The Black Panther had hit the cinemas like a meteor storm crushing whatever box office records within a short period of time. At the time of writing it is still making it rounds and marking it territories.
A lot of credits were given to The Black Panther for breaking the super hero ethnic mode – being the African super hero that led in technology and skills. It was said to set an example for all ethnic minorities that you don’t need to be white or Anglo to become a super hero. Having said that I still feel that it would be quite amiss not to give credit to the strong female cast in the movie.
Yes, Black Panther is the titular role and everything in the movie is about him and his journey to become King and finding out what kind of King he wants to be. However, it was the women around him who made him who he is. Without the Queen Mother Ramonda, he would not have the wisdom and liberty to become the kind of King he wants to be. Without Shuri, his sister, he will not have the technology he was wielding to get him out of tight corners. Without Nakia, he would not be able to challenge his enemy as he did in the finale and without Okoye, he would not even have an army to back him up or even won the civil war at all.
And these women are not your typical warrior, they are tactical, they have principles, they have the wits to assess situations strategically and they have the courage that outmatched Black Panther himself. Ramonda kept Black Panther’s status in check, making sure he exhibits the behaviour of a real King and guided his moral radar to the throne. When situation eventuated, she was not afraid to get her hands dirty to achieve her goal and prepared to put her life on the line for the throne. Shuri was the tech gal that could easily outmatched Tony Stark. Her execution of technologies and her line of thoughts of how technology can be manipulated to achieve greater goals were reflected in each piece of gear that she crafted or each process or procedure that she carried out. A lot of gadgets were not even seen prior to The Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the function of each piece of gadget was designed with absolute precision. Nakia as a spy was worldly but engaging. Her determination to break out from your typical Wakanda warrior role (as reflected by the fact that she initially refused to put on the armour) forced Black Panther to re-examine what was meant to be a King in this modern world. Okoye’s loyalty to the throne was not blind and her courage to break out of unnecessary traditional bondage of her role provided the world as a stage for her to do whatever it took to bring the kingdom back on to the right track, no matter who her enemy was.
This group of women shaped The Black Panther into what he became at the end of the movie. Without them, The Black Panther was just a title that anyone could take. But with them, it became the heart and soul of Wakanda. Certainly, Black Panther himself did a lot of soul searching but his determination was comparatively weaker than his female counterparts, and this could be seen right from his first reunion with Nakia, which both Okoye and Shuri had predicted the outcome.
Without a doubt The Black Panther broke the barrier of ethnicity when it comes to super hero movies, in a similar way that Wonder Women did with the gender glass ceiling for super hero movies. However, in my opinion, The Black Panther further consolidated the role of women, including ethnic women, as strong characters that are not there to be saved or taken. It showed the world that these ethnic women can shape the world themselves, and in a lot of cases, they can do it better than the main hero in the movie.
There were talks about spin off movies with Okoye and further expanding the roles of Nakia and Shuri in the MCU. At this stage these are talks only. But for me it is quite clear that Marvel had finally opened up the stage of super heroism to a whole cast of women, who can join the ranks of the Black Widow and out matched the likes of Scarlet Witch and command their presence on their own. They managed to do in the TV landscape with Agents of SHIELD, but no the grounds have been broken in the movie world with The Black Panther. Captain Marvel might be coming with a lot of hype and anticipation, but the women of Black Panther had put forward some really big shoes for her to fill.
The Black Panther is great, but it greatness lies in the great female cast and characters more than the title character himself.
