T'Challa: Black Panther Appreciation 2018

[Cville]

Amazon Video has both episodes for $1.99 each for Standard Definition. Loved the second episode too. Has a Spectacuar Spider-Man feel to the action.

[Ezyo1000]

Only was able to watch the first episode so far but maaaaan Redjack wasn't playing around. This is going to be a fun season. Tchalla looking like the complete boss that he is taking on threats worthy of his level and not being dumbed down.. I will be catching part two soon. But so far REDJACK!!!

[Redjack]

[FLEX HECTIC]

I altered the time space continuum and watched episode #3... It was meh!


I didn't like how Doom kicked both T'challa's and Shuri's butt and then they both gave some pyrrhic victory speech about "keep hope alive" and "can't we all just get along" and whatnot!


Storm was featured and she only held T'challa's hand publicly but kissed Wolverine passionately in the alley behind the Wakandan embassy!


Wakanda was flooded by Namor so Nakia, Okoye and M'baku drowned leaving only T'challa and Shuri as the last remaining citizens of a once great nation!


Oh yeah... For some reason various villains from other characters rogues galleries kept dragging T'challa through the mud for no apparent reason and in random intervals! (weird)


Burbank.

Disney Studios.

Mickey "Money" Mouse sits livid staring at the wall shaking his head as Bob Iger paces back and forth visibly upset.

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "BOB... What's my name???"

Bob Iger: "Mickey 'Money' Mouse!"

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "MONEY... That's what I'm about my papers! What happens when you mess with my papers?"

Bob Iger: "You get angry."

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "And like the Hulk you won't like me when I get angry!"

Mickey turns and looks dead at the individual most responsible for his upsetedness' seated across his desk from him.

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "So let me see if I get this straight... You posed as Redjack giving you access to the Black Panther cartoon and rewrote episode #3 is that correct!"

TNC: "I just wanted to contribute and help out."

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "BOB... Yo boy is getting on my nerves here I can't keep dude on salary with all these cancellations and drops in sales! What's my name again???"

Bob Iger: "Mickey 'Money' Mouse!"

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "MONEY... Say it louder!"

Bob Iger: "MONEY!"

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "With that said effective immediately I'm placing Redjack as the official 'Point Man' of all things Black Panther... Goofy, send Redjack in here!"

Redjack enters the office with Goofy right behind him with his hand in his pocket like he holding something.

Mickey waves off Goofy who releases his hand from his pocket and relaxes.

Redjack: "Mickey I swear I don't know what happened with episode #3 I did not write that!"

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "It's all good you were sabotaged and we will fix that... But anyway you are my guy going forward on Black Panther just keep doing what you are doing now what's my name?"

Redjack: "Uhm Money..."

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "That's right keep bringing me my paper and we good!"

TNC: "Am I still..."

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "Goofy, escort this man off the premises!"

Goofy reaches back into his pocket and glances at mickey waiting for confirmation.

Mickey "Money" Mouse: "Naw, not in front of the kids we are family company!"

[robreedwrites]

as the writer of the episodes and the season showrunner, I'd like to thank you for your kind words.

No problem.

There were two things from the end of Episode 2 that I didn't put in the review due to spoilers (and I'm going to spoiler tag it here) but
spoilers:

I really appreciated the way you handled Cap and Iron Man backing T'Challa's decision with Attuma. Cap taking his hand away and Iron Man saying the Avengers would back T'Challa. It's been awhile since I've seen that type of validation with the character. And then later, you had me fooled. I thought we were still getting "forgive and forget" T'Challa, and then you have him reveal his true thoughts to Shuri, and man I missed this guy.

end of spoilers

Did you just get lucky and get to review it or did they actively seek out someone who actually knows the character?

Marvel offered it to Newsarama and then my editors put out the call to the writers. I try to keep a look out for Black Panther related stuff; I figure I can try to provide insight on the material, but I also try to balance things out so that the review is still viable for the general comic/superhero enthusiast.

I enjoyed and appreciated your review, but just out of curiosity, how much of Avengers Assemble had you watched prior to the review (or I guess how familiar with it you were)? Did you start watching with Avengers: Secret Wars when Panther started getting a more prominent role?

I watched the first few episodes of the first season and checked out for awhile (I was honestly still angry about Earth's Mightiest Heroes being cancelled) and then peeked in a bit when the Black Order was introduced and then again when Panther debuted. I ended up watching clips and reading Wiki summaries on the past episodes before the review just to try to familiarize myself a bit more.

