If we had to sit here and list all the ways, subtle and overt, that the working world is systemically titled against women, we’d be here all day. (But just to do a dab of due diligence: Unequal pay, sexual harassment, constantly getting talked over, double standards…It’s an unpleasantly unceasing list.) One of the…
This weekend, hundreds of Black Panther fans from around the country gathered in Chicago, braving excessive heat and a Michigan Avenue crowded with Lollapalooza hooligans to attend the first ever Wakandacon. Founded by a group Chicago residents—Ali Barthwell, David Barthwell, and Matt Barthwell (you may recognize Ali…
Michael B. Jordan’s time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is probably over, barring some flashback scenes in the Black Panther sequel or a weird side effect of the snap heard ’round existence at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. But his raw and powerful performance as Erik Killmonger (a.k.a N’Jadaka) earned him lots…
Conventional wisdom holds that the best movies of any given year tend to arrive sometime between Labor Day and Christmas—those few weeks annually and unofficially designated as “awards season.” But while the major studios and their indie subsidiaries do tend to hold their big prestige titles until at least early…
The Dora Milaje are a household name after the massive success of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther. Now, Wakanda’s group of elite warrior women is stepping into the spotlight in a Wakanda Forever trio of one-shots teaming these female fighters with Marvel’s most popular heroes. Writer Nnedi Okorafor wrote a fantastic…
Marvel’s Black Panther isn’t the kind of film that would ever sweep the Oscars, but seeing as how it inspired a teen girl to bite through her retainer at the sight of a shirtless Michael B. Jordan, it is absolutely the kind of movie that can dominate the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Right from the beginning, it was clear…
Tonight’s broadcast of the MTV Movie & TV Awards has already been largely dominated by Marvel’s Black Panther, but star Chadwick Boseman took it a step further by proving why he deserves to be the king. Boseman won the Best Hero award—beating out Emilia Clarke, Gal Gadot, Daisy Ridley, and Grant Gustin (who should be…
Extended, single-take shots are like a magic trick. As moviegoers, our eyes have grown so accustomed to jump cuts and other editing techniques that when a single take goes on for more than 60 seconds, we become a bit mesmerized. For the first time, the film is reflecting what it’s like to experience the world through…
Here’s something we’ve come to realize of late: There’s always a cameo. If you’re watching a modern big-budget movie, there’s a good chance that some A-lister is hiding on the fringes, whether it be Daniel Craig and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Last Jedi, Kevin Smith in The Force Awakens, Matt Damon in Thor: Ragnarok, …
Wakanda has been the most advanced civilization on Earth for millennia, but the country’s reach is far greater than previously thought. Last year’s Marvel Legacy one-shot introduced the Intergalactic Empire Of Wakanda, and the ongoing Black Panther series is traveling to the stars for its latest relaunch. Writer…
Black Panther’s Erik Killmonger has quickly emerged as one of the most fascinating entries in the MCU’s rogues gallery, a group of characters who—with a few notable exceptions—had mostly previously been home to flatly drawn C-listers like Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Ronan The Accuser and whatever Corey Stoll’s deal in …
In Avengers: Infinity War, the longest, priciest, and most-crowded crowd-pleaser ever to roll off the Marvel Studios assembly line, Earth’s mightiest heroes face their most daunting challenge yet: an intergalactic nihilist whose dearest dream is to cleave the entire population of the universe in half. The good news is…
Anyone who’s read Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics: The Untold Story or Blake Bell and Michael Vassallo’s The Secret History Of Marvel Comics knows there’s a rich background and involving narrative surrounding the creation of some of our most iconic and enduring superheroes. But a new exhibit makes a simpler argument:…
Avengers: Infinity War is the beginning of the end, one of two films (the second coming in May 2019) which mark the conclusion of “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a universe that began a decade ago with the first Iron Man. Marvel has been very clear that these movies will mark a decisive endpoint to…
Some Marvel movies, particularly early on, feel like they were constructed by Marvel Studios going down a list of important bullet points from the comics rather than being a personal work directed by an actual human, but the company does seem good at recognizing the benefit of allowing a filmmaker to put their stamp…
This summer, a Black Panther-inspired convention called Wakandacon is coming to Chicago, with a press release calling it “a first of its kind” event that will celebrate “Afro-futurism, tech, and entertainment” as well as “black superheroes in film, gaming, television, and comic books.” The convention was founded by…
On last night’s Saturday Night Live, it was inevitable that host Chadwick Boseman would have a lot of Black Panther stuff thrown at him. His monologue even teased SNL’s, let’s call it inconsistent, history of host-centric hot-button sketch work. (Thankfully, morning show Wake Up, Wakanda remains unproduced.) As it…
A superhero movie comes out, but it doesn’t look like other superhero movies. The hero is black. So is the villain. So are almost all of the supporting characters. The movie touches on the main superhero-movie beats that we expect: the origin story, the demonstration of powers, the final battle with the equally…
In January, Saudi Arabia celebrated the end of a 35-year ban on movie theaters with a public screening of The Emoji Movie. Considering that the movie has now been granted some historical significance because of this, it was kind of a shame at the time that Saudi Arabia didn’t pick something a little better.…
On The Tonight Show ostensibly to promote his new comedy series The Last O.G. (premiering on TBS on Tuesday at 10:30 Eastern), star Tracy Morgan, instead, spent much of his time complaining to host and former Saturday Night Live co-star Jimmy Fallon that he got to that whole “black superhero” thing long before Black…
