Chadwick Boseman’s nimble superhero may have only appeared briefly in Captain America: Civil War – fighting off Hydra agents on one claw and locking horns with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the other – but come 2018, director Ryan Coogler will roll out a true T’Challa origin story with Black Panther.
On the heels of yesterday’s casting news, IGN quizzed the Creed filmmaker on Marvel’s upcoming spinoff, and how he is crafting a story around the high-tech African nation of Wakanda.
Given the events that transpired during Civil War, Boseman’s hero will soon be instated as the bona fide leader of Wakanda in lieu of his fallen father, and Coogler touched base on how that added responsibility will not only affect the relationships around him, but also Black Panther himself.
“I think we’re finding it right now. The big question is: What is it like being this leader? You know, what is this job like? For him, it’s more than a job — it’s a birth right. It’s an epic responsibility. How does that weigh on him? How does that weigh on his relationships? That’s our window in right now for T’Challa. In Civil War, he’s a man on a mission and you only see him briefly but in this film, you really spend time with him.”
Chadwick Boseman was on hand last night during Marvel’s SDCC presentation, where the future Wakandan king was joined by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. With a summer 2018 release date in place, the studio also nailed down the movie’s principal cast, including Creed cohort Michael B. Jordan, who is on board as Erik Killmonger. Lupita Nyong’o (The Jungle Book), meanwhile, assumes the role of Nakia; and Danai Gurira of The Walking Dead fame is Okoye.
Black Panther is slated for release on July 6, 2018.
