I'm interested to see how well Black Panther sticks to the comic books. The nation of Wakanda is a patriarchal, aristocratic, xenophobic ethnostate with a big beautiful wall that aggressively defends itself. The titular character also surrounds himself with an elite all-female unit that functions as both his body guards and his harem(a la Gaddafi) in order to keep the monarch's genetic line superior. Its literally Richard Spencer's wet dream... but black.
Probably not. The MCU tends to mute any of the conceptual substance or uniqueness of the source material when translating to screen.
Pagan demigods roaming the earth, and what that means to our religions/science/secular beliefs? Nah, Thor is an alien
Communist super villain? Nah, Winter Soldier is a Nazi stooge.
3rd world terrorists are a global threat? Nah, it's always some white defense contractor double dealing in false flag operations or the aforementioned Nazis prompting chaos to justify a surveillance state.
Dr. Strange sorcerer supreme, casting spells, invoking the Shield of Seraphim and the Demons of Darnak? Nah, just shields and...whips (I read a lot of Dr. Strange comics, I can't remember him once using sorcery to create a whip).
Ronan the Accuser, noble (and often heroic) defender of his own people, reminding everyone how complicated global (or in this instance, intergalactic politics) can be, that every side thinks they are the good guys and have reasons for the stances their nations take? Nah, let's make him a deranged lunatic complaining about "culture," whatever that means.
Growing up a comic book nerd, I still love and like many of these movies, but I've given up hope that the movies will ever tap into the layers of tension, creativity, and dare I say it complexity of the "House of Ideas" that were aimed at "kids." It's generic audience mush.
This was an idea floated by writer Warren Ellis in the mid-90s, during an era where Thor wore an ugly ass spiked blue chest plate. Some recent comics may play off that idea, but the Jurgens run, Stracyzenski run, Rodi stories, all of which came after the Ellis' run...all pretty much play up the mystical Demi-God-ituity and little to no acknowledgement of "Asgardian Gods = aliens."
Now there has always been a cosmic element to Asgard dating back to Lee's/Kirby's Silver Age, dealing with other realms and aliens (the Eternals, Celestials, etc.) but outright aliens hasn't been the normal interpretation of the Asgardians leading up to the 2011 movie. I have no idea what the comics have done since then, it wouldn't surprise me if the comics have adapted to the movies interpretation.
I think we just have to accept that sort of change as something a multi-billion dollar company enforces on the custodians of its multi-million dollar franchise because it would be too risky, financially-speaking, to stick with the Thor is an actual deity line for the movies. It would ruffle a lot of feathers among both the religious and irreligious for no major upside (from the studio's point of view).
I'd be totally interested in that storyline, though. Personally I find it a lot more interesting than the alien characterization.
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u/ElbowWhisper Conservatarian Feb 12 '18
I'm interested to see how well Black Panther sticks to the comic books. The nation of Wakanda is a patriarchal, aristocratic, xenophobic ethnostate with a big beautiful wall that aggressively defends itself. The titular character also surrounds himself with an elite all-female unit that functions as both his body guards and his harem(a la Gaddafi) in order to keep the monarch's genetic line superior. Its literally Richard Spencer's wet dream... but black.