Rumors of Black Panther movie Options

[Wheelimus]

I'll be honest, I know very little about the Black Panther character and the news of a Marvel Studios film won't get me to rush out and become an expert. But that's because it's a Marvel Studios film. At this point, they're the next Pixar to me. Bulletproof, and so much so that I'll probably excuse their first Cars 2 as a misstep rather than a trend. At this point you could tell me their next project is Alpha Flight and they can't use Wolverine and I'd still not bat an eye. Until they deliver a failure I'm going to bet on success.

[Lizard King]

I'll be honest, I know very little about the Black Panther character and the news of a Marvel Studios film won't get me to rush out and become an expert. But that's because it's a Marvel Studios film. At this point, they're the next Pixar to me. Bulletproof, and so much so that I'll probably excuse their first Cars 2 as a misstep rather than a trend. At this point you could tell me their next project is Alpha Flight and they can't use Wolverine and I'd still not bat an eye. Until they deliver a failure I'm going to bet on success.

Totally agree

[Local Trouble]

I was thinking Namor, Dr. Strange, Man-Thing and Blade for a Defenders movie (Maybe Ghost Rider too if they get the rights back)

Roster needs moar Valkyrie.

[Confuzor]

Hasn't the EMH cartoon just been calling him "Panther"? I don't have a problem with the shortened name if it helps to avoid some racist issues.

[Kalidor]

And he's worked with Joss Whedon before (whom I now fully expect to become the Christopher Nolan of the Marvel movieverse).

You mean he'll director three movie which have nothing to do with any other Marvel property and then move on to something else unrelated?

How is Namor a mutant?

How is he not?
He's half human and half Atlantean. I don't see winged ankles and the ability to fly anywhere between those two races.

Well his cousin Namorita had the exact same physiology. I always thought his powers came through some royal lineage but had nothing to do with the X-Gene.

[Sean Whitmore]

Likewise, certain people or organizations of critics would feel obligated to put the film under a racism microscope; kind of like what happened the instant Disney announced "Princess and the Frog" would be featuring a mostly black cast. Christ, that article from Ebony Magazine declaring the film racist a year before it even came out still pisses me off.

That'll absolutely happen. Nothing's gonna prevent that but time, so it's best not to dwell on it.

For the majority of Americans, "Black Panther" means something totally different than a superhero in a cat costume and trying not to confuse the general audience could prove an uphill battle.

I can't see it being that big a deal. The character debuted during the time when the organization was actually running around, and he did fine. And this was a time before anyone with an internet connection and 10 free seconds could read all they needed to alleviate their confusion.

Feige has stated Marvel's capable of using Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch thanks to their status as Avengers. If Klaw is with Fox, it could possibly be a similar situation thanks to his practically being Panther's arch-enemy...?

Oh, I have no doubt of it. He's basically the burglar that killed Uncle Ben, for pete's sake. He's been part of the Panther's origin story four times (his original comic first appearance, the comic reboot which excised the FF, the FF cartoon, and the Avengers cartoon).

I've no objection to a Black Panther movie, so long as it's done properly. And Reginald Hudlin's involvement is kept to nonexistent levels.

Christ, yes.

Hasn't the EMH cartoon just been calling him "Panther"?

Only for brevity's sake. He has his full title in the cartoon.

[Lizard King]

And he's worked with Joss Whedon before (whom I now fully expect to become the Christopher Nolan of the Marvel movieverse).

You mean he'll director three movie which have nothing to do with any other Marvel property and then move on to something else unrelated?

How is Namor a mutant?

How is he not?
He's half human and half Atlantean. I don't see winged ankles and the ability to fly anywhere between those two races.

Well his cousin Namorita had the exact same physiology. I always thought his powers came through some royal lineage but had nothing to do with the X-Gene.

His dad was a human and his mother an Atlantean, so I assume that he received the x-gene from his dad, which grew his wings. I'm not sure about Namorita though. I'm not that familiar with her.

[Sean Whitmore]

To make a fantastic Black Panther film, Marvel needs to look no further than Christopher Priest's fantastic series. It's West Wing meets Batman.

