Words can hardly explain how excited I was to be invited to and attend last night’s Black Panther European Premier in London. If you saw the US Premier you saw the stars on the red carpet in extravagant African garments. This event had no red carpet and was more of an intimate and private screening with the Director Ryan Coogler and many of the cast including Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Ulysses Klaue, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and Daniel Kaluuya. The atmosphere was amazing and flooded with people wearing all sorts of African clothing.
As a longtime fan of Marvel, I had really high expectations for this film . Never have we seen this type of budget behind a Black superhero with a predominantly Black cast that is also based in Africa. Needless to say, I was not one bit disappointed in the movie. This is by far one of the best Marvel movies I have ever seen. Black Panther was unapologetically Black and I was there for it! Based on the previews, I already figured that Michael B. Jordan would steal the movie playing the villain Erik Killmonger. My instincts were correct. He was amazing and the best villain since the late Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight. We already knew Chadwick Boseman would be great as he had already debuted as T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War. But a superhero movie must have the balance between a good hero and villain.
I really can’t emphasize just how stellar the casting was. It was Black excellence at the highest level. Shuri played by Letitia Wright was absolutely incredible and could easily have had her own storyline in the Marvel Universe. It was great to see the women represented as strong Black women and not sexualized. Ruth Carter outdid herself with the costumes in the film and if she doesn’t win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design I am boycotting. There cannot be another movie that will challenge the culture, colors and attention to detail of the costumes in this movie.
Some White people whoI have spoken to really don’t get the significance of why I was so excited about this movie other than being a fan of Marvel. How many Black superhero movies do we have? Think about all major studio movies and how many actual Black actors star in these films. I am so excited because we are not portrayed in this way most of the time or we’re told that we can’t hold our own in sales. I had to express to those I spoke with that it means a great deal to me to see the most technologically advanced place in the entire Marvel universe is the African country of Wakanda and the wealthiest person is King T’Challa. The technology displayed in this movie had my inner and outer geek salivating. I wanted to be from Wakanda. In fact, I even renounced my citizenship from Zamunda to Wakanda a few months ago on FaceBook!
This movie represented Black empowerment at the highest levels. Growing up as a kid you didn’t hear the words Black and King used together but T’Challa is truly a Black King. Just as well, this movie is equally as important to Black women as Wonder Woman was to White women. Go support this movie! I will see it 5 times at a minimum. This movie should end all doubt about what Black superheroes can do on the big screen. I even had a few minutes to chat up the Black Eyed Peas before the movie and they were anticipating Black excellence as well.
#Sidenote: Disney NEEDS to create a Wakanda theme park. I would visit it tomorrow!
Here are some pictures from the night:
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