Damn, damn, damn! Quoting the great Florida Evans in case anyone wants to label me misogynist!?!
Totally sympathize with Gessela! Never expected such a stinging betrayal from Marvel, but I suppose it was foolish of me to invest so much hope and time and money into something I have absolutely no control over, something I can’t influence in any way? I think back to “Stan’s Soapbox” and wonder if even in those simpler times it was all just a mirage? I actually had given up comics for a while, finished undergrad, got married, had a kid, worked 3 sometimes 4 jobs when Quesada’s Marvel Knights caught my attention and Christopher Preist turned me completely around with “The Client!” I was out and they pulled me back in! It was a glorious time with Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko kicking ass in space and T’Challa taking names here on Earth my head was firmly somewhere in between.
As is the way with all things Sisko’s adventures ended and CJP moved on, but in Marvel at least I’ve been clinging to the hope that another inspired artist/creator would expound upon the T’Challa I’d come to admire and create more adventures I’d look forward to consuming. A decade or more of frustrating ups and downs was met with the promise of the MCU and the real possibility of seeing T’Challa on the silver screen. Assuredly we’d get the best version for “BP the Movie” likely to the chagrin of many a fanboy who couldn’t abide by an Uber competent, powerful and genius, A-list, super Black Panther, moved to the front of the Avengers class photo and helming his own celluloid franchise.
The gift of Chadwick Boseman was too good to be true and Marvel seemed to surround him with a near perfect compliment of talents. The creative team recognized the genius of CJP’s Panther and employed a heavy dose for the character’s mix, the excitement was palpable. Nation building concessions, Shuri, MBJ an elevated Ross aside, the future looked bright until the star burned out and Chadwick passed on. With his passing, the only barrier between the T’Challa centered Wakanda I loved and the revisionist, newly “Coated,” progressive Wakanda, surpassing years of tried and true Black Panther content, was gone. What was to come, anyone’s guess?
The overly sentimental, self-serving, audience dismissive and bone-headed decision to kill off T’Challa, a third death in four MCU appearances, perhaps was one that should have been expected given Marvel’s editorial disregard for their groundbreaking, iconic character and testament to diversity in a medium grossly lacking appropriate representation. The ease at which they have committed to assassinating their most tactically brilliant, wealthiest, scientifically ingenious, martially dangerous and sovereign Black superhero, the first in mainstream comics, with hardly any of his stories told, should be universally alarming. But Marvel maintains the guise of tribute and respect as if eliminating powerful Black male icons wasn’t part of an age old global agenda.
I’m with Gessela! And I will not support BP2WF despite my regard for Queen Bassett, Danai, Lupita and Duke. Marvel doesn’t give a sh*t about what I think or want and their perverse take on “the show must go on,” reliving the trauma of Chadwick’s death through T’Challa instead of sharing the same settings, costumes and action with a new talent vetted to honor he who came before, makes absolutely no sense other than in the context of the replacement of positive Black male icons who cow tow to no one and inspire generations. I’m out, again.
No peace,
Mont
Really like how you described it, "Coated". I might steal that one. I'm torn about whether I will go see this movie. I've seen all manner of stinkers over the years, comic book based or not, and the curiosity might get to me, if not any enthusiasm. I bought my Recast shirt a while ago to wear when I saw it.
I don't begrudge anyone who steps away. I think that is a healthy move, even though some will get mad either way, if you express reservations or dislike you're toxic and they tell you to go away, but if you do go away, then they blame you if the movie underperforms or fails, like how I think some were trying to do with Birds of Prey, despite the opening weekend box office demographics which had more males looking at that film than females. I saw Birds of Prey in the theater. For the record, I don't think Wakanda Forever will flop. If Marvel found a way to power Captain Marvel to a billion, no way Wakanda Forever flops. Coogler is too good a director for that to happen, and the cast is too good. The curiosity over what will happen with T'Challa, the tribute for Chadwick Boseman, and interest in Shuri and Namor, will make this film a hit. Though I suspect the concern for Marvel will be if the box office will be very front-loaded. Like people will rush out to see it opening weekend, but then there's a steep drop off, and there's not as much repeat business. To stave that off I think we are going to get hit with a massive marketing wave and there will be a lot of think pieces and social media directed toward getting people in the theaters again and again and thinking-and darn sure not saying-anything but positive about this movie. This will become akin to a racial loyalty test. And another way to prove our love of black women.
I have little doubt that more males will also be in the audience for Wakanda Forever, including in the black community/communities, and what will be sad is to see so many black folks cheer on the diminution and erasure of strong black males. It's become normal to us and any change is perceived as threatening to 'reality' or our version of it and must come from an evil place.
Right now, I don't see Wakanda Forever matching or exceeding the box office from the first film. I could see it getting close to a billion but might stall out like Dr. Strange 2 did or stumble like Love & Thunder is doing (for the record I thought Love & Thunder would do better than Strange 2, so I'm no genius here when it comes to what audiences like). Other things I'm thinking about is how will Black Adam do? As it stands, the only black male-led superhero film from a major studio this year is now Black Adam and that film will be out a couple weeks or so before Wakanda Forever. It might steal Wakanda Forever's thunder or be more of a legit competitor than I would've thought.
My hope is that in time that after the tears have dried that people will look more soberly at what was done, or not done, with Wakanda Forever and look at it through a less rose-colored lens. Same goes for the first Black Panther movie as well, which I never %100 co-signed. It happened with the Star Wars sequels, especially The Force Awakens and even the Hollywood media isn't going as hard bodied as it once did for The Last Jedi, though they aren't willing to admit yet how much that film hurt the franchise.
The MCU is on shakier legs today than in 2018, and who is to say what changes will happen in the coming years or if the MCU will even exist by the end of this decade. I never buy the idea that we should wait. I recall Matthew Vaughn and internet backers using that argument when it was brought up about how the Civil Rights movement was ignored in X-Men: First Class (despite the inspiration the movement had on the X-Men comic and the inclusion of one black actor and one multiracial actress in the film). We didn't see any mention of it later, and we didn't get any new/different black/multiracial characters to really make up for what happened to Darwin or Angel (not counting Storm). If they don't do it now, if they don't put it in the first film when they have a chance to, I'm very doubtful, if not distrustful, we will see it in a sequel. So I don't know if there will be a recast if there's not a surprise one in Wakanda Forever (and there might be). Or that we will see a Black Panther remake in the future with a new T'Challa.
Look how long they are dragging their feet with Blade, despite having an Academy Award winning actor as the star. What I suspect will happen with Ali's Blade though is that his character will take a backseat to Blade's daughter, Bloodline, who is about to be introduced in the comics. Blade will be used to put this character on. It also doesn't give me much encouragement that they tied Blade to Eternals, perhaps the least popular MCU film yet (I personally didn't think it was bad as others claimed, but I digress). So he's already starting out in a hole.
