Marvel Studios and Disney are very serious about Black Panther‘s Oscar prospects, make no mistake about it. They’ve already begun a comprehensive and long-lasting campaign to convince the Academy that it deserves recognition, and though this is a group that’s never really looked highly upon ‘genre’ pictures, with superhero movies generally receiving nods for special effects or makeup, Kevin Feige and co. are hoping to change that.
But what about Avengers: Infinity War? Is Marvel putting any effort into showcasing Joe and Anthony Russo’s event movie to end all event movies to the Academy as well? Apparently not, as we’re learning this week that the studio has only put the film up for one Oscar nomination: Best Visual Effects. T’Challa’s solo outing, meanwhile, is looking to earn nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and 14 others.
So, it seems that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are being pushed aside in favor of the people of Wakanda, and truth be told, it’s not hard to see why. Infinity War was a fantastic movie, and a behemoth at the box office, but the cultural significance of Black Panther can’t be denied and looking outside the superhero genre for a moment, it could be argued that it’s a better film overall than the Russo brothers’ effort.
Still, that being said, Black Panther faces an uphill battle for awards season recognition. Yes, it’s an extremely well made motion picture, but it was still produced very much in the MCU mould. That means that while it paid lip service to heavy concepts like post-colonialism, African independence and African-American social discrimination, it doesn’t really have anything original to say about them.
We should know more soon as nominations start being announced. Not only for the Oscars, but for all the other awards ceremonies, too. No matter how T’Challa’s triumphant film fares in the end though, no one can deny that it was a smashing success both critically and financially, and everyone involved should be extremely proud of themselves.
