Kevin Feige Explains How Marvel Studios Fast-Tracked Black Panther's Debut

While Black Panther will be having its highly-anticipated release this weekend, fans have already been introduced to T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) in Captain America: Civil War. And according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, that choice went about in a pretty surprising way.

In a recent interview with Variety, Feige was asked about T'Challa's appearance in Civil War, and how exactly they decided to make it happen. As Feige explained, the introduction of T'Challa - and the casting of Boseman in the role - came as a sort of one-two punch.

"We were working on the story and we needed another character." Feige revealed. "Our executive producer suggested T'Challa. The minute we started talking about Black Panther, we brought up Chadwick. He really was the only actor we discussed. We had seen the Jackie Robinson role [in 42] and Get On Up was coming up. We were very impressed by how different James Brown and Jackie Robinson are, and how he could sort of do anything."

According to Feige, Boseman was offered the role in a surprisingly short amount of time after that initial conversation.

"I think it was 24 hours between saying his name in a creative story meeting and talking to his agent and getting on a phone with him and offering him the role of Black Panther, which he accepted." Feige explained. "He was in Zurich on a press tour for Get On Up, which makes the story even more far-flung and global and James Bond-like."

And while some might wonder why it took so long for T'Challa to properly enter the MCU, Feige argues that the signs towards it have been there all along -- they were just waiting for the right point in time.

"We always knew we wanted to do it someday." Feige added. "We always knew it was the manifest destiny of Marvel Studios to bring to life all facets of the Marvel universe. At the end of Iron Man 2, when Nick Fury is discussing for the first time the Avengers initiative with Tony Stark, he's brought him to this secret shield warehouse. One of the maps prominently displayed is a map of Africa with a little pinpoint to where Wakanda is."

"In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we talked about Vibranium for the first time and Bruce Banner mispronounces Wakanda." Feige continued. "We've been feeding it through the films, knowing if we had the opportunity to keep making films, Panther was high on the list. It was his inclusion in Civil War that sped it up."

Black Panther is in theaters on February 16th.