Aside from Blade, Black Panther will be the first major superhero movie to feature a black lead, while the action being based in Africa (even if it is a fictional nation) is obviously also a major departure from what fans are used to seeing. The significance of that isn't lost on star Danai Gurira - who plays Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje - as she explained in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight.
"I grew up seeing a lot of superheroes and they didn’t look like me and they certainly weren’t in Africa," The Walking Dead star explained to the site. "I think that it is something great for girls who are like me growing up. Growing up in Africa, we were looking for images we couldn’t always find."
Gurira went on to explain why maintaining strong images like that is so important. "I want to see stories coming from the black female perspective. We’re at a far better moment than we were at in the past, but there’s a lot of work to be done." It will be interesting to see what sort of statement Black Panther ends up making in this respect when it reaches theaters a couple of years from now.