There have been dark superheroes in the past, but generally speaking the brooding, swashbuckling, super-strong, super intelligent, super talented super-human saviour Earth’s black population -facing the peril of world domination by an evil megalomaniac crime lord – would have to rely on, didn’t look much like them.
The creators of early comics and, latterly, comic-based movies have never been ones to allow the fact that black people actually occupy the pinnacle of prowess in many athletic and pugilistic disciplines get in the way of the notion that they will ultimately only survive when a white head peeps over the parapet. Indeed, in comic-strip movie lore even females will rise up before the first Negro pops up to save the day.
Well that Supernegro is nigh and goes by the name of the not entirely unpredictable Black Panther, as Hollywood has deemed that the next Marvel superhero’s darkness will also be skin deep.
Chadwick Boseman, best known for playing Jackie Robinson in the biopic 42 and godfather of soul and funk James Brown in Get On Up, has signed a deal with Marvel Studios to play the first ever live-action version of the Wakandan hero T’Challa (aka Black Panther).
The character will be making his debut in Captain America: Civil War – appearing alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man and Chris Evans as Captain America. Then in 2017 comes the inevitable sequel, which will see Boseman’s Black Panther in his ‘own’ film.
Boseman’s deal is for five movies, so, depending on how his character is received, we can probably also expect a Black Panther 2 towards the end of the decade.