It's almost the weekend I mean why not...


Wakanda.

Intervention.

The tribal elders sit around waiting for word for their king after a long hot humid emergency budget meeting.

T'challa: "That will be all you are all dismissed."

As the last of the elders departs King T'challa turns to the farthest corner of the room and focuses his attention on an invisible shimmering anthropomorphic form staying as motionless as possible.

T'challa: "I know you are there so you can reveal yourself."

The cloaking device is turned off leaving a statically materializing Predator.

Predator: "THAT WILL BE ALL YOU ARE ALL DISMISSED!"

T'challa: "Great impression there you sound just like me African accent and all... Welcome to earth take a seat."

The Predator awkwardly walks over and takes the largest chair.

T'challa: "M'baku normally sits there so given your size I hope it's not too uncomfortable for you."

T'challa relaxes his posterior and leans in to converse with the alien species.

(sigh)

T'challa: "Gathering intel I knew you couldn't avoid the heat nor the hunt so I had a friend named Storm alter the weather conditions in Wakanda to attract you here to talk."

(another sigh)

T'challa: "Now that you are under the Disney umbrella we may need to retcon some troubling things that have happened to your franchise recently."

(one more big sigh)

T'challa: "I mean... Did you really come all the way to Earth to upgrade yourself with an autistic human child?"

(pause... like a really long pause)

T'challa: "It's okay I'm here for you... It's not your fault I mean even I have been written badly over the years and had retcons that made absolutely no sense. I was once sent out of my own advanced kingdom to a place called Hell's Kitchen where I made on the fly tech from Radioshack and had to prove myself to like no one in particular."

Predator: "AUTISTIC HUMAN CHILD!"

T'challa: "You kill me with that mimicking thing... Anyway, to me you already are kind of fearsome and to the average non-peak human hero you pose a problem but of course in the Marvel universe you are more like a low grade Sabretooth at best but I aint judging though."

(a little more pausing here)

T'challa: "Don't get me wrong I think you could work out well hunting street level heroes in Marvel like say the Punisher or Black Widow but... You have to know your own level and what makes your own shared universe work for you feel me!"

(a deep breathe)

T'challa: "I'm going to holla at my man's and them Mickey 'Money' Mouse and see if we can get you a better script and a much better budget and fix this thing for you... And we'll probably redo that Alien versus thing because Prometheus and Alien Covenant was all types of fail so let's pretend like those things never happened and pick up where Arnold left off and try again with a much better effort this time."

Predator: "PUNISHER OR BLACK WIDOW!"

T'challa: "Cute... Your AVP video games and comic books are hot I don't know why they just didn't do what was already on panel like we do here at Marvel... Give the fans what they want right instead of throwing things at the wall and see what sticks!"

(T'challa sits up)

T'challa: "THANOS!"

The Mad Titan strolls in.

T'challa: "This is Thanos, Thanos... Predator."

Thanos: "Wassup!"

T'challa: "Thanos is going to use the Infinity Gauntlet to turn your present existence to dust and then use the Time Stone so that we can rework some things okay."

Thanos: "You want to pick up at Danny Glover or..."

T'challa: "Naw, let's just start right after Arnold got to the choppa' and go from there."

Thanos: "I should also use the Reality Stone because I saw an advanced screening of his movie and was like WTF!"

As always Flex, you make this thread a joy to read. I hope Disney is actually doing this.

Just watched that Anthony Joshua fight. Hmmm...

Are there any black british superheroes (other than Blade and Mr. Majestic) that we can elevate and set up a superfight vs T'Challa with?

That'd be pretty cool. And no, let's not race bend Black Knight. No more superheroes with 'black' in their codename pls

None that I can think of, but man, Joshua is a powerhouse. I hope he faces the winner of Wilder-Fury next year so that we can finally have an undisputed heavyweight (to go with Usyk at cruiserweight, assuming he gets past Bellew later this year).

Lol it was such a random and purposeless change for them to call it golden jaguar instead of golden leopard on the toys/merch

Golden leopard even sounds cooler imo

To my knowledge, the "Golden Jaguar" moniker was never used in any official capacity or in interviews by the production team. Even the Concept Art book makes no reference to jaguars and explicitly ties the design to leopards (and Preyy in particular, IIRC). I want to say it was just some fan name or a journalist thinking a fan name was official and then it spread like wildfire.

