"The Black Panther lives." These are the words of T'Challa's sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), a brilliant Wakandan inventor who's smarter than Tony Stark and the mind behind Black Panther's costume upgrades. In James Bond terms, she'd be the Q of Panther's organization, and one new weapon she seems to have built into the upgraded Black Panther suit is on display at the tail end of the new Black Panther TV spot that aired Sunday night during the Grammys. Watch it below:
The power in question, spotted at the very end of the TV spot, suggests that T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) can project energy that is absorbed by his suit and redistribute it to use it against his enemies. In this particular shot, he looks to be pounding down on the ground, creating a force field that lifts several of his adversaries off their feet and into the air. It's an effective way to get rid of a number of attackers. And it looks incredibly cool:
But not as cool as when Black Panther leans an entire car on its side during a hasty vehicle pursuit!
That's what I love at the Marvel Studios movies. With each new film, the suits of the heroes get an upgrade. When we saw Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, he was bulletproof, and hard to take down (particularly during that airport fight sequence). He also had those badass claws. But coming home to Wakanda after that conflict, it's clear that Shuri felt her older brother needed some enhancements, and as we can see in the above video, she souped him up with the power to project energy outwards. I can't wait to see how else he is able to use this new trick.
We don't have to wait very long. Ryan Coogler's Black Panther arrives in theaters on February 16, and is projected to be a massive hit for Marvel Studios. It's the first standalone adventure for a character that millions connected with, and the fact that it's a predominantly African-American cast -- for a superhero based in Africa -- has a huge minority audience prepared to flood multiplexes to show their support for more representation in superhero movies on screen.
Black Panther kicks off a busy year for Marvel, one that also will include Avengers: Infinity War and the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. Bookmark our Upcoming Marvel Movies Guide to stay up to date on everything happening in the MCU, this year and beyond.
