Black Panther Spoilers Review & Easter Eggs from Comics! Soul Stone in Wakanda? Post Credits Scenes

Hey everybody, Crafty Media is finally back back and today I’m going to be reviewing the most hyped and highly rated MCU movie of all time, “Black Panther”! I will be exploring the differences between the movie and the comics, and the real world inspirations for Wakanda and all the different characters real world from African culture and history. This video contains plenty of spoilers so you have been warned! Black Panther is probably the most hyped and highly rated Marvel movie since the Avengers so going in my expectations where off the charts. Kevin Fiege went as far to say that it’s the best so far in the MCU. At the box office it achieved the 3rd highest 4 day opening in movie history, ever. Does it live up to the hype? Or the perhaps the question should be, could it ever live up to the hype. In my opinion Michael B Jordan delivered a terrifying performance as Erik Killmonger Stevens. It’s the first time Jordan has played villain. And he is staring in his third Ryan Coogler movie, which also happens to be all of them. The Director Ryan Coogler was in fact born in one of the film’s key locations, Oakland California and is only 31 years but has been a filmmaker for 10 years. Ryan is a former athlete and college football star. After graduating with a degree in finance he enrolled in film school and made a series of award winning short films. He caught the attention of Forest Whitaker and his production company “Significant Productions”, who financed his first feature length movie, “Fruitvale Station” with a budget of $900 000. It was of course Whitaker who played Wakandan war dog, turned Wakandan Shaman “Zuri” in Black Panther. Sacrificing his life in an attempt to save T’Challa’s. So back to Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger. As the villain he was definitely one of the best things about the movie. He posed a real threat to T’Challa, and in my opinion is the 2nd best Marvel villain behind Loki. In the comics Erik Killmonger’s father wasn’t the brother of T’Chaka. But his father did work with Klaw and he did live in the United States, but in Harlem, New York, not Oakland California. As mentioned it was the film’s director Ryan Coogler who was in real life born in Oakland, and this change is perhaps a nod to his upbringing and childhood. I think changing Killmonger, who’s Wakandan name is N’Jadaka to be T’Challa’s cousin adds to the drama and stakes of the movie. This change also make Killmonger of royal blood, which is why he was able to challenge T’Challa in Ritual combat for the throne. In the comics in “Jungle Action Vol.2 #15 -17” instead of ritual combat for the throne, Killmonger seeks to overthrow the Wakandan government, and also throws T’Challa of a waterfall. In the end T’Challa kills Killmonger who is later resurrected by the Mandarin and the power of his rings. Infact Killmonger has been killed and resurrected many times in the comics by not only the Mandarin, but also by Wakandan Magic and his followers on the Altar of Resurrection. Something of course which would be an incredible storyline for Black Panther 2! Another stand out performance was that of the newly proclaimed smarted person in the Marvel universe, T’Challa’s sister Shuri. Shuri is played by 24 year old actress Letitia Wright who is from a small country called Guyana in the Caribbean. In the comics she is heir to the throne of Wakanda and wanted to become the first female black panther. And has been enhanced by the heart-shaped herb and has been taught to fight by T’Challa and the Dora Milaje. The Dora Milaje and of course their leader Okoye were incredible! In the avenger’s Inifinity War trailer it shows Black Widow in Wakanda. Here’s hoping the Russo Brothers have somehow written in a fight between Natasha and Okoye!! Wouldn’t that be awesome! Okoye taking out several of Klaw’s henchmen was one of the best scene’s in the film. In fact apart from the CGI rhino’s I thought the overall action in the movie was some of the most justified, and exciting action ever in any comic book movie. Talking of Klaw I thought Andy Serkis upped the ante in his portrayal from Civil War. It was almost like he was a weird hip hop loving South African joker. I was so disappointed when the killed the character. I understand how it served the story, but he is another character that should be placed on Killmonger’s alter of resurrection. Talking of South Africa, in the comics T’Challa’s mother Ramonda (who was played by Angela Basset in the movie) was originally from South Africa and was T’Chaka’s second wife. In fact much of the movie was inspired by South Africa. T’Chaka played by John Kani is South African. The Wakandan language in the movie is actually the real life language of Xhosa. The home language of Nelson Mandela, and current president of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. There are 11 official languages in South Africa and much of the tribal conflict in the movie is inspired from the conflict between South African tribes. T’Chaka’s name is inspired from Shaka Zulu. It was Shaka who