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It used to be that once characters became established stars in the world of comics, publishers would create anthology titles like “Superman Family” or “Archie’s Gals and Pals,” thus allowing readers to get not only new stories about the title character but also ancillary tales about, say, Lois Lane or Principal Weatherbee. I bring this up because “Black Panther” does such a great job introducing the fascinating supporting characters in his orbit that it can barely find time to dig into its purported protagonist.

Black Panther (played by Chadwick Boseman) was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a fairly brief appearance in “Captain America: Civil War,” in which his father, King T’Chaka of the African nation of Wakanda, was assassinated. This mostly rousing solo adventure, directed by Ryan Coogler (who co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole, “American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson”), surrounds our hero with such a terrific cadre of gals and pals — and sidelines him for a chunk of the third act — that he almost gets shoved to the background.

As the film opens, Boseman’s Prince T’Challa is returning to Wakanda, where he will succeed his father both on the throne and as the possessor of the powers of the Black Panther. (This is one of the few superheroes who is also a head of state.) What makes “Black Panther” unusual is that there are no personal hurdles our hero has to overcome; he’s ready, willing and able to inherit both titles, with no need to overcome hubris or fear or arrogance. Thankfully, we’re spared yet another Joseph Campbell-style reluctant hero’s journey.

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Review Roundup: Marvel Fans 'Won't Want Experience to End'

What does stand in T’Challa’s way are the harsh realities of politics and statesmanship, as he learns a dark secret from his father’s past that casts a pall over a land that is a paradise on Earth. Wakanda, you see, was built on the site where a meteorite made of pure vibranium (the metal from which Captain America’s shield was forged) crashed. It’s made the Wakandans technologically advanced, but they’ve kept their wealth and wizardry a secret from the world.

One of the most dramatic — and relevant — storylines the film explores is whether or not advanced societies owe it to the global community to share their discoveries rather than keep their bounty to themselves. (Or as one character asks, putting none too fine a point on it, do we build bridges or erect barriers?)

T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), a spy we first see liberating captured women and child soldiers, thinks it’s the duty of Wakanda to use its resources to help those less fortunate. And when a villainous black-ops assassin with the catchy nickname Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) shows up, he also wants Wakanda to share its wealth — by putting its high-tech weapons in the hands of black revolutionaries the world over.

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Reaction Video: Why Marvel's Latest Is Different Than All Previous Films (Video)

Coogler (who previously directed Jordan in “Creed” and “Fruitvale Station”) plunges us into the wonders of Wakanda, and in doing so, gives us three women in T’Challa’s orbit who steal his onscreen thunder: besides Nakia, there’s Okoye (Danai Gurira, “The Walking Dead”), the intensely dedicated (and drily funny) warrior general, as well as the new king’s younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright, “The Commuter”), a tech genius who serves as this movie’s Tony Stark.

Or, if you prefer, Q: “Black Panther” features at least one sequence that out-007s the recent James Bond movies. Shuri outfits T’Challa with some new gizmos just in time for him, Nakia and Okoye to travel to a casino in Busan, South Korea, where they get into a brawl with arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) before a breathtaking car chase ensues. (Among that sequence’s thrilling aspects is Black Panther riding on top of a driverless sports car that Shuri is handling via remote control from her lab in Wakanda.)

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Director on Anti-Disney Sabotage Plan: I Welcome Fans 'Regardless of... Political Views'

It’s these thrilling moments that make the film’s occasional pacing lapses forgivable; not to give away too much of the plot, but the story is structured in a way that several key moments are repeated or revisited from another angle. (There’s a lot of rule-of-threes in the storytelling here.)

But when “Black Panther” works, it’s thrillingly alive, whether it’s the dazzling colors of the vivid costumes by Ruth E. Carter (“Selma”) — in Wakanda, the Basotho blankets emit force-fields — or the eclectic and vibrant music choices; the score by Ludwig Göransson (“Creed”) vacillates smoothly between European strings and African percussion and woodwinds, while the songs put Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd side by side with South African performers like Babes Wodumo and Sjava.

One reason the charismatic Boseman doesn’t register as much as his counterparts might be his mask. We don’t get to see his face during fights the way we do Nyong’o’s or Gurira’s. (In some of the film’s less successful VFX moments, it’s obvious that the fighting figure of Black Panther is pure cartoon.) But who can complain when the film offers up Jordan’s Killmonger, one of the MCU’s most fascinating villains to date, as part of a powerful ensemble that includes Angela Bassett, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke and Sterling K. Brown?

