So what's wrong with the Black Panther?

[Sage]

After the announcement that Guardians of the Galaxy will be adapted into a major motion picture, a lot of people seemed to be upset that a Black Panther film wasn't announced.

While most of them seemed to complain that Disney is racist and doesn't want to make a Black Panther film (I disagree), I can't help but ask myself ... well what's so great about the Black Panther?

Cool name. Check.
Cool costume. Check. (the original)
Cool origin. Not really.
Cool rogues gallery. Hell no.

Is there enough quality material for there to be a successful Black Panther film? Does it really matter?

Blade was a horrible comic-book property but they somehow managed to make a killer movie (with 2 terrible sequels) out of it, so how come they can't do the same for BP?

What do you think is wrong with the Black Panther and how would you fix it?

If it's a problem that you feel needs to be addressed with a brand new vision for the character (lets assume we all agree that should be done in comics form first) then what creative team do you feel can pull it off?

[CHWolf]

Problem:

Execs being racist? PROBABLY not... However, they may believe "audiences won't see a movie about an African super-hero." Which is more like them assuming WE'RE racist.

By which I actually mean African, as in shooting in Africa, as in "Why are they making a spandex action movie when people are dying in the conflicts they're spoofing?"

They could fix this by making Black Panther American, but we all know where Hollywood will end up with this. He lives in a city. Hey, why not the inner-city. Hey, what if like most modern youth, he-

Stop right there. No good can come of this.

At some point, some executive is GOING to ask someone, "Well, HOW African does it have to be?"



Problem:

"Black Panther" the title. Plenty of folks will associate (and HAVE associated) it with the Black Panthers, and then with Black Power.

Radio talk show windbags will fume.

Obama will be asked what he thinks.

The nation's sensible people will put their faces in their palms and softly whisper: "Why does the media always do this?"

As a fix, I'd play up the fact his name isn't plaural. "Rise of the Black Panther", if you will.



Problem:

Let's face it. He's about as well-known as Namor or Ant-Man... and it shows. The movies for these respective characters have been 'in the works', languished, they've been cast and recast, written and rewritten, cancelled and cancelled again.

That's the biggest hurdle, simple recognition of the character.




"Blade" was ass-easy to port into a film franchise because he's a vampire hunter, and that's it. He's not "a black vampire hunter" any more than Captain America is just "a white soldier".

For better or worse, and I think better, Black Panther is "an African super-hero" because for decades he's been sold as Africa's greatest hero, and either we get Africa or we're not really getting a Black Panther film.

That's what I think scares execs/creators the most.


Yes, I know Black Panther has probably appeared in the comics fighting on U.S. soil more than we've ever seen him on the other continent... but really my point still stands. Unless he's an American who "suddenly discovers" he's a long-lost heir to the throne, execs are going to be squirmy.



To be fair to the suits, how many successful super-hero movies have been about heroes from other countries? Europe, Asia, anywhere.

[Sage]

Yea setting the entire story in Africa is a problem. Most Americans would naturally want a setting they're more familiar with, which is understandable.

This is the point where many Black Panther fans would say "well no one lives in Hogwarts yet everyone loves Harry Potter!" Um ... yea the Black Panther is NOT Harry Potter, hell nothing in comics is 'that' popular!

The fact is everything comes back to his restrictive origin story. The Black Panther is clearly based on the Phantom, a legacy hero that takes up the mantle of his forefathers. The problem with that is it pretty much anchors him to Wakanda. He is the ruler of an entire nation, what could possibly be a strong enough motive to lurer him away from his duties (to fight crime in tights) that won't turn off a movie audience?



The Phantom had a film made about him once, you all remember what happened?



What's the tagline going to be for the Black Panther?

Scratch Evil!

[CHWolf]

Black Panther should be played by Zach Galifianakis. He's an average Joe living an average life in a major US city. He works for some boring company in a menial job. Then he decides to sign up with Ancestry.com - He's actually 1/16th African! Not only that, but when certain people get wind of his identity, he's wisked away to Wakanda where it's revealed he's the heir to the throne, and along with it the persona of Black Panther! Now he finds out that the "boring company" he worked for is actually exploiting the Wakandan people. He comes back to the US with his new identity and new fighting skills to take the corrupt CEO down!

Tag line: This Summer, take a Wakanda wild side!




...There.

Now if anyone does anything like that, I can sue the shit out of them and stop it.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by CHWolf

Now if anyone does anything like that, I can sue the shit out of them and stop it.

Oh if only someone had done that for the Catwoman film ... evil cosmetics company??? REALLY?!!!?

[Troy Wall]

If you do Black Panther, do you have Wakanda as it is portrayed in the comics? The most technologically advanced civilization on Earth where the citizens still dress in loin cloth and seem to adhere to tribal rituals/traditions? It's silly in the comics and it would be way sillier on screen.

BP is damn near impossible to put on the silver screen.

[Troy Wall]

The only way I can even think to do it would be to have BP set in real world Africa with the villain as someone like that world famous child soldier recruiter that everyone was all up in arms about earlier this year.

[CHWolf]

Nolan could do it.

[Lord Fejj]

Change his name to the Panther, and have him kick the Fantastic Four's butt like Kirby did it! Them make him an Avenger...