introduced the short stabbing spear used by Killmonger. Remember when he broke the long throwing spear in his ritual combat with T’Challa). The shortened spear is known as an Assegai and gave the Zulu warriors a terrifying advantage over their enemies in hand to hand combat. Shaka was ultimately assassinated by his own half-brothers. The blankets worn by W’Kabi and his border security tribe are inspired by the BaSotho tribes blankets which originate from the mountains of Lesotho a small country completed surrounded by the country of South Africa. W’Kabi also put in a good performance, and enjoyed how he submitted to his wife Okoye in the end. As I mentioned there was that scene riding the rhinos into battle, which was probably the the least enjoyable scene. The look of Killmonger skin with the marks for each kill was inspired by another character from the 1972’s “Jungle Action” #15. This is one of Killmonger’s henchman K’Ruel. Lupito Nyong'o played the character of Nakia well. In the movie Nakia is portrayed as a war dog spy, and also the love interest of T’Challa. In the comics she was accepted into the order of the Dora Milaje and was from an early age obsessed with T’Challa, and wanted to marry him. She did anything to get attention even throwing herself from a high window into a shallow pool where T’Challa was hanging out with his love interest Monica. T’Challa resuscitated her to her delight. She also tried to fake Monica’s death and was expelled from the Dora Milaje by T’Challa. After leaving the palace she was captured and tortured to near death, but was restored to health by Killmonger and the alter of resurrection. So being infact a villain in the comics could the Black Panther sequel be Nakia turning on T’Challa for some reason. Chadwick Bosman’s performance as T’Challa was somewhat overshadowed by Michael B Jordan, Andy Serkis and Letitia Wright. But this served the story well. It reminded me in someways of how Christian Bales performance was overshadowed by Heath Ledger’s Joker in the Dark Knight. It’s not always a bad thing. In fact I think putting a lot of emphasis on the villain was a move in the right direction from Marvel. The movie is well edited and paced, I thought the direction of Ryan Coogler was excellent and I can’t imagine anyone else directing Black Panther 2. And with the movie set to make over a billion dollars I’m sure he will be back. The movie felt like a standalone movie, and didn’t include too many references to the larger MCU which was refreshing as it allowed me to fully be taken up with the world of Wakanda. It did however set up some interesting elements for Avengers Inifinty War. In the 1st post credits scene T’Challa opens up his technology to the world. Wakandan technology is going to be extremely important as the avengers and the world battle Thanos. And from the trailers Wakanda will be the scene of a massive battle with Thanos’s forces who are probably coming for an infinity stone, or possibly Wakanda’s vibranium. And there is a theory that the vibranium may somehow be tied to the soul stone, and that the soul stone may be the ultimate source of vibranium’s incredible properties. Although there is no evidence of this link in the comics. The 2nd post credits scene of course shows a healed Bucky, who is referred to as the white wolf. The white wolf first appeared in 1999 in Black Panther vol.3 #4. He was not Bucky but rather Hunter who crash landed in Wakanda as was adopted by T’Chaka. He essentially led the Wakandan secret police. And is an ally to Black Panther. Could we see Bucky take up this mantle of White Wolf and get his owned Shuri designed vibranium suit? But at very least we can guess that his new bionic arm will be made of vibranium in Infinity war. I think Marvel Studios should be applauded for the predominantly black cast, which by the way makes complete sense since this is a black panther movie, and which is consistent with the source material. And even more so should be applauded for the predominately black production crew. Including the director and co-writer Ryan Coogler, Co-writer Joe Robert Cole, Production director Hanna Beachler, costume designer Ruth E Carter, Executive producer Nate Moore and designers Douriean Fletcher and Camille Friend. I’m glad they resisted trying to shoehorn Iron Man or Cap or Bucky into the movie for marketing reasons. This decision to trust the source material has been vindicated by the box office numbers. Overall the movie was superbly directed, had an engaging story, thrilling action with a fully realised and terrifying villain. I rate movies on overall quality and re-watchablity. But mostly I rate a movie based on how the movie made me feel. And for that reason I am giving Black Panther 8.5 out of 10. In my opinion it’s probably in the top 5 MCU movies. Behind Avengers, Captain America Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain America Civil War. So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please like and then share it. I post videos every week on comic book movies and TV, including Marvel, DC, Star Wars and other blockbusters so why not subscribe. Thanks again, cheers for now.