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Tops All Superhero Movies in Advance Ticket Sales on Fandango

“Black Panther” boasts a lot of black talent on both sides of the camera, which is unusual enough for a big studio movie, but this is also one of the most Africa-centric films Hollywood has ever produced. Outside of “Queen of Katwe” — would that a tenth of the “Black Panther” audience had bought a ticket for that lovely film two years ago — or “Sense 8,” American viewers don’t get much of a look at one of the planet’s most gorgeous and populous continents, so it’s exciting to see the wildly popular Marvel movies take us there.

Like many of the best of the MCU movies, “Black Panther” doesn’t waste time laying out a lot of groundwork for films to come (still, stay for those closing credits) and it doesn’t assume that you’ve seen and memorized the previous 17 movies (still, if you have, you’ll pick up on a thing or two that others might miss). It’s already been announced that Black Panther will fight alongside the Avengers in the upcoming “Infinity War,” but here’s hoping he brings as much of his entourage with him as possible.

Watch the rest of our film team’s reaction:

Tracking the Infinity Stones of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Through 'Black Panther'

As every Marvel movie fan knows, the thread that connects the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe from Earth to Xandar are the six Infinity Stones that will all come together when the Marvel heroes take on Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War." Starting with "Captain America: The First Avenger," the Stones have been revealed one by one since 2011. If you need a brush-up on where each stone currently is and what it can do, we're here to help you out. (WARNING: Spoilers for "Black Panther" ahead)
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The Infinity Stones were created at the dawn of the universe by cosmic entities who bent all of existence to their will. Each of the stones gives the user control over some element of the cosmos...provided that the user's body is powerful enough to withstand the stones' energy without getting vaporized. The six stones control one of the following: Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Time, and Soul. Each stone has a special nickname in the MCU.
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The Space Stone, a.k.a. The Tesseract, was left on Earth by Thor's father, Odin. It was first introduced in "Captain America: The First Avenger," as Red Skull used it as a power source for his evil plans. After Cap stopped him, the Tesseract was taken by SHIELD with the hopes that they could harness its power to protect Earth.
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Instead, the Tesseract became the impetus for Loki's invasion of New York in "The Avengers." After Loki was defeated Thor and his superhero pals, the Tesseract returned to Thor's home world of Asgard, where it is currently being used as a means to teleport between different planets.
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In "Thor: Ragnarok," we see the Tesseract again in Odin's vault on Asgard. Toward the end of the movie, Thor sends Loki to the vault to execute a plan that can defeat Hela. While he's there, Loki has a pointed moment walking past the Tesseract. Judging by the trailer for "Avengers: Infinity War," in which we see Loki holding the Tesseract, he clearly didn't leave it there to get destroyed along with the rest of Asgard. Which means...
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...The Tesseract, and thus the Space Stone, are probably currently or about to be in the possession of Thanos. In the mid-credits scene at the end of "Thor: Ragnarok," Thor, Loki and the rest of the Asgardians are aboard a spaceship bound for Earth. They're intercepted by Thanos' ship, the Sanctuary II. And in the "Avengers: Infinity War" trailer, there's a shot of Loki handing the Tesseract over to someone. And that someone is probably Thanos, since later in the trailer Thanos is shown wearing the gauntlet armed with two of the stones, one of which is the Space Stone
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The Reality Stone, a.k.a. The Aether, was introduced in "Thor: The Dark World" as the object that spawned a war between the Asgardians and an evil race of Dark Elves led by a tyrant named Malekith. Unlike other stones, the Aether had taken a liquid form that could suck the life force out of humans and other mortals. But those who could control it could use its power to turn anything in the universe into dark matter.
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With the help of Loki, with whom he made an uneasy truce, Thor was able to stop Malekith's plans to use the Aether to turn the universe into a dark matter realm ruled by his people. Since Asgard already had the Tesseract, it was decided that it was too dangerous for Infinity Stones to be close together for a long time, and the Aether was given to a man called The Collector for safekeeping. What Thor didn't know was that The Collector had plans to gather all the Stones for himself, and so they were accidentally helping him out in that quest.
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Unfortunately for The Collector, his plans were derailed after a visit from the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had arrived with a mysterious Orb they had planned to sell for a massive payday. They learned that the Orb contained the Power Stone, an Infinity Stone used by its creators to cast judgment upon worlds and destroy them with a single blow. Direct contact with the Power Stone will result in the holder being vaporized.
