Chadwick Boseman Says Black Panther Is An "Anti-Hero" Superhero

After making his very well-received MCU debut in Marvel's latest billion dollar blockbuster, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther is now headed for his very own solo movie. But before filming begins on that, which is expected to commence in early-2017, Chadwick Boseman, the actor who portrays the first African-born superhero, has to do press for his new movie Message from the King. While promoting that, he mentioned some similarities between his latest role, playing a South African that travels to America to avenge the death of his little sister, and Black Panther.

"Always take things that you learn from one film to the next film. Sometimes it is hard to tell what they are; it's not that clear," Boseman said. "I ended up using the same dialect coach that I had from Message from the King also worked with me personally, along with Marvel's dialect coach, on Black Panther. Those are two characters that are based on the continent of Africa, so you use some of that cultural aspect of it and swagger — parts of the dialect you may use. That cultural exploration is definitely something that transferred over. And this is an anti-hero, sort of, and I feel like, although he is a superhero, he's sort of an super anti-hero. I don't have a different feeling about the suit, at this point. I think just the movie as a whole, that it's actually happening, other people are being cast, there is a script, sets are being built and all that is more so the thing that makes it real than the suit itself. I'm Black Panther even outside of the suit."

Black Panther has been an important character in the Marvel universe for 50 years. He is the king of the technologically-advanced nation of Wakanda, and Panther has served as a member of the Avengers in addition to his many solo adventures.

The film is being directed and co-written by Creed and Fruitvale Station filmmaker, Ryan Coogler. The cast features Chadwick Boseman (42) as Black Panther/T'Challa, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) as Okoye, Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four) as Erik Killmonger, and Lupita Nyong'o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Nakia.

Black Panther will slash into theaters on February 16, 2018.