‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ fans roast Ryan Coogler for ripping off ‘Power Rangers’

You know what, maybe Black Panther: Wakanda Forever landing on Disney Plus wasn’t the best thing for it. Thanks to fans rose-colored memories of seeing it in the theater, the film was enjoying its reputation as comfortably the most popular MCU movie of 2022 for a few months there… until everyone watched it again on streaming and a large chunk of the fandom immediately seemed to turn against it.

First, the film earned itself the dishonor of being brought down to Thor: Love and Thunder‘s level, and now it’s being compared to Power Rangers of all things. But, first, some context. On the director’s commentary track, director Ryan Coogler revealed a costuming rule employed on the Black Panther movies that we never knew existed before. One that, if we did, would’ve given the game away over who was the new Panther in the trailers. As Coogler explained (via The Direct):

“It’s funny, ’cause in these films, we don’t really let anybody wear black except for the Black Panther. It’s kind of like Wakandan rules in many ways. So it was funny like watching the… (laughs) Watching the trailers come out and people saying, ‘Who’s gonna be the Black Panther?’ And that image of Shuri walking in in all black with the necklace was always in those trailers.”

While Coogler appears to think he’s come up with a nifty novel idea here, ’90s kids everywhere are immediately roasting him over this factoid on social media, with everyone making the same joke that he’s unknowingly employed “Power Rangers logic.”

Even aside from the Power Rangers comparison, Coogler’s rule is being mocked by those who quickly noticed that it isn’t even consistently upheld across these movies.

I mean, the Oscars has confirmed that Angela Bassett is the real hero of the movie, but we’re pretty sure Ramonda wasn’t secretly the Black Panther.

Now that we know Black Panther employs Power Rangers logic, let’s start the campaign to get all the Avengers exclusively wearing their superhero colors at all times. And can Robert Downey Jr. return as a giant head in a glass tube? How about Vision comes back as his irritating robot sidekick? These are all free ideas, Kevin Feige.