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And vaporization is exactly what happened to The Collector's assistant, who touched the Orb and caused a massive explosion. While The Collector held on to The Aether, most of his collection was lost while the Orb fell into the hands of Ronan, who planned to use its power to conquer and destroy any world he wished. The Guardians were able to defeat Ronan and placed the Orb under the care of their galaxy's top defense force, the Nova Corps.
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The other Stone that the "Infinity War" trailer shows Thanos having on his Infinity Gauntlet is the Power Stone, so it can be presumed that he will have handled the Nova Corps by the time he reached Earth.
The Mind Stone was introduced in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and was revealed to have been contained in Loki's scepter. It grants the user immense knowledge, the ability to control the minds of others, and can even bring about new life. After the Avengers retrieved the Scepter from HYDRA, Tony Stark planned to use its power to develop an A.I. strong enough to defend Earth from another otherworldly invasion. Instead, he created Ultron, who hatched an invasion of his own.
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To counter this, the Avengers used the Mind Stone again on Stark's computer companion, JARVIS. With the help of Thor's power, their experiment created Vision, a sentient android with the Mind Stone embedded in his head. Vision gave the Avengers the edge they needed, putting an end to Ultron's plans.
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The Time Stone was introduced in "Doctor Strange" and played a key role in the titular hero's development of his magical power. As you may guess, the Time Stone allows those with magical abilities to manipulate time like a Blu-Ray remote. The stone is held within a pendant called The Eye of Agamotto, which Doctor Strange uses despite warnings from Baron Mordo that the Eye is a form of magic that is far too dangerous to be wielded.
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Using the Eye to undo the destruction brought about by the dark deity Dormammu, Strange then trapped his nemesis in a time loop in which Dormammu would kill Strange again and again but would never conquer Earth. Strange only stopped the loop after Dormammu agreed to leave Earth. Afterwards, Strange placed the Eye back in storage, at which point his companion, Wong, revealed to him that he had been wearing an Infinity Stone around his neck.
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The final stone, the Soul Stone, has yet to be revealed. Though fans thought it could be tied to Hela, the villain of "Thor: Ragnarok," it didn't turn up in that movie. We hoped, then, that it would show up in "Black Panther," somewhere in the super-advanced Earth nation of Wakanda. However, that didn't appear to be the case.
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Then again, in the comics, Hela wields control over all the souls who reside in her domain and has made Faustian bargains with the living in exchange for their souls. We saw Hela raise the dead in "Thor: Ragnarok," but got no explanation of how that power works. There's also some speculation that, while Hela gets blasted by Surtur's sword at the end of the movie, she might not have died -- leaving the door open for her to resurface, potentially with the Soul Stone.
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It's also possible "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" has hinted at the reveal of the final Infinity Stone. The movie includes a post-credits scene in which Ayesha, High Priestess of the Sovereign, talks about using her race's technology to create a powerful being she dubs "Adam." This is a reference to the extremely powerful Adam Warlock, a character who derives much of his incredible abilities from the Soul Stone in the Marvel Comics.
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There's speculation that this Adam Warlock may or may not have the Soul Stone. Marvel boss Kevin Feige and "Guardians" director James Gunn have said that Adam won't be in "Infinity War," even though he's key to the conflict in the comics. And Feige says we won't see Adam until "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," which takes place after "Infinity War." But all of this could also be misdirection -- we've seen that from Marvel Studios before.
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Which, of course, brings us back to the possibility that the Soul Stone was present in "Black Panther," just out of sight. It's conceivable that the Soul Stone, which has the key trait of trapping souls within itself, is what spawned the "ancestral plane" that T'Challa visits to speak with his deceased father after eating the Heart-Shaped Herb. That Thanos will assault Wakanda in "Infinity War" would lend some credence to this idea, but we'll have to wait until May to find out for sure.

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Does the last remaining unseen Infinity Stone finally surface in “Black Panther”?

As every Marvel movie fan knows, the thread that connects the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe from Earth to Xandar are the six Infinity Stones that will all come together when the Marvel heroes take on Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War." Starting with "Captain America: The First Avenger," the Stones have been revealed one by one since 2011. If you need a brush-up on where each stone currently is and what it can do, we're here to help you out. (WARNING: Spoilers for "Black Panther" ahead)

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