Friday, October 24, 2014

Assuming Black Panther is in Age of Ultron my vote goes to Dave Ramsey to be cast as the Wakandan King

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer is now live online. I guess Marvel decided to dump it early instead of airing it during Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. next Tuesday because it got leaked. Their loss and our gain. Embedded within the trailer is a lot of information. Intriguing to me is a shot of Andy Serkis who is rumored to be playing Ulysses Klaw. So what does that mean exactly?
This is Ultron's hand taking a vibranium bath. That's bad for people who
don't like Ultron. 
Well one, it means that vibranium is a big part of Avengers 2. According to the Marvel Wiki, "Vibranium is a rare, naturally occurring meteoric ore, theorized to be extraterrestrial in origin, and mostly comes from the country of Wakanda. It is capable of absorbing vibratory energy in its vicinity (such as sound waves) and it stores this energy within the bonds between the molecules making up the Vibranium. As a result, a chunk of Vibranium which has absorbed a considerable amount of vibratory energy would be exceedingly hard to demolish." Captain America's shield is made of vibranium, and the trailer suggests that Ultron (built by Tony Stark?) also takes a bath in it, making him essentially invulnerable. A foe for the Avengers indeed!
The scientist Ulysses Klaw is the guy that found all the vibranium in Wakanda. Chieftans (known as kings) had guarded the mound for generations. In order to get some, Ulysses kills King T'Chaka. His son, Prince T'Challa is the superhero Black Panther. So yeah, the idea that Ulysses Klaw is in the Avengers basically means that we are getting Black Panther, and this is very exciting.

WHO IS BLACK PANTHER?
Who should be cast to play Black Panther? I'd love to see David Ramsey (he
plays "Diggle" on the CW's Arrow). 
This is Dave Ramsey. As "Diggle" in Arrow, he's Oliver Queen's "Voice of Reason."
First off the name is a title. The "Panther" gets to eat a special heart-shaped herb which forges a connection to the Wakandan Panther God and grants superhuman senses, increased strength, speed stamina, reflexes, and agility. As king, the Panther has access to a vast collection of magical artifacts, advanced Wakandan technological and military hardware, as well as the support of his nation's wide array of scientists, warriors, and mystics. In the comics, the Wakandan military is one of the most powerful on Earth. In addition to all of this, Prince T'Challa is also one of the eight smartest people on the planet (Reed Richards is the smartest).

WHY AM I EXCITED ABOUT THIS?

This question is pretty easy to answer. Having Black Panther in the stories means that we're probably going to get a Namor storyline pretty soon. Plus, to be honest, I'm a little jaded with all the white washing that Marvel has. I mean these are great stories, but women and men of color or minorities in general have no "leading" roles. The big heroes are Thor (white), Captain America (white), and Iron Man (white). Black Widow is basically a footnote, although outcry over her super tiny role is starting to build momentum. Maybe Marvel will someday invest some money in a franchise actually starring Scarlett Johansson, but as of this writing I've heard of none. And I'm also pleased that Don Cheadle may have a guest star role in Avengers: Age of Ultron because he's pretty much a supporting character. The same goes for Falcon...supporting character material in Winter Soldier, and the pessimist in me says there's no way he makes the transition to the Avenger's movie despite having nailed the role.

Below is the embedded video for the trailer so you can watch it again and compare notes with me.

12 comments:

  1. I thought Universal had Namor. I'm sure they wouldn't cast Diggle because TV actors are seen as inferior which is why they already cast a different Flash for the movies.

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  2. He's a DC character in the Arrow, so crossing over to Marvel would be no big deal.

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  3. @Pat: TV actors are seen as inferior? Have you seen Kevin Spacey in House of Cards? What about Jada Pinkett in Gotham? Halle Barry in Extant? I guess I'm not on board with your statement.

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  4. I don't follow the comics, but I'm anxiously awaiting The Avengers. I'm glad they're putting the comics as movies.

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  5. I just hope they don't go overboard with characters in Avengers 2

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  6. The computer I was using before now came from under a technology rock. This one I have less than an hour to use can play video so I'm just seeing the trailer. Now I'm even more excited and I love the singing in the background. Arrow's Diggle would be the perfect Panther. I learned about him through cartoons and the character was done well. It would be very interesting to see him in a movie, Avenger or not.

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  7. I'm assuming Wakanda is a fictional country. My geography knowledge is bad, but I didn't think it was that bad...

    I don't know why movie studios don't get more on board with casting non-white actors in things. Lots of non-whites go to the movies, and that population is very underserved. I hope one of these days those execs wake up and "get it", but that might not happen for a while.

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  8. Well, this is proof I've been living under a rock, because I knew nothing about that first trailer.

    It's so true that too many movies and superhero shows are dominated by white actors. I watched just a portion of the pilot for Shield, took note of all the pretty white people, and gave up (no plain ones, of course, especially plain women). But this is also one reason why I like Sleepy Hollow. Yes, the lead actor is white 'cause he's an eighteenth century Englishman. But the other leads are black, Latino, and Asian. Funny how this realistic aspect of our society is well depicted on a supernatural show like SH.

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  9. Diggle! Love D in the Arrow, he is awesome and would make a great Black Panther. And I also agree with you about the lack of diversity in these movies, I'd be great to see that change in the industry.

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  10. I've never been to Wakanda, but I heard the Ebola virus is spreading rapidly over there.

    But seriously, I think the actor who plays Diggs would be perfect to be the Black Panther.

    I watched the leaked trailer a bunch of times, and we're all wondering who that mystery lady is standing next to Thor in that group shot.

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  11. Chadwick Boseman cast in the role today!
    In other news, can't wait to see Wenty Miller in THE FLASH this week!

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