[MindofShadow]

To my knowledge, the "Golden Jaguar" moniker was never used in any official capacity or in interviews by the production team. Even the Concept Art book makes no reference to jaguars and explicitly ties the design to leopards (and Preyy in particular, IIRC). I want to say it was just some fan name or a journalist thinking a fan name was official and then it spread like wildfire.

I thought it came from Merchandise but I just tried searching for it and found nothing official.

[MindofShadow]

Redjack, sooner or later, I'd be curious to think why you thought some hardcore fans wouldn't like your take on Black Panther?

Obviously, it is early in the season for this show but its... rather on point IMO lol.

(I'm also assuming you would have had a similar approach in the comics but I could be assuming too much)

[Redjack]

No problem.

There were two things from the end of Episode 2 that I didn't put in the review due to spoilers (and I'm going to spoiler tag it here) but
spoilers:

I really appreciated the way you handled Cap and Iron Man backing T'Challa's decision with Attuma. Cap taking his hand away and Iron Man saying the Avengers would back T'Challa. It's been awhile since I've seen that type of validation with the character. And then later, you had me fooled. I thought we were still getting "forgive and forget" T'Challa, and then you have him reveal his true thoughts to Shuri, and man I missed this guy.

end of spoilers



Marvel offered it to Newsarama and then my editors put out the call to the writers. I try to keep a look out for Black Panther related stuff; I figure I can try to provide insight on the material, but I also try to balance things out so that the review is still viable for the general comic/superhero enthusiast.



I watched the first few episodes of the first season and checked out for awhile (I was honestly still angry about Earth's Mightiest Heroes being cancelled) and then peeked in a bit when the Black Order was introduced and then again when Panther debuted. I ended up watching clips and reading Wiki summaries on the past episodes before the review just to try to familiarize myself a bit more.



As always Flex, you make this thread a joy to read. I hope Disney is actually doing this.



None that I can think of, but man, Joshua is a powerhouse. I hope he faces the winner of Wilder-Fury next year so that we can finally have an undisputed heavyweight (to go with Usyk at cruiserweight, assuming he gets past Bellew later this year).



To my knowledge, the "Golden Jaguar" moniker was never used in any official capacity or in interviews by the production team. Even the Concept Art book makes no reference to jaguars and explicitly ties the design to leopards (and Preyy in particular, IIRC). I want to say it was just some fan name or a journalist thinking a fan name was official and then it spread like wildfire.

I want you guys to understand that these first two episodes were written the way they were because I didn't want to JOLT the existing audience too much. Episode One is my version of a "normal" avengers episode. A prolog, really. Episode 2 is really the first episode of Black Panther's Quest. If you appreciated how T'Challa's depicted here, get ready. My guiding lights on this series were Stan and Jack and Priest. I'm not being hyperbolic when i say this season is nothing like what people are expecting. So far ALL speculations about upcoming plot twists are WILDLY off the mark. We're bringing heat. I promise you. Real heat.

I honestly couldn't believe all the stuff Marvel let me roll with. Consider these first two episodes a sketch of what's coming.

[Redjack]

Redjack, sooner or later, I'd be curious to think why you thought some hardcore fans wouldn't like your take on Black Panther?

Obviously, it is early in the season for this show but its... rather on point IMO lol.

(I'm also assuming you would have had a similar approach in the comics but I could be assuming too much)

Honest answer? the way I approach my blackness doesn't always line up with how the twitter heads and so-called afrocentrics would like. I'm hardcore for fairness. I'm hardcore for racial justice. Black Supremacy? That gets the foot. So, when i write something like BP, I'm always concerned that there will be some sort of backlash because of politics.

I don't personally care about the politics but I'm always concerned that someone will think i set out do do something i didn't or set out to please some folks i didn't.

I set out to write the best stories I can, as I define "best."

The internet tries to makes fights out of differences between writers or approaches. If I do something Coates didn't, people will try to make it out like I'm commenting on him. If i do something different than Cogler, the same. The truth is, I don't care what they do, good or bad. I'm doing the show I want to do, the best way I can. That's why i keep reminding folks we had zero contact with the movie and no interest (from me or Marvel) in duplicating the current comic. Nothing against the comic. It's just too dark for the venue. And, also, that would be me co-signing somebody else's thing instead of doing my own thing.

