"Not Everything Has To Be For You"

I don't have a lot to say about Black Panther. It's too clearly a film that isn't meant for me, a statement I make entirely without complaint. Had I been in charge, I might have tried to explore Killmonger's politics further - like Ultron before him, Killmonger was so obviously right in his critiques the film had to work overtime to suggest he shouldn't get what he wanted. But the whole point is that I shouldn't have been in charge. What I wanted out of the film simply doesn't matter.

Given that fact, my feedback seems largely irrelevant. The only relevant metric I can speak to is whether the film demonstrated that it's always been bullshit to argue that a majority-black cast is somehow incompatible with the superhero genre and/or white audiences. On that level, the film is a total success. I doubt it will end up being my favourite Marvel Studios film, but it's comfortably better than more than one of its stablemates, and it's probably above average even by the studio's generally high standards. More to the point, there's no flaw here that's unique to this particular film, or if there is, it's only because a film that tackles a question is necessarily more likely to answer it imperfectly than a film that ignores it. Again, it's not my place to discuss whether any answers actually were bungled.

Three quick points, all of which are quite spoilery, and so are going below the fold:

1.  While I agree with those, like Abigail Nussbaum, who have argued it might have been preferable to keep Killmonger around, his last words perfectly encapsulated why a superhero film almost exclusively featuring black characters isn't limiting, it's liberating. There's simply no way any other Marvel film could have landed that absolute haymaker of a line.
   
2.  I absolutely adore the fact that Wakanda, like the Avengers, succumbs to a civil war, but that it lasts about the tenth of the time before one side realises fighting their friends is just fundamentally ridiculous. If only white people could learn to be less savage and violent, huh?
   
3.  Also absolutely delightful is the idea that America has completely lost its way and needs an African nation's outreach program in order to save it from itself. That's an absolutely brilliant kick to imperialism's testicles, and once again something no other Marvel film could have so convincingly landed.