Black Panther

Celebrated director Ryan Coogler brings his Hollywood A-list gravitas to bear in the latest Marvel Universe entry, Black Panther. Despite the less-than-nuanced decision to release the film, which features a predominately black cast, during Black History Month, Disney Studio's assured blockbuster offers much to appreciate and to ponder, whether inside or outside of the African diaspora. Chadwick Boseman plays Prince T'Challa, who ascends to the throne of the fictional nation of Wakanda after his father is killed in a terrorist attack on the United Nations (depicted in Captain America: Winter Soldier). T'Challa, like his noble forebears, is also a costumed superhero, Black Panther, whose abilities are derived from a rare mineral found only in his country and coveted by mercenaries around the world. T'Challa's nemesis is an erstwhile American soldier of fortune named, most unsubtly, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who claims Wakandan roots and wants to liberate oppressed people in the U.S. and elsewhere using Wakanda's miraculous technology and weaponry. This richly textured, exquisitely designed and expansive film boasts an international cast (Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright) and delivers all of the bang and bad-assery fans expect from a Marvel Universe picture while posing provocative questions about national identity and kinship, isolationism, security and community.