What Should The Black Panther (Movie) Stand For?

So, I wrote a blog article where I pointed out a few key things necessary for a good Black Panther film. Some of the things I mentioned are more likely than others (sorry, guys, we will NOT be seeing Storm and T’Challa kissing in the jungle on screen in our lifetime), but I tend to think I covered the basic gist. Anyway, as I was reading some Facebook responses, it occurred to me that I left something crucial out. I’ve talked before about how one of the perks of a character having a movie adaptation is that it gives said character a baseline version that can be absorbed into the collective consciousness and possibly make them a household name or close to it. The best example for this, outside of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, is Wesley Snipes’ Blade. I mean, even with the franchise going to Hell with that last movie and fame making him a colossal asshole, he IS Blade to the point where the comic version was tooled to look more like him. Whether you’d never heard of him prior to the Blade films or whether you’d seen everything he was in before he picked up the sword, there’s a pretty good chance that when you think of Wesley Snipes, you’re thinking of the Daywalker (unless you’re like me and immediately remember Demolition Man). That’s probably why it’s important to fans that Marvel doesn’t screw this Black Panther movie up for us.

Since the the beginnings of the superhero movie genre’s blitzkrieg on the film industry, most of the successful projects have had some things in co…