While Black Panther’s world of Wakanda as well as his enemy Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) were introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Birth.Movies.Death. talked to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige about how T’Challa himself, as played by Chadwick Boseman, will emerge onscreen in next year’s Captain America: Civil War.
“It is a role that he is still in the beginning phases of taking on, it’s a mantle he is only beginning to take on because his father is older,” says Feige of the transfer of the traditional Black Panther role from T’Challa’s father T’Chaka. “The reason we introduced him in ‘Civil War’ is because we needed a third party. We needed fresh eyes who wasn’t embedded with the Avengers and who has a very different point of view than either Tony or Steve. We said, ‘We need somebody like Black Panther… why don’t we just use Black Panther?’ That’s how it went in the development process.”
Although technologically far advanced, Wakandans have up until this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe kept to themselves, and they have also kept their most prized resource vibranium out of reach until a certain homicidal cyborg named Ultron took things into his own hands. Turns out, the Earth-shattering events in Sokovia during the Age of Ultron finale will play a pivotal role in Black Panther taking his place on the world stage.
Feige adds: “Today, pre-‘Civil War,’ post-‘Ultron’ I think he and his father are saying, ‘A bunch of vibranium just got out of here and wreaked a lot of havoc. Maybe we can’t stay behind these borders anymore, maybe we have to stick our heads out and make at least an attempt to be a part of the rest of the world right now, while at the same time protecting our people.’ That’s sort of where we meet him in ‘Civil War.'”
Captain America: Civil War will open in theaters on May 6, 2016 while the Black Panther solo film is set to bow on July 6, 2018.
