While Captain America: Civil War wasn't exactly the origin story for Wakanda's Prince T'challa, better known to the world as Black Panther, it was a good introduction to the character on the whole. However, Ryan Coogler's film will be handling the heavy lifting in backfilling the Wakandan legacy of one of our new favorite crime fighters, and star Chadwick Boseman is promising a lot of awesome action and adventure to come.
In an interview with the UK branch of Yahoo Movies, Boseman teased at some details to the story of 2018's Black Panther solo film. Judging by what he's said, everything we've seen in this summer's Marvel hit is merely the tip of the iceberg for the character, and his history. Though there are specific aspects mentioned by Chadwick Boseman, the following statement is still very much a cryptic tease of things to come:
There is definitely more of [Prince T'challa's] origin in 'Black Panther'. You're going to learn about Wakanda, its culture, its traditions, the past. You can go through all the comic books and know that there's more Panthers that have existed in the past - that's origin.
While pouring over Boseman's interview, it's clear that Black Panther is going to be crucial to the building blocks of Prince T'challa's character, as well as the corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe he inhabits. Seeing as Captain America: Civil War and even Avengers: Age of Ultron have both traveled to Wakanda's soil, it's not like the nation is completely alien to movie goers who've been keeping up with the MCU. However, the information provided about the country's inner workings, as well as Prince T'challa and his father's legacy of keeping the title of "Black Panther" alive, has been extremely limited.
At the very least, Black Panther seems to be set up for the potential to have an epic prologue, with a flashback to the previous eras of Wakandan history being preserved and protected by the Panthers of the past. Though, if Ryan Coogler and Chadwick Boseman wanted to be creative, they could start the film earlier in the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only to jump through to the present by time the film reaches the middle of the second act. If Captain America: The First Avenger can step backwards in time to set up Steve Rogers' history, then why not take another journey back in time and set up Wakanda with the same sort of treatment?
Whatever sort of tricks Black Panther has up its sleeve, we're game. And there's plenty of time to stuff those sleeves with said tricks, as the film is set to spring into theaters on July 6, 2018.
