How Black Panther Continues To Deconstruct The Superhero Genre

The Shocking Secrets Uncovered By Our Superheroes

Thor: Ragnarok is assuredly one of Marvel’s wackiest and wittiest films. But like T’Challa in Black Panther, Ragnarok sees Thor, another royal family member, being forced to confront dark truths about his realm’s past.

Whilst Wakanda’s darkness comes from its avoidance of colonization, and the preservation of their culture, Asgard is the antithesis of this. Asgard’s warmongering was only hinted at in previous films, but thanks to Hela, we discover the full extent of their savagery. The Realm Eternal enforced its bloodthirsty rule upon the cosmos and looted those whom it conquered. Then, when Odin had a change of heart, he re-branded Asgard as a benevolent institution. Moreover, he quite literally, in the case of that mural – painted over the truth. As it is with T’Chaka, Odin wasn’t always the kindly king that he’s been shown to be.

This preoccupation with re-addressing our fondness for the past isn’t bound to empires, either. We only need to look at the relationship between Star-Lord and Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to see this played out in a different form.

Though Peter Quill is not without his mommy issues, the Guardians series sees him try to be a certain type of “ideal” man. Prior to the last decade, the ideal kind of masculinity would probably align with the stereotype of the 1970s-80’s action hero. He’d be a hunky maverick. The kind of man who hooks up with a series of women, enforcing morality as they see fit, and causing mayhem as they please. Quill supposes – and hopes – that his father was this sort of dashing figure.

In Vol.2, he discovers that Ego embodies all of those traits – he’s portrayed by action icon Kurt Russell, no less. But Ego’s rugged and reassuring avatar is hollow, and belies the extremity of these attributes. The celestial is a twisted, immoral soul, whose charms and sexual conquests were used so that he may dominate all reality.

Similarly, Wonder Woman finds Diana being devastated by harsh truths, which undercut all that she’s been told since childhood. It’s hard enough for her to hear that she’s Zeus’s daughter, and the God-Killer too. But the worst epiphany is that Ares wasn’t the corrupter of humanity. He merely cultivated the darkness that was already there.