If they don't utilize Everett Ross, at the VERY least, they're absolutely insane. He's the perfect character to necessitate exposition (delivered gruffly by Zuri, of course), to get some laughs into the film (the Panther is not exactly a jokseter), and to provide a link between Wakanda and America (because no chance in the world is the entire movie going to take place in Wakanda).

And, if they're daring enough, Ross is the perfect character to approach the topic of race. He begins the series dismissing the Panther, as most people do (and I mean both in the comics and real life). He assumes the Panther is just some guy who "occasionally hangs around Avengers Mansion and orders up some ribs." After seeing him in action, he eventually defends the Panther against a tribunal that wants to ban him from the U.S. by saying, "You hugging elitist idiots, who do you think you're punishing? HE doesn't NEED us. We're blessed that he even acknowledges us."

God, I gotta go dig those comics up again. Why the hell aren't they in trades?

This post has been edited by Sean Whitmore: Jun 7 2012, 06:42 AM

[ultra magnus13]

Am I the only one that would like to see a Marvel Presents: _____________,_____________, and ______________? I'm not super interested in sitting down to watch 2 hours of Namor or Black Panther (and I'm afraid a lot of other people wouldn't be super pumped about characters that aren't super iconic), but I would totally be down for watching a a collection of 2 or 3 "shorts" (30-45) minutes in length about second string marvel heroes. We could get a variety of heroes, villains, locations, plot devices and all sorts of stuff introduced to the film universe without saturating the market with a ton of Marvel movies every year. Even 15 minute shorts before the headline movies could be really cool. If the mass market took to one of the lesser known characters they could then kick off a full length feature for them. You could even bait causal viewers in with blatant crossover action via SHIELD or the A list Avengers.

[Lizard King]

I'm sorry, but most of the people that went and saw Thor, Captain America and Iron Man had little to no knowledge on who they are. Your logic is flawed. If done properly, any of the characters you suggested could not only carry a movie, but could have a really bad ass movie.

[Sean Whitmore]

(and I'm afraid a lot of other people wouldn't be super pumped about characters that aren't super iconic)

Like Thor? Turns out the solution to that is just get talented people to take what makes the character special and tell a story anyone can understand.

And I'm becoming hesitant to ever say never when it comes to the MCU, but I'm pretty confident we'll never see an anthology feature.

This post has been edited by Sean Whitmore: Jun 7 2012, 08:28 PM

[Cheetimus Primal]

And he's worked with Joss Whedon before (whom I now fully expect to become the Christopher Nolan of the Marvel movieverse).

You mean he'll director three movie which have nothing to do with any other Marvel property and then move on to something else unrelated?

How is Namor a mutant?

How is he not?
He's half human and half Atlantean. I don't see winged ankles and the ability to fly anywhere between those two races.

Well his cousin Namorita had the exact same physiology. I always thought his powers came through some royal lineage but had nothing to do with the X-Gene.

His dad was a human and his mother an Atlantean, so I assume that he received the x-gene from his dad, which grew his wings. I'm not sure about Namorita though. I'm not that familiar with her.

She's a clone.

[Database]

I'm sorry, but most of the people that went and saw Thor, Captain America and Iron Man had little to no knowledge on who they are. Your logic is flawed. If done properly, any of the characters you suggested could not only carry a movie, but could have a really bad ass movie.

I have my doubts that ANY character could carry a movie. I still doubt Ant-Man would. But Namor could easily and Black Panther could if done right. There are numerous heroes they can do in America; Some of them are going to be harder sales when you get past the A and B listers. But those with different locals are the ones that could easily have their own movies. Namor and Panther would involve new locals, us seeing Atlantis or Wakanda (which needs to be high tech city but merged with tribal ideals.) could really help capture the imaginations of people beyond just the heroes themselves. Even Dr. Strange could be really interesting with the Spirit realm he deals with so often. Its these heroes that really help broaden the Marvel Universe.


I think Ultimate Alliance 2 did a pretty good job imagining Wakanda:



If they did something like that, it would be very interesting.

[Undead Scottsman]

There was talk about a year back that Marvel was looking to do a lot of their lesser known IP's as 20-30 minute short films, and would put one of 'em in front of the larger movies. So you'd go to see Iron Man 3 and get a 30 minute Black Panther short at the beginning.

