‘Captain America: Civil War’ – Who Is Black Panther? A Short Explainer
There’s a major new player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he kicks everybody’s ass in “Civil War”
Phil Owen | May 5, 2016 @ 11:12 AM
Last Updated: May 5, 2016 @ 3:05 PM
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There are so many superheroes in “Captain America: Civil War.” Nearly all of them we already know from previous movies — all but one, in fact.
That new one is Black Panther, who quickly asserts himself as a central figure in this superhero free-for-all known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In “Civil War,” he’s the fourth lead character, along with Captain America, Iron Man and the Winter Soldier. That’s kind of a big deal, particularly for a character who’s just been introduced and won’t get his own movie for two more years.
Even if you’re not a comic book nerd, you may have heard of Black Panther last year when it was announced that author Ta’Nehisi Coates would make his first foray into comics to write an 11-issue storyline about the hero. But if you’re going into “Civil War” cold, wondering what the hell is up with this awesome dude and why he’s so great at kicking everybody’s ass, I’m here to fill you in.
If you go back to “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” you might remember a subplot about Ultron trying to buy a stockpile of a rare metal called vibranium, which Ultron was planning to use to build a “perfect” body for himself. Vibranium, which also happens to be the metal that Captain America’s shield is made from, is only found in one place on Earth: the central African nation of Wakanda.
Though Wakanda is isolationist for the most part, vibranium’s myriad technological applications helped Wakanda become a world power, as there are a lot of things it’s good for beyond making bulletproof armor.
Black Panther, whose real name is T’Challa, is the prince of Wakanda. At the beginning of “Civil War,” T’Challa, along with his father King T’Chaka, is visiting a United Nations summit where they will ratify the Sokovia Accords, which would place the Avengers under the direct supervision of a UN panel. T’Chaka says Wakanda can no longer in good conscience stand alone after Ultron stole that vibranium stockpile. In the new world, people will need to work together to make sure that kind of thing can’t happen again.
Black Panther operates as protector of Wakanda, which means he puts on a vibranium suit and fights hand-to-hand with those he deems his enemies. So it’s a good thing T’Challa is a masterful fighter who can go toe-to-toe with enhanced humans like Captain America and the Winter Soldier. His fighting abilities are heightened by his vibranium suit, which is super tough and features claws in the fingers. It’s also bulletproof.
And that’s the basics on the MCU version of Black Panther, at least so far. It’s going to be a while until we see him again — the “Black Panther” movie is scheduled for July 2018, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he had a major part to play in the next “Avengers” film two months before that, in May 2018. There’s also the possibility of cameo appearances in other Marvel Phase 3 movies between now and then, but who knows? For now, this is what we know.
Before You See 'Captain America: Civil War': Story So Far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Photos)
Here you are, ready to take in what might be the biggest movie of 2016, “Captain America: Civil War.” But wait! What if you didn’t see all those other Marvel movies that set up this one, or just can’t remember you haven’t seen any of them since they were in theaters? TheWrap has you covered, with a recap to get you ready for the latest superhero-on-superhero movie event.
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In “Captain America: Civil War,” the Avengers have split into two factions, led by Steve Rogers/Captain America (#TeamCap) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (#TeamIronMan). The battles they’ve fought have caused an ideological divide over whether or not they should receive civilian oversight from a United Nations committee. Captain America says they’re their own best watch dogs. Iron Man thinks an external layer of control is absolutely necessary. How did we get here?
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The four most relevant precursor films to “Captain America: Civil War” are: “The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Other MCU films may have relevant tidbits here and there, but the core narrative arc leading to “Civil War” are contained in those movies.
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The seeds to this conflict were sown in the first “Avengers” movie, way back in 2012. Thor’s brother Loki led an army of alien Chitauri through a wormhole in space in an invasion of NYC that came very close to succeeding. It took the combined might of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye to hold them back.
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At this time, the Avengers are overseen by the covert UN intelligence organization SHIELD (Strategic Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), which in turn is overseen by the World Security Council. The Council is monitoring the battle and, fearing the worst, decides to fire a nuke at Manhattan in hopes of earning a scored-earth victory.
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Iron Man almost died stopping this nuke -- he had to guide the missile through the wormhole and into outer space to prevent that self-inflicted devastation. The battle had a profound effect on Tony Stark’s psyche, giving him a serious amount of post-traumatic stress.
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In “Iron Man 3” we see those factors take hold in a big way. Stark knows just how close they came to losing everything, and how close he came in victory to losing everything personally. He becomes obsessed with building a more perfect Iron Man suit, constructing dozens of prototypes, and his relationship with Pepper Potts suffers.
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Stark employs his many Iron Man suits in the climactic fight with the Mandarin/Aldrich Killian, and a lot of them are destroyed. But that use of the suits, which are controlled by the artificial intelligence JARVIS, gives him an idea: to build a defense network so impenetrable that the Avengers and other superheroes won’t be needed to defend the Earth from alien threats.
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In “The Winter Soldier,” Captain America is working as a SHIELD operative on black ops missions. He soon learns that SHIELD has long been infiltrated by remnants of the Nazi organization HYDRA (which he fought in the original “Captain America” film). This makes him a wanted man, and he goes on the run with Black Widow.
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The remnants of HYDRA have also been using Steve Rogers’ best friend from childhood, Bucky Barnes, as an assassin. Barnes was captured during WW II and was put in stasis and given memory wipes -- only awoken when HYDRA needed someone killed. Barnes is now known only as the Winter Soldier.
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SHIELD, now fully controlled by HYDRA fascists, plan to launch several helicarriers that will take out millions of people it considers possible dissidents and enforcing a rule of law through their everpresent threat. Captain America and Black Widow team up with Falcon to take down the helicarriers and dismantle SHIELD, leaving the Avengers completely without any organizational oversight. Barnes, after several fights with Cap, goes on the run.
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Early in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the Avengers recover Loki’s sceptor, and Tony Stark discovers that the infinity gem that powers it contains an artificial intelligence. Stark attempts to use this AI in service of his planned Ultron defense network to protect the Earth, and it works -- in a manner of speaking.
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In standard sci-fi fashion, the newly awoken Ultron doesn’t interpret his directive as intended -- he sees humanity as the greatest threat to Earth, and is determined to drive mankind to extinction. Being a computer program, Ultron is not tied to any one mechanical body but can instead travel at will through the Internet. He assembles a robotic army, and plans to create an “extinction level event” by raising the eastern European city of Sokovia thousands of feet off the ground and then dropping it.
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The Avengers manage to save humanity by evacuating Sokovia and then blowing it up in the air, but it’s again a near thing. Tony Stark now feels even more guilty, because it was his recklessness that almost caused this disaster. He no longer trusts himself.
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And that brings us to “Civil War.” Cap doesn’t trust government oversight after what happened with SHIELD and he also wants to protect Bucky from the long arm of the law. Iron Man is terrified that they’re going to become the very threat they’re trying to protect humanity from. The Avengers take sides and duke it out.
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At the same time, a mysterious and villainous man named Zemo has his own threatening schemes in play. Can Tony and Steve can sort out their personal shit in time to deal with them?
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Many things led to this showdown between Captain America and Iron Man, here’s what you need to know
Here you are, ready to take in what might be the biggest movie of 2016, “Captain America: Civil War.” But wait! What if you didn’t see all those other Marvel movies that set up this one, or just can’t remember you haven’t seen any of them since they were in theaters? TheWrap has you covered, with a recap to get you ready for the latest superhero-on-superhero movie event.
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