After years of speculation and numerous Black actors of note that were purportedly attached to an
unconfirmed Black Panther film, Marvel Entertainment finally ponied up with some very definitive answers. Actor, Chad Boseman of 42 and Get On Up fame, has been tapped to portray the King of Wakanda with a tentative release date of November 3rd, 2017. This film, in the geek community, has essentially been the African elephant in the room as it pertains to a dynamic Black character within the Marvel mythos that had not yet received the silver screen treatment. And you honestly thought that the Guardians of the Galaxy film would be the property that would test Marvel's hit making prowess? Nope...let's see if Marvel can make a Black...oops, African themed film that will produce big national and international box office. And will a Black director be chosen to helm this film (or at the very least a duet employing the stewardship abilities of Quentin Tarantino and Reginald Hudlin, a la Django-an Afronerd recommendation)? Team Django was able to make close to a half a billion dollars with a film about slavery and a Black protagonist who killed White folks with equal aplomb. Certainly, a film about a monied, sophisticated and super powered African king should be a walk in the park. At the very least, the folks at Afronerd are overjoyed! BUT IT BETTER BE EXCELLENT. Nuff said!
For more info, check out this article, courtesy of friends at Shadow and Act:
Apparently, Marvel is currently hosting some *secret* press conference, as I type this. I learned this because my Twitter feed just exploded with posts from people who are attending the conference, with news of project announcements that the studio is making.
You'll recall, a few weeks ago, they revealed a slate of about 11 or so upcoming feature films based on characters from the Marvel universe, that will be released between 2015 and 2020. The announcement didn't come with what characters would be getting their own movies - just dates for what were, at the time, "untitled" projects.
Of course speculation began as to what each of those "untitled" projects would be, with Black Panther's name at the top of that list (specifically on this blog).
We can now confirm, based on reports from the press conference, that a Black Panther movie finally has an official release date, set for November 3, 2017! So, you've got almost exactly 3 years to wait for it. But that's not all...
Confirming what we already had been speculating for months, Chadwick Boseman has been cast to play Black Panther!
So the speculation can officially come to an end now.
Rumors that the busy Boseman was Marvel's top choice to play the character have been circulating for months now. Marvel never did confirm those rumors (until today). It certainly didn't reject them either. And neither did Boseman, who had been quite coy whenever asked about the possibility, which only helped fuel the rumors.
Talk of a potential Black Panther introduction in next year's 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' don't seem so impossible now.
Of course, fans of the superhero will know that he and Storm of the X-Men have a history together, so I can only assume that speculation will soon begin on whether she'll make an appearance in the Black Panther movie, even if it's just a cameo, and what actress will be cast to play her. Although 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the character, not Disney, so I'm not sure how that would be worked out, if it were indeed to happen.
Black Panther concept art, also revealed this afternoon, at the bottom of this post.
Today's project press announcements include:
• Captain America 3: Civil War on May 6th, 2016
• Doctor Strange on November 4th, 2016
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on May 5th, 2017
• Thor 3: Ragnarok on July 28th, 2017
• Black Panther on November 3rd, 2017
• Captain Marvel on July 6th, 2018
• Inhumans on November 2nd, 2018
• Avengers: Infinity War Part One in May 2018
• Avengers: Infinity War Part Two in May 2019
Check out the Black Panther concept art that was also released at the press conference today:
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