It’s be hard to miss the hype around Black Panther. And if you’re still, for some reason, trying to understand why, let me just tell you that the excitement surrounding Marvel’s latest superhero release is absolutely just. You’ll see why.
With the brilliant Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman as just some of the famous names on the cast list, the new Black Panther film is important. Not just because it’s been highly anticipated for quite some time now, neither because it’s pretty much a guaranteed box office hit. Black Panther is important because it’s one of the first superhero films to star a predominantly black cast, to be set in a beautiful, powerful Africa and to set an incredible precedent for the power of representation in film.
WATCH NOW: The Black Panther Cast On The Power Of Representation
Now here's a question. Can you name a film of any genre where the ‘king’s’ army is lead by women? Where the kick ass, authoritative, measured, strategic and fiercely strong armed force that leads the defence of a powerful country, comprises solely of women? Didn’t think so. So let’s re-divert our attention back to Black Panther where that’s absolutely a thing.
Danai Gurira plays Okoye, military general and advisor to the Black Panther. Lupita Nyong’o plays Nakia, one of Wakanda’s CIA agents. Letitia Wright plays Shuri, the Black Panther’s younger sister and the brains behind much of the country’s sophisticated use of a powerful technology. We spoke to all three of the film’s incredible leads at the European Premier of Black Panther about just how significant their roles are.
WATCH NOW: Black Panther’s Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright and Danai Gurira Talk Female Representation
‘In this kind of genre you don’t usually have this many women having that much agency and being that pivotal to the plot of the movie’, Lupita said.
'In this movie we’re not window dressing we’re actually part in parcel of the action, we’re part in parcel of the story that is unfolding, we’re decision makers, we influence the Black Panther, we realise our full potential and we don’t threaten the men with our power, we actually compliment it and that’s really important to see – that it’s actually not that scary to have that kind of equality’.
Black Panther is in cinemas 12 February
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.