On paper, T’Challa and Diana Prince aren’t so different.
Both waited for what felt like an eternity for their respective big-screen debut, while each titular character also hails from a fictional paradise – Black Panther has his roots in Wakanda, while Diana’s sun-kissed origin story can be traced all the way back to Theymsicra, home of the Amazons.
And while each feature film has made history in its own right, we’re now learning that at $897 million worldwide, Black Panther has officially outstripped Wonder Woman ($821 million) to become the most successful franchise debut in superhero history.
That’s right, no other comic book movie series has earned as much in its first outing as Black Panther, while this past weekend also signaled the moment when Ryan Coogler’s Afrocentric masterstroke blew past Thor: Ragnarok ($853.7 million), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($863.8 million), and Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880.2 million) on the MCU charts.
The takeaway? Black Panther is on the verge of box office history, as a domestic haul of $451 million (and counting!) is enough to catapult the Marvel epic ahead of The Dark Knight Rises ($448 million). All that’s left now is Age of Ultron ($458M). And after that? Well, there’s still The Dark Knight ($534M) and, of course, The Avengers at $623 million.
Mind you, chances are Black Panther will fall just short of The Avengers to become the second highest-grossing superhero movie in North America, well, ever (unadjusted for inflation). It’s still enough to place T’Challa’s solo movie on course for $1 billion worldwide though, and we’ll be bringing you all the latest figures and box office forecasts as BP nears the end of its theatrical run. And what a theatrical run it’s been.
