Start blasting Run the Jewels, because a load of new info about Marvel’s Black Panther has emerged. On Monday, a panel hosted by first-term Rep. Val Demmings for Congressional Black Caucus Week featured an exclusive five-minute screening of Black Panther, which contained footage from Comic-Con as well as brand new scenes no one outside Disney has seen before.
The panel, “Imagining a Bigger World—Marvel’s Black Panther, Cultural Heritage and STEM,” wasn’t just about how neat the upcoming Marvel movie looks, but how science-fiction can encourage young people from black communities to pursue STEM careers. ESPN’s Jay Harris was the panel’s moderator, and he led a discussion that included talents like director Ryan Coogler, Danai Gurira, and folks from Disney, like Belinda Frazier, Disney’s Head of Diversity and Outreach, and Nate Moore, one of the film’s producers.
As Black Panther is set to envision a black science-fiction world, the upcoming movie was more than appropriate for the panel’s topic. While footage was not made available due to Disney’s generally well-known strict policies, The Root wrote up the details, which include:
- How the action looks so dope, like a cross between Creed and Kingsman
- Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), back from Avengers: Age of Ultron, having an arm that can turn into a cannon
- Some amazing chase scenes
- T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) (Chadwick Boseman) basically gets his costume via super advanced, instantaneous gets his costume via super advanced, instantaneous 3D printing right over his body
- Multiple people challenging for the throne of Wakanda, including Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and M’Baku (Winston Duke)
- How important Vibranium is to Wakanda
After the screening, Coogler explained that the MCU’s Wakanda was influenced by the Congo. The nation is the natural home to one of the most vital minerals in the world, coltan, found in everything from cell phones to missiles to video game consoles. (It’s a bit of a misnomer, but the decade-long conflict for coltan in the 2000s was informally called “The PlayStation Wars.”) The Black Panther filmmakers thought about Congo, and the “what if?” of the Congolese capitalizing on their resources and fending off western colonization. That is, in essence, Wakanda. That is, in essence, Wakanda.
“We asked ourselves, did the Vibranium make Wakandans special, or were Wakandans already something special and made something of Vibranium? We decided it was the Wakandans,” Coogler said at the panel.
The footage received a huge round of applause from the approximately 150 people at the panel. It’s only a matter of time until the rest of the world can witness T’Challa’s rise to the throne, too.
Here’s a piece of the panel below.
Marvel’s Black Panther will be released on February 16, 2018.
