On Feb. 13, 2018, a new superhero movie was added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): “Black Panther.” The “Black Panther” comic started in 1966 by Stan Lee and was noticed as the first African hero in the Marvel comics. “Black Panther” follows T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, as he replaces his father’s role as king of Wakanda, a hidden utopia in Africa. King T’Challa assumes that nobody will challenge his throne and he will be as good of a king as his father once was. Further into the movie, T’Challa soon realizes that the old traditions are not right, his father’s legacy was not completely true, and being king is harder than he expected.

The amount of hype surrounding “Black Panther” was incredible, as fans were fanboying the trailers and expressing their thoughts on it all on social media. As expected, this Marvel production added another outstanding movie to the MCU.

Marvel superhero movies are typically based off of fighting the bad guys, getting in a car chase, and showcasing all the superpowers or technology. Although “Black Panther” did have these well-produced features in the movie, there was also spectacular character development for a few important roles. The opening scene starts with King T’Challa watching a news report on his deceased father, the old king of Wakanda previously murdered in “Captain America: Civil War” by an explosion. Throughout the movie, the typical audience member could point out how intelligent and wise King T’Challa is for being a rich character in the Marvel Universe. Also, the movie itself really built on his character and created difficult moral decisions that T’Challa had to battle through. Throughout his story, he is constantly learning about what kind of king he is and how to be a good king.

Not only is T’Challa a lovable, well-developed character, but the villain, Erik Killmonger played by Michael B. Jordan, was also well established and relatable. Killmonger believed Wakanda should not be hiding in the shadows. Growing up alone on the streets, his solution was to change the world and help the oppressed rise up to power using Wakandan technology and the unlimited supply of vibranium. Although the majority of the audience cannot relate to Killmonger’s homicidal tendencies, they can relate to being an outcast. Killmonger was raised as an outcast by the Wakandan people, thus he craved to be the king and change everything about the empire.

Although “Black Panther” was an overall spectacular story, as with every other movie there were a few flaws that were left behind. The Computer-Generated Images (CGI) was well done in this movie, there were a couple scenes in Wakanda on the cliffside at the beginning of the movie that looked unfinished. It seemed as though there were characters that were just copied and pasted onto the screen over and over again. Since this scene was small and the CGI did not have as much as an important role there, the rest of the movie had outstanding CGI work. For example, the costumes themselves were spot on as well as the different animals, such as the rhinos, and certain scenes.
Once again, Marvel added another spectacular movie and character to their MCU lineup. Between the character development and the storyline itself, the majority of Marvel fans seemed to enjoy this movie. Scoring a 98% by Rotten Tomatoes, “Black Panther” definitely is money worth spending on. Black Panther will also be in the upcoming highly anticipated movie, “Avengers: Infinity Wars.”