Marvel Studios movies have featured a good number of black actors playing strong supporting roles from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury to Don Cheadle as James Rhodes to Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, but one step they have yet to take is making a solo movie about a black superhero. The easiest way for them to do this is with a film about Black Panther (their most popular black superhero in the comics), but while the project has been in development for years it has never actually happened. That hasn’t stopped rumors from repeatedly popping up, however, and today we have yet another one.
This afternoon, a reporter from Latino Review picked up what they believe is evidence that a Black Panther movie may be in the works at Marvel. Posted on Instagram, the following image came with the caption, "Rumor is they screen tested for BLACK PANTHER yesterday. Could we see him in AVENGERS: AOU? Think it's legit? RT #blackpanther #marvel."
If your first thought looking at this picture is, "That could easily be faked!" then you are very astute, because this pretty clearly is. Anybody with Microsoft Excel can create a spreadsheet, so all of the text isn’t very helpful, but the logo kind of stands out, right? Doing a quick Google Image search landed me on this DeviantArt page, and the logo that was used for the "screen test."
So we may not be seeing Black Panther any time in the near future, but Marvel Studios is certainly planning to do something with the character eventually. Studio President Kevin Feige has said that "things are in the works" and we do know that there was at least a script being written at one time. I guess we’re just going to have to wait.
