By: Johnny Wellens
Chadwick Boseman’s portrayal of T’Challa aka Black Panther was a highlight of Captain America: Civil War. It was a great introduction for the character’s previously announced solo film. Now Marvel has seen fit to start shoveling some coal on the Black Panther hype train by dropping a surprise poster and teaser trailer this weekend. I got a chance to check out the trailer, then I checked it out again, then one more time for good measure...then about 17 more times. So what did I think about it?
It was awesome! The highlight of the trailer, for me, is Wakanda which is gorgeous and vibrant. This may be the most beautiful location in the Marvel Universe. The lush forests and spectacular waterfalls meshed wonderfully with the high-tech buildings. Equally measuring the beauty of the landscapes are the people. Wakanda is home to several tribes/cults each with their own God or Goddess of Wakanda that serves as each group’s deity. We got good looks at each of the different cults represented by different clothing, hair and primary colors.
Wakanda is the most technologically advanced country in this world and this trailer shows it. We get a look at Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, who is the leading scientist of Wakanda. She developed a lot of Wakanda’s technology including weapons, transports and computers. One of the best shots in the film is at the end with Black Panther flipping off a crashing car. I noticed a shock wave from the car before it flipped so my guess is that the Panther suit either has a few upgrades since Civil War or has abilities that we just haven’t gotten to witness yet.
I loved the trailer giving us those snippets of Black Panther taking down that militia in the jungle. I enjoyed getting peeks at all of the different characters we’ll be seeing such as Erik Killmonger, Man-Ape, Shuri, Zuri, Nakia and Ramonda. This film is jam packed with talent and seeing each of these characters has me hyped! I may be more excited for the supporting cast than I am seeing Chadwick Boseman reprise his role.
Overall this trailer was a lot of fun and I haven’t stopped watching it since it dropped. I watched it 3 more times while writing this! The hype for Black Panther is real this trailer reaffirms it’s 2nd place spot on my top 5 most anticipated movies of next year!