[kamikaze]

chwolf has a point. he's not a well-known character and really he should be used as a support character first and see what the response is before even thinking about his own movie and this from someone who liked his latest story he was in.

[CHWolf]

Originally Posted by CHWolf

Nolan could do it.

Scratch that. I could do it.


T'Challa is the son of the ruling King of Wakanda, but he's studied abroad - Europe and the states, primarily. As royals tend to do, he even joined the Wakandan military and excelled to the point of being recognized and brought in by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Then, his father passes away. No, his father is killed. Murdered by T'Challa's half-brother Jakarra. See, Jakarra has risen to General within the ranks of the Wakandan army, but he's never lived up to T'Challa's mythos. Jakarra uses all the questionable battle tactics we so love to hate.

Jakarra is a shit-head.

Why is Jakarra doing all of this now? Well, an industrialized high-tech suit, a rip-off of Stark technology, was about to be introduced into the mining operations in Wakanda when Jakarra blew the heads of the corporate shits there to witness it and made off with the gear. This suit (picture Whiplash's first phase in IM2 meets the loader from Alien) emits focused vibrational blasts to demolish solid rock. (This gives our villain the powers of his comic book self WITHOUT the mutation into a purple hulk.)

This is no longer a low-level thug - he's yet another Iron-Man-Suited maniac with dilusions of ruling the entire continent of Africa. Bringing an end to war by simply forcing all military forces into his one personal deathsquad.

So T'Challa and S.H.I.E.L.D. wreck this guy's shit, right? Well, no. See, the higher-ups at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters aren't particularly interested in Wakandan in-fighting and the coup in general. This organization needs to keep the world from being ass-grabbed by fucking Thanos.

So T'Challa slips away from S.H.I.E.L.D. Vanishes from their radar. Covers his tracks so well that the world's most elite agency has no goddamn clue which way he went and when exactly he left.

On his own, he returns to his homeland, gets himself geared up for what he has to do by himself. Builds himself up to destroy Jakarra and free Wakanda from the new Dictator. He dons a (highly authentic, please) black panther-themed outfit augmented by his already black S.H.I.E.L.D.-issue gear and becomes a wraith that moves undetected until it's time to strike.

...

What, do I have to write the whole thing for you?

[thejaz180]

Originally Posted by CHWolf

Black Panther is "an African super-hero" because for decades he's been sold as Africa's greatest hero, and either we get Africa or we're not really getting a Black Panther film. That's what I think scares execs/creators the most.

You could be on to something with this, but either way at the end of the day because this “character” has his audience, if a film about him is not put out there will always be a problem, truthfully. Regardless of him not being as popular as Captain America or believable on the big screens like Blade, there will always be a problem if a film about him is not put out, or if he’s not marketed well. Black Panther is a character I’m sure that’s already known… oh wait he is known.

So anyway, this is what I gotta say about it, just put the film out. Seriously who cares, if it fails it fails. In my opinion DC put out better movies than Marvel anyway, it’s only now that I’m starting to see a few good movies from Marvel. Marvel should find people who can stick to the script and do the best that they can, when it comes to the Black Panther. If most people are not willing to see a character like Black Panther on the big screen then seriously so what, the majority of the people who like Black Panther will. I’m saying, you still got people buying Black Panther comics, still watching those Black Panther cartoons and probably buying Black Panther merchandises, if these same Black Panther fans are buying this stuff, then these people will see the movie and if it sucks it sucks, but let them at least see a Black Panther movie put out so that they can at least say it sucks.

Are they still planning on coming out with that Cage movie with Tyrese?

The Black Panther film could be done, with the way comics have been changed to fit the big screen why not? This is 2012 why is this even an issue? (Don’t answer this question it wasn’t meant to be answered.)

[Buckyrig]

Originally Posted by CHWolf

Problem:

"Black Panther" the title. Plenty of folks will associate (and HAVE associated) it with the Black Panthers, and then with Black Power.

Should we tell them there's been a Black Panther in all the Avengers related movies?

[Phatman]

Reason? He looks too much like Batman.

Next.

[Kors]

Originally Posted by thejaz180

In my opinion DC put out better movies than Marvel anyway, it’s only now that I’m starting to see a few good movies from Marvel. )

Really? I'd say they're both more or less capable of good or shitty flicks...if you go by numbers Marvel seems to have better films quantity-wise.
Other than Batman movies (and only 2 or 3 out of the whole slew,and the original superman films)...everything else has really lacked DC wise.

I wouldnt think a black Panther movie would do very well...no better than a hawkeye, wasp, or vision movie...I dont think a guardians of the galaxy film is gonna do very well....big budget films should feature the A-listers...the big guns that non comic fans recognize as much as comic fans. That makes them universal...Batman, superman, xmen, spiderman, Thor, Cap america, Iron man...those are iconic...look at what's happened to some of the lesser A-listers...I'd even go so far as to say B-listers....Ghost Rider...Daredevil ect....they didnt do that well...Blade was probably an exception...but ...Vampires....its like shoot fish in a barrel.

We think like comic fans so we'd love to see some of our lesser heroes have their day on the silver screen.
Why not give Gambit his own movie? Or Cable ect...

Movie execs see the big picture as slimy and lame as they are they can say: Well, a fraction of the population would enjoy a black panther movie...but non comic book readers would be completely lost and uninterested.