Lets face it, Black Panther is one of the most wanted Marvel films around lately and whilst Marvel is very busy already gearing up Phase 3 and announced Ant-Man and Doctor Strange already for the next Phase, people are still wondering why Black Panther isn't a set in stone confirmed Phase 3 film?!
Out of all the Marvel Heroes, Black Panther is easily one of the most interesting and coolest character around and many fans are eager for a theatrical release. I'm going to list a few reasons why Marvel would be smart to add BP into Phase 3.
1. He has a Interesting story -
Black Panther's origin story is very cool, he has a very troubled childhood which leads him into ritual trials in Wakanda in which he defeats his Uncle (The existing Black Panther) in which becomes linked to Panther God Bast. Once he becomes king he turns his country into a high tech wonderland! This origin story is a great story and Marvel needs a new fresh story to play with. If they don't even go with an origin story and jump into Black Panther as he may be already established. (see more on point 4.)
2. He would be the first Black Superhero in Marvel's Cinematic Universe -
Ok, so Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is a part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe but he isn't around a lot. Adding T'Challa to the Universe finally brings a different Culture into play, look at the Avengers so far they are all of similar ethnic backgrounds, if Marvel start bringing in new ethnics like Black Panther it will look great for Marvel showing they aren't afraid to have all types of superheroes. Face it, the world is afraid of stereotyping and being racist on films, Ironman 3 (SPOILERS) stopped Ben Kingsley's Mandarin (an Asian ethic) being the Villain and instead made Guy Pierce's Killian the bad guy, are Marvel afraid of stereotyping? Well how about having a African superhero! That will give confidence to many other films to start including different ethnic cultures without fear of backlash.
3. He is the Batman of the Marvel Universe -
Black Panther has very similar qualities to Batman, his Mother died at childbirth and his father is murdered, sound familiar? then T'Challa becomes king and uses his money to create advanced technology. Hell, his suit even looks like Batman's!! Batman is one of the most popular characters around, if Marvel have someone who has that similar vibe that may attract audiences, also it may keep fanboys who want another Batman film happy.
4. He would make a cool addition to The Avengers -
Black Panther would add some diversity in more ways than one, he is a great fighter and is quite brutal which means he would do well in the action scenes and would stand well with someone like Hulk or Captain America, also with Robert Downey only signing to Avengers 2 and 3, Ironman's addition in Avengers will decrease and with additions of new characters more than likely in each Avengers film, Black Panther could get his first onscreen appearance in Avengers 2 and set up a film afterwards.
5. There are some very underrated actors who could bring T'Challa to life -
Forums are constantly throwing names around to play T'Challa and even lately there are news reports of names been dropped for the role. To name a few of the fan favourite are those like Michael Jai White, Aldis Hodge, Idris Elba and many more. I am on the side of having a lesser known actor play T'Challa and a person favourite for me is Mahershala Ali who played Mombasa in 2010's Predators.
Honestly If a Black Panther Film was announced for Phase 3 along with Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, I would say Phase 3 could be something very special indeed.
EDITORS NOTE: Sorry for such a long period without blogs, i'm a busy guy.
With Fast & Furious 6 out very soon (and i'm very excited for it) I thought a Fast & Furious related blog would be fitting, instead of doing one on the franchise and story of Dom and Brian (Vin Diesel and Paul Walker's characters) I thought about Tokyo Drift.
Tokyo Drift completely moved away from both the first two films story lines and set up a new one
Now I know Han is in fast 4,5 and 6 which means Tokyo Drift essentially is the last in the franchise (unless part 7 changes that) but I honestly think Tokyo Drift is actually a better film as a stand alone, If you take out Vin Diesel's cameo at the end, the film is a great action, adventure film.
I'm going to list a few reasons why Tokyo Drift is better as a stand alone film -
1. New characters, New story:
With The Fast & The Furious sending Dom of into the sunset in the gorgeous Toyota Supra and 2 Fast 2 Furious giving Brian and Roman and clean slate we essentially didn't need any ties to Tokyo Drift. TD introduced Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) a troubled teen who loves to race, when he gets kicked out of school and sent to Tokyo to live with his dad, he is embraced by the Drift scene. Already this plot is nothing like Fast 1 or 2 (or 4,5 and 6) the latter films all include trouble with the law, family and freedom. TD is about a young lad taking a shine to drifting and the typical action esque subplot of him falling for a girl he shouldn't. Now I'm aware Han is back for 4,5 and 6 but his life before TD doesn't matter as such, his role in TD is a lot bigger and more important as he sees the real potential Sean has for Drifting.
2. It Could have set up its own franchise:
As said above, the film was a new plot with new characters, if the film didn't have "Fast & Furious" tied to it we may of seen a sequel or two, it isn't the critically favourite film out of them all, but if it was a stand alone film it may of had a better chance of continuing a story. I know many fans want Sean to be included since part 5 obviously 4,5 and 6 are all prequels to TD and from what early rumours are saying is that 6 brings us up to TD. So if fans want some more Sean, why not continue his story away from F&F tagline.
3. The Time line confuses that S**t out of people:
Again mentioned in point 2. Everyone when they saw part 4 was like "Why is Han here?" then fans obviously realised that part 4 is a set up to TD and was a nod to Dom's cameo in which he says Han and him rode together. Han himself the in part 4 "I hear there's some crazy s**t going on in Tokyo" this led fans to believe they was giving a nice send off to Han and explaining Dom's arrival in TD. Then Part 5 came along and brought Han back?! Ok so he never made it to Tokyo or "SPOILER" survived a car explosion (doubtful) then once again Part 5 nods to the audience that Han "one day" will go to Tokyo, we assume he will go after 5 ended. Now to part 6, he is back again! which means this film (part 7 can't be explained until 6 is released) is now indicating TD isn't far away, the clues are all over part 6, First off Dom says in TD; "He has all the time in the world" part 6 indicated they all get full pardons. Also fast 6 gave Han a promotional poster in which he has his amazing RX-7 from TD, now if he has that car it must be close to Tokyo time because most the car the group have explode!
4. The Concept of Drifting is a lot of fun.
In honesty TD and maybe Part 4 was the last films to feature cool tricked out cars and street racing, whilst Fast 5 was awesome and the car sequences were amazing, they skipped out on a few scenes that could have been nostalgic to watch. Now the Drift scene was a lot of fun to watch, the final race on Drift mountain was a great race sequence and took a new spin on street racing. I personally love drift racing its a new spin on racing and made TD a lot more interesting to watch.
So what do you think guys, Would Tokyo Drift make a better stand alone film?