I think the only thing that came out of those plans were the Agent Coulson One-Shots.

[Lizard King]

And he's worked with Joss Whedon before (whom I now fully expect to become the Christopher Nolan of the Marvel movieverse).

You mean he'll director three movie which have nothing to do with any other Marvel property and then move on to something else unrelated?

How is Namor a mutant?

How is he not?
He's half human and half Atlantean. I don't see winged ankles and the ability to fly anywhere between those two races.

Well his cousin Namorita had the exact same physiology. I always thought his powers came through some royal lineage but had nothing to do with the X-Gene.

His dad was a human and his mother an Atlantean, so I assume that he received the x-gene from his dad, which grew his wings. I'm not sure about Namorita though. I'm not that familiar with her.

She's a clone.

Oh, gotcha

[Cheetimus Primal]

And he's worked with Joss Whedon before (whom I now fully expect to become the Christopher Nolan of the Marvel movieverse).

You mean he'll director three movie which have nothing to do with any other Marvel property and then move on to something else unrelated?

How is Namor a mutant?

How is he not?
He's half human and half Atlantean. I don't see winged ankles and the ability to fly anywhere between those two races.

Well his cousin Namorita had the exact same physiology. I always thought his powers came through some royal lineage but had nothing to do with the X-Gene.

His dad was a human and his mother an Atlantean, so I assume that he received the x-gene from his dad, which grew his wings. I'm not sure about Namorita though. I'm not that familiar with her.

She's a clone.

Oh, gotcha

To be fair she wasn't originally written as such,it was a retcon.

[Sean Whitmore]

There was talk about a year back that Marvel was looking to do a lot of their lesser known IP's as 20-30 minute short films, and would put one of 'em in front of the larger movies. So you'd go to see Iron Man 3 and get a 30 minute Black Panther short at the beginning.

I think the only thing that came out of those plans were the Agent Coulson One-Shots.

I like that they're thinking outside the box, but I'd be worried about them "wasting" characters like Doctor Strange and Black Panther in such shorts when there could be great features dedicated to them.

That said, there could be a lot of fun to have in that format. Both in introducing new stuff (Damage Control, the Great Lakes Avengers) or playing around with the MCU's history (a tale of Thor and Loki as boys, Howard Stark getting into some hijinks after the war).

Heck, use it to give Black Widow a solo story, since Quesada doesn't seem to think she can hack it in a feature anyway.

[Undead Scottsman]

Man, I trust none of Quesada's opinions.

The big thing right now is not oversaturating the market. Marvel's only putting out two in studio movies a year right now, plus whatever Sony/Fox do PLUS whatever DC is doing with their own ips. If they stick with the "two a year" idea, they're either going to have to hold off on some characters for awhile, stop doing sequels, or push Avengers 2 off for a very long time. I mean, is this what the schedule is going to look like?

2013: Iron Man 3, Thor 2
2014: Captain America, Ant-Man?
2015: Dr. Strange, Incredible Hulk 2?
2016: Guardians of the Galaxy?, Black Panther?
2017: Inhumans?, SHIELD movie?
2018 Avengers 2?

Marvel has a ridiculous amount on their plate

This post has been edited by Undead Scottsman: Jun 7 2012, 09:33 PM

[Rust]

I just wonder if he has any recognizable villains to help carry a solo flick? I have my doubts that the movie-going public would thrill at the Man-Ape...

Throw him in the Savage Land with Ka-Zar and have Sauron and his posse as the villains. Don't mention Sauron is a mutant. Problem solved.

Heck, use it to give Black Widow a solo story, since Quesada doesn't seem to think she can hack it in a feature anyway.

Odd, because her establishing scene in the Avengers made me pine for a feature length solo adventure - or at least a Buddy Cop flick with Hawkeye.

[Sean Whitmore]

Odd, because her establishing scene in the Avengers made me pine for a feature length solo adventure - or at least a Buddy Cop flick with Hawkeye.

I'd even kill for the familiar "spy is framed by bad guys and goes on the run from her former agency while trying to clear her own name" scenario.

It becomes a lot less commonplace when the former agency is SHIELD and the bad guys are Hydra or the Zodiac.