If the prospect of Avengers fighting other Avengers isn't enough to get you excited for Captain America: Civil War, there's also the many new faces that will be joining the MCU. Aside from Tom Holland's Spider-Man debut, there's also the arrival of Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa aka Black Panther, prince of the African nation of Wakanda.
Marvel has released official high-res versions of the images from last week, giving us better looks at Black Panther in and out of action. One image is interesting in that it shows T'Challa alongside Captain America (Chris Evans) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) in civilian gear, but does that mean he's joined their side in the ideological war that erupts? Similar to the comics, that answer is "no", despite other images that seem to show him fighting alongside Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his team.
In Boseman's interview with Empire, he clarified that Black Panther's not on anyone's side,
“It’s my political mission to tame it and get it under control.....T’Challa is a prince of Wakanda. All heroes have a weight on their shoulders, but there will eventually be a difference in what I have to carry politically and socially.”
Black Panther is looking out for Wakanda's best interests, not the Avengers', a motivation that will likely carry over to his solo film coming in 2018. In regards to that, Boseman teased the concept behind the technologically-advanced nation of Wakanda, the only place on the world to get the precious metal, Vibranium, used to construct Captain America's shield...
“The idea of Wakanda is sort of, what if Timbuktu hasn’t been conquered?...It’s in the southern, central part of Africa. The attitude, the musicality, as is my preference of the character. It has to fit his dignity.”
Captain America: Civil War opens May 6th. Black Panther, to be directed by Ryan Coogler, opens February 16th 2018.
