Marvel confirms ‘Black Panther’ details, cast at SDCC
When Marvel Studios took to the stage in Comic-Con’s Hall H, fans got a big treat as the cast for Black Panther was confirmed and expanded for some who may not be up to date on the Ryan Coogler project.
After a role in Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman will now headline the solo project with the announced cast: Michael B. Jordan (Creed, The Fantastic Four) as Erik Killmonger, Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Nakia, and Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) as Okoye.
Killmonger’s character in the Marvel comics is obsessed with revenge and plots to overthrow the Wakandan royalty. Nakia is not the typical love interest for T’Challa, being groomed as his bodyguard but also finding her affections for (and obsession with) the leader turned aside, with disastrous results. Gurira plays a friend to Nakia who’s also part of the clan of bodyguards for their king.
In a recent interview with FastCompany, Coogler stated that Black Panther will be his most personal film yet.
“It’s a specific challenge. What Marvel’s doing, and what you see a lot of studios doing now that Marvel has done it so successfully, is making content that exists in a particular universe, where the characters tie in and crossover, and I think that’s a great creative challenge to me—to make this movie as personal as possible. It’s going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it’s completely the case. I’m obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it’s going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they’re establishing.”
Black Panther arrives in theaters February 16, 2018.