But one that we’re not going to see any time soon, it would seem? A “Black Panther” movie. Rumors surfaced last year that the studio was set to announce a film with T’Challa, the costumed ruler of a fictional African kingdom who was Marvel’s first, and still most prominent, black superhero. But the rumors came to nothing, and in an interview with ComingSoon, and others, in support of “Iron Man 3,” writer/director Shane Black suggests that a ’70 set “Black Panther” movie — discussed and dreamed of by fans — is likely not happening.
“I don’t know, I always thought that certain characters could be adapted in a cool way. I wanted to do — Quentin Tarantino kind of poisoned the well with ‘Django [Unchained‘] — but I always thought there was a 1970’s version of ‘Black Panther,’ which was period that could be really cool and involved a lot of the racial tensions of that time. That’s not going to happen,” Black said, when he was asked about other Marvel properties he might be interested in pursuing. “Other Marvel movies that I really loved, or Marvel comics growing up, God, mostly just the typical ones. ‘Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘ the [Jim] Steranko years. But you can’t do them because Sam Jackson is 60 years old and he plays this sort of patriarchal figure now, but Nick Fury was what I adored growing up. If you ever read the ones Steranko did for ‘Tales of Suspense‘ followed by ‘Nick Fury‘ standalone 1-8, some of the best comics ever made.”