Originally posted 2/27/20
It's been a long time coming but Black comic book characters are finally beginning to get their due. And it's mostly thanks to Hollywood. Both Marvel Studios and DC Films have exposed millions of moviegoers to the exploits of some of the greatest heroes and villains with clear African ancestry that the pages of comics have to offer. While Spawn, Johnathan Stewart and Storm have yet to be given the live-action showcases that they deserve, some of the other memorable Black characters have made quite an impression on film fans.
10. The Snyder Cut
After most of his scenes were were shamefully cut out of the theatrical release of Justice League, football star-turned-hero Victor Stone finally got his due in director Zack Snyder's original vision of the movie, which was released exclusively to HBO Max three-and-a-half years later. The two versions are world's apart as Victor's portrayal goes from a glorified cameo to the heart of the story. Following a harrowing car accident which proved fatal to his mother, Vic was enhanced with cybernetic parts when his father, Silas Stone, used an Apokoliptan mother box on his disfigured son in a desperate attempt to save his life.
9. Blade
Eric Brooks' human/vampire hybrid ancestry gives "the Daywalker" an enormous advantage over his blood-sucking cousins. He's vowed to stalk both the night and the other half of the day in order to rid the world of nosferatu for good.
8. The Suicide Squad
Robert "Bloodsport" DuBois is a British assassin whose career exploits finally catch up to him, landing the seasoned killer in federal prison. After turning the offer down several times he's eventually coerced into joining black ops team Task Force X when his estranged young daughter's life is used as a bargaining chip. DuBois uses his expert marksmanship and leadership skills to accomplish the mission, adding to his considerable body-count. But afterwards he defies orders to save a Latin American island nation from an alien invasion and protects his squad member, Cleo "Ratcatcher 2" Cazo, along the way (he saves her life three times), proving that even villains can be heroic.
7. Suicide Squad
6. The Age of Ultron
Both Sam Wilson and Rhodey show up in The Age of Ultron, but it's War Machine who joins the fight against the murderous A.I. in Sokovia.
5. The Winter Soldier
The man who Steve "Captain America" Rogers trusts most in the world is fellow military vet Sam Wilson, whose pararescueman training and experimental wings allow him to take the battle from land to air in the battle against a woefully corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D.
4. Infinity War
3. Civil War
While Captain America's trilogy-capper featured a monumental ideological clash between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, it also provided the Black Panther with an epic live-action debut. Though he would lead his own history-making film later, the king of Wakanda joined Tony Stark's hunt to bring the Winter Soldier to justice alongside another Black superhero -- War Machine. And opposite yet another -- Sam "Falcon" Wilson.
2. Batman v. Superman: The Ultimate Edition
While his appearance consisted of little more than a short clip of video taken in his father's lab, Victor "Cyborg" Stone nonetheless made a brief cameo in the only movie to feature Kal-El and the Batman going mano a mano.
1. Black Panther
Infinity War was the biggest money-maker of 2018. But unlike Infinity War, the second-biggest earner of the year, Black Panther, wasn't just a movie -- it was an event. And a cultural touchstone. And a watershed moment for big-budget filmmaking. It's no fluke that it's the only comic book film to nab a Best Picture nomination (And it actually went home with three statuettes!).
Black Panther, even more than The Dark Knight, elevates the comic book movie to a genre that's capable of actually saying something. The film's complex social commentary far exceeds any other installment in the wildly successful MCU while still managing to become the third highest-grossing movie of all time in North America (fourth ever since Endgame strong-armed the movie business in 2019) and rack up $1.34 billion at the global box office.
T'Challa, who protects his people under the guise of the legendary Black Panther, finally returns home to the seemingly third-world African nation Wakanda as the heir apparent following the death of his father, King T'Chaka, in Civil War.
Meanwhile, T'Challa's American-born cousin, Erik Stevens, is on a collision course with the new monarch, steadily inching his way to his ancestral home with single-minded determination. After becoming a Navy SEAL and graduating from MIT, Stevens honed his skills as a warrior in Afghanistan and other hot spots around the globe, picking up the nickname "Killmonger" (a reference to his considerable body count) along the way. His military career also includes black-ops missions in which he helped to destabilize governments.
With assistance from black market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (first seen in The Age of Ultron) and Tilda Johnson, Stevens uses his skills to steal (or liberate) two Wakanda artifacts from a London museum. One of the items, a weapon, is revealed to be made of vibranium - the same Wakandan material that comprises Black Panther's suit and Captain America's shield.
After murdering both of his accomplices, Stevens makes his way to Wakanda, where he reveals his native name (N'Jadaka) and the fact that he's of royal blood (as the son of King T'Chaka's brother) and thereby eligible to challenge T'Challa's claim to the throne. Following his defeat of T'Challa in ritual combat, N'Jadaka does indeed assume the Wakandan throne and announces his intention to distribute the country's advanced technology and weaponry (based mainly on vibranium) to the African diaspora across the globe so that the world's Black population can rise up against white regimes. T'Challa, beaten to within an inch of his life and presumed dead, and his loyal supporters initiate a Wakandan civil war in order to stop the new king from inciting an international race war.
The central conflict in Black Panther stems from the ideological differences between T'Challa and Stevens. The former is a staunch isolationist who continues Wakanda's previous rulers' policy of disguising the advanced nation as a third-world country, in part so as not to share their priceless reserves of vibranium that not only powers Wakandan technology but also bestows enhanced abilities upon the Black Panther. Stevens, on the other hand, not only wants to reveal Wakanda's true nature, his lifelong dream has been to expand the kingdom into an empire that dominates the rest of the world as insurance against the subjugation of Black people. T'Challa also acts as a stand-in for Black Africans while Stevens represents African-Americans, whom he views as being abandoned, historically, by the former.
Fittingly for a story about Native Africans, the cast is almost entirely comprised of Black actors.
Black Panther marks the third collaboration (all critical and commercial smashes) between writer/director Ryan Coogler and co-star Michael B. Jordan, placing them among the ranks of legendary cinematic teams such as Martin Scorcese/Robert DeNiro, Spike Lee/Denzel Washington and Tim Burton/Johnny Depp. And with his scene-stealing turn in BP, Jordan proves that he's just as adept at portraying villains as he is heroes.
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