New ‘Black Panther’ Mythology Featurette Reveals New Footage

A new featurette from Marvel Studios is diving into the rich history and mythology behind Black Panther.

In the video, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige dives into the historical context of the character’s creation.

“The Black Panther character came about in the ’60s, around the time of the civil rights movement,” Feige explains. “How daring it was for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to introduce an African character, which at the time had never been done before.”

Director Ryan Coogler adds, “He was also strong enough, fast enough to do some of the things T’Challa’s going to do in this film.”

Star Chadwick Boseman points out the key difference between Black Panther and his superhero peers.

“He’s a superhero but he’s also a world leader,” he says. “That’s a responsibility that other superheroes don’t commonly have.”

In the film, Black Panther will face off against two of his most iconic villains. Erik Killmonger is played by Michael B. Jordan and Ulysses Klaue is played by Andy Serkis.

“Erik Killmonger, he’s a ‘by any means necessary’ type of man,” Jordan says.

Executive producer Nate Moore adds, “Erik Killmonger is somebody from publishing that we’ve talked about for a lot of years. He is the main adversary to the Black Panther.”

As for Klaw, Serkis says, “Ulysses Klaue, he’s a terrible danger and a threat to Wakanda.”

Luckily T’Challa has allies as well, including the “adored ones,” also known as the Dora Milaje.

“In Black Panther mythology, the Dora Milaje are the best fighters in Wakanda and they’re all women,” Moore explains.

Danai Gurira plays one of the key members of the Dora Milaje, Okoye. She adds, “They’ve pledged their lives to the throne and the security of the kingdom.”

The Black Panther movie draws inspiration from the character’s entire 50-year history.

“I think the film uses every era of Black Panther,” Boseman says. “From Kirby to [Reginald] Hudlin, [Christopher] Priest, [Ta-Nehisi] Coates.”

“I really wanted to be thoughtful about where it had come from,” says production designer Hannah Beachler. “Take the ideas from Kirby and just bring it to 2017.”

For a more in-depth look at the history of Black Panther, check out ComicBook.com’s “Essential Black Panther” feature series, which has so far spotlighted Kirby and Don McGregor, as well as our list of the best Black Panther artists of all time.

Black Panther currently has a ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating of 4.18 out of 5, making it the third most anticipated upcoming comic book movie among ComicBook.com Users. Let us know how excited you are for Black Panther by giving the movie your own ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating below.

Black Panther opens in theaters on February 16th.

Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include; Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.