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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
Captain America: Civil War makes its official debut in two
weeks, setting the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe against each
other. However, the heroes involved in
this Civil War will not be limited to those who have already appeared in the
previous dozen MCU movies; two new heroes will also be making their debuts in
this movie. Spider-Man is one of the
most popular comic book heroes on the planet, so I doubt there’s all that much
new I can say about him (not that that will stop me from trying…). Besides, I’ve already talked about Spider-Man
quite a bit in previous articles (links in the Spider-Man section). Black Panther, however, is much less
well-known, so I will focus more effort on him in this article.
We don’t know a ton about these
characters in the MCU, so I will give a history of the character in the comics,
followed by a rundown of what we know about them in the MCU. Finally, I will talk about where they are
going to appear next (spoiler: the
answer to both is “their upcoming solo film”) as well as possibilities for
future storylines and appearances.
We’ll start off with Black
Panther.
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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
Black Panther
The Character
T’Challa is the prince-then-king
of Wakanda, the fictional African nation which serves as the Marvel Universe’s
sole provider of vibranium thanks to a vibranium meteorite which landed there
thousands of years earlier. The country
is ruled by the Panther tribe (of which T’Challa is a member). The leader of the tribe is called the “Black
Panther” and is permitted to eat a special herb which enhances the person’s
senses, reflexes, strength, speed, and the like. The Black Panther also wears an advanced suit
made entirely of woven vibranium which affords him a high degree of
protection. He also uses various
vibranium weapons, such as his vibranium claws and “energy dagger.” Finally, the Black Panther has a strong
connection to the “Panther god” who gives him his powers.
Wakanda itself has become a
highly-advanced nation thanks to its experimentation with vibranium, as well as
one of the wealthiest nations in the world thanks to its control of such a
highly valued resource. Wakanda has
discovered a method for melding its advanced technology with its mysticism,
similar to the Asgard that we have seen in the MCU.
The MCU Equivalent
As of now we do not know too much
about T’Challa beyond the fact that he is portrayed by Chadwick Boseman and
sides with Iron Man against Captain America for reasons unknown (but which
probably have something to do with the Winter Soldier). At one point it was suggested that T’Chaka
(his father) would also appear in this movie, but if that is the case then I think
there’s a good chance that he will be killed, considering that T’Challa is the
one suiting up as the Black Panther.
Future Appearances
The Black Panther solo
film is currently scheduled for release on February 16, 2018, just 3 months
before Avengers: Infinity War Part 1.
At this point very little is known about the solo film beyond the
director (Ryan Coogler) and the rumor that there will be multiple female
leads. It’s likely that Andy Serkis will
appear as Ulysses Klaue, though that hasn’t been confirmed. Following this movie, Black Panther will almost
certainly appear in at least 1 of the Infinity War movies and perhaps
both of them.
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| Image Courtesy en.wikipedia.org |
After Phase 3, I think it would
be really interesting to see Black Panther paired up with other heroes in his
future appearances. One definite option
is for one of the post-Infinity War movies to be titled Illuminati
and follow the heroes’ decision process in splitting up and protecting the
Infinity Stones after Thanos’ defeat. In
the comics, the Illuminati was a group originally consisting of Namor, Tony
Stark, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Professor X which
represented the full superhero community and met to exchange information and
make decisions impacting the entire community.
Among other things, the group shot the Hulk into space and later each
took one of the Infinity Stones to keep them safe.
An Illuminati movie after Avengers:
Infinity War Part 2 could see Tony Stark, Black Panther, Doctor Strange,
Black Bolt, Star Lord, and Thor (as an example) coming together to represent
different groups and splitting up the Infinity Stones for their own
safekeeping. However, one of the Stones
gets stolen, suggesting that someone could try reassembling the Infinity
Gauntlet during Phase 4 and beyond.
Another option for the second Black
Panther movie is to bring in Namor as an antagonist. The two of them have an interesting history
in the comics, with both representing highly advanced nations that sometimes
work together and more often compete. Of
course, this is assuming that Marvel Studios can actually use Namor…
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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
Spider-Man
The Character
Peter Parker is a regular nerdy
New York City high school student when he is bitten by a radioactive spider on
a class field trip. The bite gives him
various spider-based powers such as superhuman strength, speed, senses,
reflexes, and the like, as well as a “Spider-sense” which warns him of
impending danger. “With great power
comes great responsibility,” so Spider-Man uses these abilities to fight crime
in New York City, balancing his crime-fighting career with the typical
struggles of high school.
The MCU Equivalent
Thus far we’ve seen all of one
picture of Spider-Man in the MCU—and that’s about as much as we know about
him! Last year (after the Sony deal came
through) Kevin Feige indicated that Peter Parker had already been bitten by the
spider and started to fight crime as Spider-Man, though right now he is little
more than an urban legend.
Here is the released biography
for Spider-Man:
“Recruited personally by Tony Stark, teenager Peter Parker aka Spider-Man brings his youthful energy and exceptional — though not totally mastered — skills to Iron Man’s team.”
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| Image Courtesy www.screenrant.com |
Future Appearances
Obviously, Spider-Man’s next
appearance will be in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is scheduled to be
released on July 7, 2017—the only other option before then is for him to appear
in Doctor Strange (not a bad team-up, but not something they’ve exactly
announced). Following his solo film,
Spider-Man’s next appearance will be in either one of the Avengers: Infinity
War movies or in the sequel to his own movie; from what I understand Marvel
and Sony are planning to produce a full trilogy of Spider-Man movies
which will see him progress through high school, and they want him making
appearances at least once every year for the foreseeable future.
After his initial appearances, I
see Marvel and Sony putting a lot on Spider-Man’s shoulders in Phase 4 and
beyond. Spider-Man could easily team up
with any of the heroes in the MCU, and could be used to give star power to any
“risky” movies they want to try (a la Iron Man in Phases 1-3). As the youngest Avenger by far, Spider-Man
would be an excellent “in” for Marvel to introduce more young heroes on the
big-screen, such as Nova, Miss Marvel, Miles Morales, Darkhawk, Stature, Miss
America… the list could go on.
Spider-Man as a young but experienced hero would make a good mentor for
these other young heroes.
Assuming that the MCU continues
past Phase 4, Spider-Man could even become the leader of a future iteration of
the Avengers.
Further Reading
“All-New, All-Different Marvel: Spider-Verse”“All-New, All-Different Marvel: MCU Teams”
Conclusion
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| Image Courtesy www.comicbook.com |
The most interesting and
compelling aspect of this movie will be the conflict between characters that we
have gotten to know over the course of a dozen movies. Tony Stark has appeared in no less than six
movies before Civil War; Steve Rogers has appeared in four, not counting
Loki cosplaying as Captain America in Thor: The Dark World. We know these characters: they have their differences, but they work
together and fight together. To see them
at odds with each other will be a huge draw for this movie.
However, that’s not to say that
the new heroes will not be an interesting part of this movie. Early buzz suggests that Spider-Man in
particular is one of the highlights of Civil War. Meeting these heroes and finding out their
motivations for taking sides in the conflict will add some additional depth and
breadth to the movie. Hopefully both of
these characters will live up to the expectations that we have for them and go
on to make a lasting impression in their future appearances.
Which of these two new heroes are
you most excited to see in Civil War?
Are you more excited to see Spider-Man done the right way, or are you
more excited to see Black Panther in live-action for the first time ever? Let me know in the comments!
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