A new Marvel

A lot of hopes have been riding on Black Panther, one of the few major studio releases to center on a black superhero, and the first one to do so in the Avengers series. The movie bears burdens that no other Marvel film bears, and, in most respects, it stands tall under the pressure.

Among the many things Black Panther does well is to illustrate what true diversity in entertainment looks like. That is, it doesn’t come just from casting but in looking for new stories to tell. With vibrant landscapes and costumes and a joyful, African-inspired score, the film draws audiences into a truly new world. As a civilization with a distinct history and culture, Wakanda is far more convincing than, say, Asgard, which never had much more depth than Fantasyland at Disney World.

More impressive, with a couple of minor exceptions, the storyline navigates expectations that it would carry themes of racial politics into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with grace and goodwill.

Following his father’s death, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) ascends the throne of Wakanda, an African nation that disguises itself as poor in order to protect its valuable natural resource, an element called “vibranium.” It is this element that has allowed Wakanda to become the most technologically advanced civilization in the world, though no one, save for a CIA agent (Martin Freeman) and a group of arms dealers led by Andy Serkis, knows it. But when a challenger to T’Challa’s right to rule arrives unexpectedly, T’Challa has to rethink his kingdom’s isolationist policies.

The movie is very much concerned with sins of fathers being visited upon sons. In T’Challa we see how his father’s secrets from years before threaten not only his family but his entire nation. In T’Challa’s American antagonist Killmonger (an excellent Michael B. Jordan), we also see the wages of the historical sins of slavery and racism. We may not agree with much of what Killmonger says, but we can’t deny the real pain and suffering that helped make him what he is.

So perhaps, given how many items Black Panther had on the agenda, it can be pardoned for not being nearly as funny as previous Avengers’ outings. A few one-liners produce titters, but no scenes bring on the guffaws Guardians of the Galaxy and the recent Thor and Spider-Man movies produced.

A little less easy to forgive are a handful of totally unnecessary PG-13 expletives and heavy doses of pagan ritual like praying to ancestors and taking hallucinogenic drugs to gain mystic wisdom. Other Avengers directors have referenced Eastern or Norse religions inherent to the source material, but these scenes feel more akin to the promotion of Avatar than, say, the simple mechanics of Doctor Strange.

One last note: The debate at the center of the plot—whether Wakanda should share its wealth with struggling African nations (not to mention struggling African-Americans)—does bring in a few moral inconsistencies. If vibranium arms can give the oppressed power to overthrow their oppressors and establish self-government, would providing them really be wrong? After all, armed resistance led to the establishment of the United States. Or, if a potion made from a simple flower conveys enhanced strength and agility, why should Wakanda’s monarch, alone, benefit from it? If what is mined must be shared, why not what is grown? Or, if, as T’Challa piously says in a post-credits scene that is receiving a lot of attention, Wakanda is committed to “building bridges not barriers,” will the nation eventually do more than the feel-good token of establishing education centers in inner cities and begin opening its doors to immigrants?

None of this is to be a Debbie Downer about Black Panther, because it truly is an engaging, ground-breaking accomplishment within the genre. Nor is it to suggest these can’t be elements the hero wrestles with going forward. But it is to say that even within the world of the film, such issues are not so easily solved. So an emerging media narrative that Black Panther presents a mic-drop indictment against current U.S. policies, is, well, comic-book level logic.