The
character Black Panther makes an appearance in the latest Marvel film
Captain America: Civil War with his own solo film coming in 2018 starring Chadwick Boseman.
Black Panther has been around since 1966. Quick version of his story
is that he is given the title of the king of Wakanda which is a very
high tech place in Africa while maintaining old traditions such as
the role of being Black Panther. The current one is named T'Challa
and he is a bad ass even without his suit made from the metal that
his country has called Vibranium. Its what Captain America's shield
is made from. He kicks a lot of ass.
I was
talking to a friend that has not seen almost any of these Marvel
films and does not have a strong desire to about what I like most
about BP and his story: he isn't a thug. He was never a thug. He is a
prince that becomes king. He didn't have a troubled childhood in the
mean streets that he had to fight his way out of. I love that. Why?
Because I am so fucking sick of seeing it in films and from comic
book characters that are Black. Yeah, I know there are some that are
not like that like...shit. I am actually having trouble thinking of
one. John Stewart Green Lantern maybe? Just checked. No. He seems
like a dick.
Anyway,
its a tale that has been beaten into the ground. Black kid in rough
neighborhood, someone dies like his brother or mentor, he gets zapped
by something or worse AIDS (check out Shadowhawk), then they become a
hero. As someone that grew up in Los Angeles and could go find a gang
member by going down the street or in some cases into the next room I
am so over Black heroes having this story. There was a whole comic
line that came out when I was in junior high called Milestone. Big
explosion happens, all the kids in the 'hood get powers, it slowly
fades into the background except for Static Shock which had life
afterward. It was a Black created comic book company and they took
the usual “We wanna tell our story” route.
When
you have a story that shows life through “Black eyes” and its the
same story over and over again and I am tired of it. It doesn't make
me go “Finally someone is showing the world through the eyes of a
Blacker!” As a kid and growing up I liked knowing that there were
people that looked similar to me but grew up differently. It wasn't
all difficult. Some dads stayed around and were nice. Some streets
were good. You didn't have to be a star athlete. I guarantee you that
if Black Panther was created today his childhood would have looked
like something out of Beasts Of No Nation.
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