Black Panther Series
To pretty much everyone who watched Captain America: Civil War, one of the best parts would have to be the introduction of the Black Panther from his character to his costume to his pretty much everything. Of course, that’s why we’ll have to wait through two years and three Marvel movies to see his solo project. In order to torture myself even more with waiting, I decided to look back into the brief but very interesting BET series version of the character Black Panther. And what a brief but very interesting series it is.
I could probably just sum up the series in a paragraph since it’s only six episodes long, but I’ll just stick with the premise, which doubles as a pretty good backstory for the character. Fifteen years after the death of King T’Chaka, the country of Wakanda sets up a tournament to decide the next king by finding whomever can defeat the current Black Panther headed by T’Chaka’s brother. T’Challa wins and ascends to the throne, much to the jealous dismay of his sister and cousin, and plans to use his power for a new mission: to find the man who killed his father. Meanwhile, the assassin Klaw, the only living person to have killed a Black Panther, brings together a group of villains to kill the current ruler of Wakanda.
In a way, this series is both a decent guide and a clear warning for any other adaptation of the Black Panther. For one thing, the development of the Wakanda culture is on point not only with the superhero but with the nation. They maintain an advanced civilization that includes the modern wonders of technology including a flying motorcycle as well as the tradition in their faith in the panther god. More importantly, they are a nation that values isolationism and practices it heavily by being one of the most intriguing countries on the planet among anyone, including American forces. With the movie clearly headed to Wakanda, it’s important that T’Challa’s birthplace be properly represented.
However, this series is definitely not the best medium for an emotional story, or even a regular one. The choppy motion based on comic images gets annoying after a while, and, no matter how good the characters can look standing still, we still have to see superheroes…move. It makes me wonder what could have happened with different animation and more episodes, but if that involved getting rid of the kickass theme song it wouldn’t be worth it. Seriously, the series has proved its worth in existence by the song alone.
Another interesting aspect the series offers is another look at a Marvel universe where everyone can exist in unison. We got Captain America in an early fight, appearances from the X-Men, and numerous references to the Hulk all in the same show! Not to mention, the six episodes actually touch upon the greater romance between Storm and T’Challa which is interesting at least for the fact that we will never see it in live-action. Even if you don’t like that stuff, the show thankfully focuses more on T’Challa defending his nation from invasion.
For what it’s worth though, the series reminds me about the great character the Black Panther can be. T’Challa is a great warrior and a delegating king, but he’s still flawed in his narrowed search for vengeance. He follows tradition, but he obviously goes against some rationality by wanting revenge in a way that puts his family in danger. He has a freaking flying motorcycle, and there’s absolutely nothing in the story that contradicts that. After hearing Peter Petrelli voice Wolverine in the anime, Djimon Hounsou would of course sound miles better as a Black Panther not portrayed by Chadwick Boseman.
The same cannot always be said for the other characters sadly. I’ll neglect the fact that America (slight bias here) gets a pretty bad rep in the story which makes sense when framing Wakanda but doesn’t make sense when the American heroes we already like exist there and are thus related to a supposedly savage nation. The main thing is that some of the other supporting characters don’t get a decent portrayal. The rest of T’Challa’s family barely register in the story. Even the Wakandans seem like assholes for sitting on the cure for cancer from the world based on principle rather than the idea of, I don’t know, saving lives. And while Klaw fulfills his required role of being a villain for T’Challa, he’s also pretty weak as a character beyond an assassin.
However, what makes this different then say, the Marvel Anime shows, is that the strength of the hero and his story. Despite the lack of strength in other characters, there is a sense of dignity and depth to the Black Panther and its history that resonates beyond the less than grand animation. It definitely helps that there is a limited amount of specific Black Panther adaptations, but here is a good start for anyone wanted to move forward with a series.
I would have more to say about the show, but again, there are only six episodes. All I will say now is that there really should be more when it comes to someone with the rich history of Black Panther.
