actors and actresses.

True-however with casting-you have to decide on WHO you want to see your movie. You cast the wrong person and you can forget getting support (and even media attention).
TI is a true off as is Romeo. Adonis Hodge, Lee Thompson Young, Arjay Smith and Michael B Jordan-have made careers avoiding black only related projects. You would have to work ULTRA hard to see them to most of the black community.

So that is a battle no mater who you cast.

But I do agree with a lot what was said, but here are some things that I think that we as fans can expect.

1. Non BP fans will critizie regardless of who they pick to play him.
2. There is a good chance that the script will suck
3. Both conscience and unconscience racial bias will effect the performance of the movie.
4. Fox news or SOME entity will cause a stur about the the name alone (black Panther)]

Don't forget "we are in the POST Obama universe". You green light this film or even a Static film and you will hear everything in the book. Because it will be viewed as catering to HIM. And the post of why Black Panther versus BLANK.

This needs BET and G4 backing.

Keep BET away from this film. They wouldn't air the cartoon. so they don't get to support the film. They have shown NO respect to black heroes. Nor to McDuffie, Washington or Priest.

Blade and he went on to have three financially successful flicks.

Part of the thing that helped Blade was the toys were in stores MONTHS before the movie came out. So you had kids already interested and for many states-that was back to school weekend-so kids were out spending their last weekend of freedom in the theaters.

Plus you already had another black film in theaters called How Stella Got her Groove Back. Along with Armageddon, Saving Private Ryan, Avengers & Something About Mary. And most of the film that came out with Blade were box office FLOPS. Blade was the highest grossing (USA & overseas) August release beating Snake Eyes. Only 24 other films made more.

[Genki Sudo]

4)This needs BET and G4 backing.

BET hell to the no and the same to G4 who bailed on the Blade anime 3 episodes in, they aired the other mediocre Marvel anime shows all the way through yet can't do it for Blade? F them cats

http://www.formspring.me/TomBrevoort...17543834828678

He said that last year but phrased differently, DC does that all the time with all of their m.i.a. characters. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt but been burned by DC with that line way to many times