'Black Panther' Producer on Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Visit Wakanda

The latest film from Marvel Studios will explore the world of Wakanda in depth for the first time, though it's been teased and even glimpsed previously in the cinematic universe.

But Black Panther will make the first time viewers get to see the fictional nation on screen, exploring the sites and people, although the country has been mentioned many times before. Producer Nate Moore told ComicBook.com during our visit to the film's set why now is the perfect time to reveal Wakanda in its full glory, indicating that they considered taking us there in previous films.

"We talked about it, and the truth was there was so much to bite off we didn't want to waste," Moore said. "We could have gone there a couple times before and there were iterations of other scripts where you did dip your toe in Wakanda, but we didn't want to tease it without having a full idea of what it was going to be. We didn't want to start locking into ideas without honestly having a story or a film maker who had a full understanding of what the country was. Ultimately those ideas fell to the wayside until we could spend a full movie on it."

While it might disappoint some fans to learn that there were previous opportunities to reveal Wakanda, it's good that Marvel Studios didn't force the issue and instead let director Ryan Coogler and the rest of the production team establish their own vision. Otherwise, they would be beholden to previous easter eggs that might not have anything to do with what they wanted to accomplish.

Instead, Marvel Studios movies only hinted at the country. In Iron Man 2, Wakanda appears on a holographic map while Tony Stark and Nick Fury discuss the Avengers Initiative. It's specifically name dropped in Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Vibranium factoring heavily into the film's plot and being explained to be the material used to create Steve Rogers' shield.

And in Captain America: Civil War, fans got their first glimpse of the country when it was shown in the post-credits scene, feeding directly into the events of Black Panther.

Fans will get to see more when Black Panther premieres in theaters February 16th.