Was Black Panther Really Better in ‘Civil War’ Than In His Own Movie?
Opinion about certain Marvel Cinematic Universe characters always wavers within their fan community. At least the consensus still holds that Black Panther was a watershed moment for Marvel’s movie franchise. At the same time, some fans are starting to think the title character had more complexity in an earlier movie.
Yes, a new argument has evolved saying T’Challa had a more brooding quality about him in Civil War than when seen in his own starring movie later. Fans are wondering why he went from that to a different personality when seen within his homeland of Wakanda.
There may be logical explanations there based on the family circumstances he experienced during Black Panther. It may prove the correlation between emotion and the actions one takes.
Fans seem to want the cool, mysterious T’Challa instead
In Civil War, T’Challa was seen as an understated, mysterious figure who seemed sure-footed in every move he made. One particular line he uttered in the film was posted by a Reddit fan recently.
That line was true warrior speak in standing up as a protector of Wakanda. It was dialogue from a true and thoughtful king, not including having a standout suit different from the one in Black Panther.
Reddit’s users were mostly in agreement this was the type of T’Challa they would rather see. Some were not happy to see T’Challa act so absentminded in his solo movie to a point where he made more mistakes than people expected of him.
Then again, when a viewer looks a little deeper into the personal circumstances of T’Challa at the time of Black Panther, it starts to make sense how it might have affected the decisions he made.
Digging deeper into T’Challa’s personal tragedies
As one Reddit user above reminds, T’Challa had just lost his father during the time of Civil War. In other words, he had an emotional vulnerability to him that likely made making challenging decisions all the tougher. Anyone who has gone through similar situations in real life after losing someone close will know how this works.
Above that, T’Challa’s mysterious qualities never had to manifest as much when in his own homeland. Being a more brooding badass was only because he was hanging out with The Avengers and not sure about what their intentions were. Interacting within America also put him in a more guarded frame of mind.
At home in Wakanda, interacting with family and his fellow citizens made him look softer, if just engulfed in conflicted feelings. Going back and revisiting his father (T’Chaka) dying in that U.N. bomb blast during Civil War is already haunting enough. Having this carry over into Black Panther can explain every future action T’Challa took.
Nevertheless, fans are still hoping the more badass side of T’Challa will show up again when the sequel arrives. Or, if he happens to show up in a future Avengers film during Phase Four.
Will fans see T’Challa in a film during the next MCU phase?
Phase Four is already busy enough, though Black Panther 2 is on the agenda for a 2022 release, likely in Phase Five. That is a long time to wait to see an update on what T’Challa is doing in the current MCU timeline.
Fans are hoping to see him show up somewhere, maybe in one of the Disney+ shows. Seeing him interact with the surviving Avengers team again might bring back the more assured character viewers remember.
At the same time, he could be really badass if finding out America is up to no good. After allowing Wakanda’s vibranium to become shared with the world, seeing the U.S. abuse it in some way would turn T’Challa against our own government.
More so, seeing him interact in something like Falcon and the Winter Soldier would touch more on race relations, giving T’Challa the attitude Reddit fans above will always cherish.
