Posted in: Movies | Tagged: black panther, chadwick boseman, entertainment, film, forest whitaker, marvel, zuri

What Does Forest Whitaker's Casting Mean For Black Panther

Published Fri, 07 Oct 2016 19:33:47 -0500

Today it was announced that Forest Whitaker has joined the cast of Marvel's Black Panther. The film directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed) already has a cast of Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Danai Guriar as Okoye, Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger, Winston Duke as M'Baku / Man-Ape and Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue / Klaw. Another character that could appear but has yet to me officially added is Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross who is a character created in the same run from the comics as the character Whitaker is playing, Zuri.

The Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira run on the character moved him into more of a political figure and tied him with Ross as another group tried to take over Wakanda. With the number of villains in this piece: Killmonger, Man-Ape and Klaw, it's likely that some of them are set up characters for a sequel, so the roles could be small for now and bigger later. How does Whitaker fit in?

The character of Zuri is a warrior who was a loyal companion to T'Chaka, the former Black Panther and King of Wakanda. In the comics he served as a special attendant and warrior for T'Challa as well. He also became a friend of Thor and admired Photon (formerly Captain Marvel), looking at her as a sun goddess and a better choice as a bride for the new king than Storm. He died in a battle with Morlun alongside W'Kabi, trying to protect a wounded T'Challa. He was also the keeper of the Spear of Basgenga which was buried with him.

W'Kabi was added to the cast as well in the announcement to be played by Daniel Kaluuya, also Florence Kasumba is back as Ayo, a role she played in Captain America: Civil War. Looking at the pieces they're putting together and the changes that have already made, one can speculate that we may be seeing a two-movie plan. The main conflict with Klaw in the comics is he killed T'Chaka, but in the MCU that is Zemo. Killmonger is tied into Klaw through his father. So you seem to have one movie going on there. Then M'Baku is head of a rival tribe who in the comic challenged T'Challa's right to rule. That seems like a separate movie… or at least should be.

Whichever direction they go, I think Whitaker will play the adviser / confidant for the new king and will likely sacrifice himself by the end of the first movie. It would be the type of emotional moment that helps turn the tide in action movies. Now this is just speculation, but I wouldn't get too attached to his character.

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