Many of us want to see a Black Panther movie. I know I do!
One of the first story arcs I remember reading as a kid was Jungle Action #6-18. PANTHER'S RAGE. (If anyone here has not read that story......RUN, DON'T WALK, RUN, to try to get those issues and read this story arc. It is truly epic!)
T'Challa is a regal Prince and later, King of the mystical land called Wakanda. T'Challa becomes an Avenger and in one of the first Avengers comics I ever bought (Avengers #115) he saves the day by being able to see in the dark.....long story, but T'challa saves the day. Just go with it.
So here we are staring Phase 2 and 3 of the MCU in the face and Marvel still won't commit to a BP stand alone movie. Why?????
I'm here to tell you why.
If you are not familiar with American history, or even recent event, you might not know that there is racism in America, (Gasp!) and racism involves every race, not just white people hating black people. It goes both ways, people.
There is a racist group you may have heard of that are called the Black Panther Party.
They are no better than the Ku Klux Klan in spewing there venom of hatred against white people, Jews and pretty much anybody who isn't black.
Sounds just like the KKK, doesn't it? THEY ARE!
Racism does not just mean white against black. Racism is not "reverse racism" if black people hate white people. Racism is Racism.
Now we all know our beloved T'challa, the Black Panther is a Marvel Comics superhero and has nothing to do with all that bothersome "real world" stuff, how would the general audience perceive a movie called the "Black Panther"?
Sure, you and I would be in the know and tell people that it has nothing to do with a political hate group, the Black Panther is a superhero! But to the average joe on the street who has no clue would think this is some kind of movie glorifying this group, not a superhero flick.
If you think I'm wrong, have any of you ever seen a title to a movie and thought it was about something and it turned out to be something totally different? I'm thinking about a movie called "The Avengers" which had nothing to do with the superheroes and had two British investigators called "Mrs. Peel" and some other guy. THAT'S NOT THE AVENGERS I THOUGHT IT WAS! You see my point here?
The general audience will see a title like "Black Panther" and won't have a clue about T'Challa and the Panther mythos, instead they might think it's about the racist group and go see Smurfs 3 instead. Well, you get the idea. "Black Panther" the name, the title could be a hard sell for a general audience that is still made up primarily of a majority of non-black people.
This editorial was not meant in any way to offend anyone. I'm merely pointing out why I feel Disney/Marvel are reluctant to put out a movie called "Black Panther". As I stated in my opening, I hope to see it come to fruition, but it is a thorny issue that I'm thinking, IMHO, that Marvel doesn't want to be involved with at this point.
Thanks for reading and understanding. Thoughts? I'm sure all of you will have an opinion on this.
Peace.