"Marvel's Black Panther" Trailer Reaction and Review!!

Meet the King

It's no secret that I love Marvel movies and the Marvel brand in general. Therefore, there are a lot of movies and characters which I would like to see enter the MCU and for their talented teams to take on. With that said, when they announced their full slate for "Phase Three" of their movies, one of my most anticipated movies on that list (besides "Avengers: Infinity War", obviously) was Black Panther, originally slated for release in November of this year, but pushed to February 2018 to compensate for Spider-Man's return to the MCU in a few weeks. Black Panther is a brilliant character in the comics, and I was excited to see him on the big screen at last, not least because he's now set to be the first black superhero to take a leading role ("Steel" doesn't count because I'm not convinced that movie was made seriously). After seeing him in action in "Captain America: Civil War", my excitement was only boosted. Now, we have our first trailer for the Panther's (real name T'Challa) standalone film next year. Check it out below!

In short, the trailer is an excellent first look at the movie. One of the most impressive feats it manages is demonstrating perhaps the most diverse set of locations seen in a single Marvel movie. Now, what I mean by that is that, although movies like "Avengers: Age of Ultron" have travelled from New York to Seoul to the fictional country of Sokovia, they're all fairly similar settings, in that these are all city landscapes (Sokovia was slightly different in that a forest was used to an extent but point stands). Within a single (albeit fictional) country of Wakanda, Marvel have shown off futuristic cities, dense jungle landscapes, tribal canyon camps, royal palaces, and what looks like a snow-topped mountain.

The King meets his people

The cast is also phenomenal. Chadwick Boseman was a phenomenal T'Challa/Black Panther in "Civil War" last year, and it's exciting to see him not only in action set pieces here, but also in a political setting. That political intrigue is what looks to set Black Panther apart from other Marvel movies, as T'Challa looks to be facing a number of threats to his throne as newly crowned King of Wakanda not only from physical threats, but also from rival tribes. Lupita Wyong'o can briefly be seen taking part in the action as part of the country's female-only elite guard, and Michael B. Jordan is also seen a few times with two axes as the villainous Erik Killmonger. Perhaps the most obvious villain name ever. Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman round out the rest of the excellent cast which might possibly be Marvel's best yet.

Who would have thought that a guy called "Killmonger" would be the villain?

The last thing I'll mention is the action in the trailer. This may honestly be some of the action I've been most excited to see in a long time. We see not just shoot outs, but also Killmonger taking on a group of guards solo, Lupita and Danai Gurira (Michonne from "The Walking Dead") fighting off mercenaries in a casino, and a tribal and savage battle in the canyon camp (probably between T'Challa and either Killmonger or the so-called Man-Ape, another villain). Not to mention that Marvel have turned the Black Panther into the Batman with the stealth jungle attack sequence! What's not to love? I'll tell you what: the CGI. Although the production design is largely beautiful, the Panther suit has been enhanced with some strange visual effects, and this is particularly noticeable in the car flip at the end when we can see armour close up. That said, the movie is still eight months away so there is plenty of time to improve on this. Ultimately, however, I'm still extremely excited to check out Black Panther next February, and it has just sky-rocketed through my most anticipated movies all together.

Black Panther will be released on the 16th of February, 2018.

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Andy Serkis, and Forest Whitaker