Out of the shadows of Wakanda, and into action on the big screen, King T'Challa is set to take the box office by storm with Black Panther! It's been a long enough wait too, considering audiences were first introduced to Chadwick Boseman's portrayal of the young royal in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. Now, in his first solo outing, the Wakandan superhero will be put to the ultimate cinematic test.
Black Panther couldn't have picked a better weekend either, as in that very same year we first saw him in action, Deadpool crushed quite a few February box office records. While initial projections were modestly staked out towards the tune of $120 million, current estimates put director Ryan Coogler's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut closer to a $170 million final result. Not bad for a film that's already $25 million richer after its initial showings, after wowing critics left and right. Our own critic summed up the film in our official review thusly:
Equal parts James Bond and The Lion King, with an awesome dash of Star Wars thrown in for good measure.
Of course, we're not here to merely have you read our thoughts on Black Panther, as we'd love to hear from you about how you felt the film was. Which leads us to the first participation gate of this week's Rate and Discuss - the discussion questions! After seeing the film, please keep the following queries in mind:
Is Killmonger the next, best Marvel Villain ever?Where does Black Panther fit in your Marvel Cinematic Universe rankings?How do you feel about how Ulysses Klaue / Everett Ross fit into the film?Do you support or oppose T'Challa's decision to unveil Wakanda at the end of the film?What do you think is up with Bucky in the second post-credits sequence?What other heroes would you want to see Marvel Studios bring to the big screen, in order to help promote diversity?
Feel free, as per usual, to sound off on those discussion topics in the Comments at the end of this article. But now, it's time to put Black Panther on to the scale and see where it weighs on the classic scale of 0 to 5. With your opinions in mind, please use the poll below to weigh in on how good you think the MCU's latest origin story is, and if you're so inclined, you can share your rating and rationale in your comments.
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Before we leave you to weigh in on Black Panther's content, we've got some recommended reading and viewing for you. Now since this is a Marvel Studios movie, there are obviously some post credits scenes. You can read more details about both scenes, and what they mean for the MCU moving forward. And if you thought you recognized a familiar face in the 1992 sequence in Oakland, yes that was This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown in the prologue, and who he plays is a pretty important figure to the mythos of Black Panther. Last, but not least, we have two videos to share, the first being how co-writer / director Ryan Coogler worked with two key components to the Black Panther universe: the Heart Shaped Herb and Vibranium.
And finally, our own Eric Eisenberg got to sit down with the cast of Black Panther and discuss with them their thoughts on the Wakandan border issue that's brought up at the center of the film's story.
That's all we have for this week's Rate and Discuss column. We'll see you back here next week with the next and latest hot topic film to discuss and evaluate!
