Marvel Studios 'always' wanted to make 'Black Panther'

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says the company's team always knew they wanted to do a standalone film on Black Panther.

"Black Panther" is among the first films by the house of Marvel Studios which predominantly has a black cast and also shows a number of strong women of substance who work as the protagonist T'Challa's (Chadwick Boseman) allies. T'Challa is the king of a fictitious nation in Africa called Wakanda.

"We always knew we wanted to do it ('Black Panther') someday. 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," Feige told variety.com.

"In 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', we talked about Vibranium for the first time and Bruce Banner mispronounces Wakanda. 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," he added.

Speaking on a second instalment of the film, which is scheduled to release in India on Friday, Feige said that "Panther has been around for more than half a century in the comic books and there are many, many stories to tell".

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, "Black Panther" also features Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Martin Freeman.

--IANS

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