I do my own thing.

A lot of modern fans don't like that attitude so i try to get out in front of backlash.

[MindofShadow]

No problem.

There were two things from the end of Episode 2 that I didn't put in the review due to spoilers (and I'm going to spoiler tag it here) but
spoilers:

I really appreciated the way you handled Cap and Iron Man backing T'Challa's decision with Attuma. Cap taking his hand away and Iron Man saying the Avengers would back T'Challa. It's been awhile since I've seen that type of validation with the character. And then later, you had me fooled. I thought we were still getting "forgive and forget" T'Challa, and then you have him reveal his true thoughts to Shuri, and man I missed this guy.

end of spoilers

Agreed. I was like... ooooooh... we ain't even playing here lol

[FLEX HECTIC]

Other than the fabulous Reginald Hudlin...


There has not been a writer on Black Panther that has openly and honestly engaged the fanbase like Redjack has and also delivered the goods! (shout out to Liss though)


For that I hereby claim that you are bestowed a pass just in case episode #5 or even #8 really sucks so your credit thus far is good enough to have a few missteps!


A writer does not have to be perfect and can make some mistakes just don't be blatant with it and dismissive to the fans for the sake of a whole other agenda!

[Redjack]

Other than the fabulous Reginald Hudlin...


There has not been a writer on Black Panther that has openly and honestly engaged the fanbase like Redjack has and also delivered the goods! (shout out to Liss though)


For that I hereby claim that you are bestowed a pass just in case episode #5 or even #8 really sucks so your credit thus far is good enough to have a few missteps!


A writer does not have to be perfect and can make some mistakes just don't be blatant with it and dismissive to the fans for the sake of a whole other agenda!

well. thanks. i mean it. and there are no sucky episodes this time around. =)

[Rumble]

Regarding upcoming events, I have to say that Redjack is the man for using his opportunity and position to put a lot of our hopes and dreams for BP into practice on a big platform. Not every community gets to have someone able and willing to do that. We're fortunate. I saw the clips and was grinning from ear to ear, so I had to dust up the login to say something.

^^ And so far so good.

[Ezyo1000]

Honest answer? the way I approach my blackness doesn't always line up with how the twitter heads and so-called afrocentrics would like. I'm hardcore for fairness. I'm hardcore for racial justice. Black Supremacy? That gets the foot. So, when i write something like BP, I'm always concerned that there will be some sort of backlash because of politics.

I don't personally care about the politics but I'm always concerned that someone will think i set out do do something i didn't or set out to please some folks i didn't.

I set out to write the best stories I can, as I define "best."

The internet tries to makes fights out of differences between writers or approaches. If I do something Coates didn't, people will try to make it out like I'm commenting on him. If i do something different than Cogler, the same. The truth is, I don't care what they do, good or bad. I'm doing the show I want to do, the best way I can. That's why i keep reminding folks we had zero contact with the movie and no interest (from me or Marvel) in duplicating the current comic. Nothing against the comic. It's just too dark for the venue. And, also, that would be me co-signing somebody else's thing instead of doing my own thing.

I do my own thing.

A lot of modern fans don't like that attitude so i try to get out in front of backlash.

Here are my thoughts.

What a writer does in their story does not have to line up exactly with how my head Cannon thinks it should go. HOWEVER, of your going to write the Character, write the damn Character IN Character. Nothing is worse then reading the title Character acting out of character and doing things they would never do because PLOT and AGENDA need to steer in a direction that otherwise the character would never take.

What I mean is Coates S1 could of been so much better while keeping the same plot (Tetu and Zenzi starting rebellions Wakanda in chaos, MA wanting a place of their own) had Tchalla acted like he wasn't a brand new green nose rookie, and Zenzi and Tetu actually coming off as powerful threats that didn't rely on b obvious plot holes and nerfing of the character to make then seem threatening.

So back to what your doing. Based on what I have seen,
Very few long time/dedicated fans would find issue with what your doing. Honestly it's s damn breathe of fresh air and I look forward to this getting even crazier

[Chessboxer]

Only was able to watch the first episode so far but maaaaan Redjack wasn't playing around. This is going to be a fun season. Tchalla looking like the complete boss that he is taking on threats worthy of his level and not being dumbed down.. I will be catching part two soon. But so far REDJACK!!!

Ummm, could you chose a better gesture for this thread?