If 2017 heralds the return of Marvel’s galactic motley crew and the God of Thunder, not to mention the (re)introduction of a sprightly Peter Parker in Tom Holland, then 2018 belongs to Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Panther, the studio’s royal superhero.
Headed up by director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station), Black Panther is packed to the rafters with A-list talent, and while we bide our time in anticipation of the film’s first trailer – word is that it’ll drop sometime this summer, likely in and around the same time as Spider-Man: Homecoming – Entertainment Weekly has posted a recap of the first footage shown to press.
The promo was presented to select reporters as part of the recent Marvel Open House event in California – an event that also brought word of Captain Marvel‘s faithful costume design – and EW reports that the scene in question largely centers on “Nakia, a member of Dora Milaje, the king’s female bodyguards, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o gets her hands dirty in a scene where she single-handedly takes down a group of armed assailants in the jungle.”
As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the sizzle reel also hopped over to spotlight Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaw) and Martin Freeman (Everett Ross) trading snarky one-liners. “Well, you brought quite the entourage, do you have a mixtape coming out?” Ross snarks with Klaue quipping back: “Oh yeah, I’ll actually send you link!”
The presentation wrapped with a brief look at Forest Whitaker as Zuri, though there was no screentime for Michael B. Jordan’s malevolent Killmonger. When asked about his excitement for Black Panther, Ryan Coogler told those in attendance that: “I’m super excited about an African king who is also strong enough, fast enough, smart enough to do some of the things that T’Challa is going to do in this film.”
Black Panther is slated for the relatively crowded corridor of February 2018. One glance at the release slate will tell you that Ryan Coogler’s standalone pic is currently rubbing shoulders with the likes of Pacific Rim: Uprising (February 28th) and Shane Black’s long-in-development reboot of The Predator. How will it fare at the box office? Time will tell, but things certainly sound promising.
